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Dutch doors are an interesting innovation in building design, and can provide some excellent benefits in a variety of areas. Dutch doors have a unique history that is rooted in practicality and convenience. They are divided horizontally, in order that the top half of the door can be opened while the bottom half remains closed.
Dutch doors were first used in farmhouses as a means to keep barnyard animals such as chickens and other fowl, cats, dogs, and even pigs or goats out of the house while allowing for the passage of air through it. These doors are still widely used in farm houses today. With the passage of the farm house and the rise of suburbia, Dutch doors began to decrease in popularity until around the 1950s. They were then reintroduced as a popular variety for the back entryways, onto a yard. This innovation had many benefits. Instead of keeping animals out, the doors could now be used to keep children in (or out) as well as pets. With the yard layouts of the 1950s, the horizontal divisions could also allow neighbors a convenient ledge on which to lean while visiting over their fences. As the sense of community in the neighborhood began to vanish, Dutch doors were replaced by single panel doors and security doors as exteriors. Dutch doors are once more on the rise in popularity, however, and not just in exterior models, and not just in private homes. Increasingly, buildings which incorporate some sort of nursery, such as churches and recreational buildings, are beginning to use Dutch doors as the entryways to the nursery. The model allows parents to gather their children while ensuring that others do not make a break for it, as well as allowing the nursery workers to remain accessible without losing their charges. These doors are also being incorporated into kitchens and tool sheds, with the age old purpose of keeping certain beings out of the premises without sacrificing comfort and access to the wider area beyond the doors. Dutch doors can be a great convenience in many areas of your home, form the kitchen to the back entryway to a tool shed. They allow for a great and secure play area for children that does not limit the movement of air for comfort and yet ensures that the kids stay in one area. Dutch doors can be bought in models that allow the door to be opened as a single unit or as separate division, or they can be made into such through the incorporation of a simple vertical deadbolt. Dutch doors are a historical idea that continues to have incredible benefits in the modern age.
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Exterior Doors