Having a basement is a major asset in most homes, but it does come with some drawbacks, especially if your basement has doors that lead directly to your backyard. This is an important safety feature if anybody inhabits the space, but it compromises the security of your home to some extent.
These doors often provide easy access to the house, and they may also cause problems with moisture leaking into the basement. A lot of people choose Bilco basement doors because they are high quality and will solve these issues, but price is a big factor – so how much do Bilco basement doors cost?
How much does it cost to install Bilco basement doors? Bilco doors are expensive, and they often cost between $2000 and $5000 (including the installation fees). In some cases, they may cost even more, especially if you need any customization or alteration to make the doors fit your existing space. Buying the door, without installation costs, will often be somewhere between $500 and $750.
How Much Do Bilco Basement Doors Cost?
Alone, Bilco basement doors will usually be less than $1000, but they aren’t of any use without professional installation. Installing the doors can be a complex task that often involves cutting into the existing foundations, installing blocks, and altering the land to ensure water travels away from the door.
Are Bilco Basement Doors Worth the Price?
Bilco basement doors are expensive, but you should be aware that they are particularly highly regarded. They are weather-resistant and do not rust, which is a major benefit for basement doors, which otherwise need regular maintenance. The material is corrosion-resistant, and the doors have gas-spring pistons. These make the heavy doors much easier to open, and far quieter than alternatives.
The doors are designed to shed water, rather than allowing it to sit against the metal, which minimizes the risk of leaks and should help to extend the doors’ longevity. They are powder-coated, making them resilient in all kinds of weather, and they come in four different colors.
They also have an internal bolt, making it easier to secure your home properly from intruders. Because the bolt is inside the doors, there’s also no risk of anybody getting trapped inside the basement. This is key if the room is inhabited.
Certainly, Bilco doors are significantly more expensive than installing wooden doors or something similar, but they will pay a lot of the investment back in terms of reduced maintenance costs and longevity. If you have wooden doors, you will have to maintain them regularly, sanding and varnishing and weatherproofing them every year or two.
With metal doors, a lot of those chores are gone, and you should enjoy years of use from them. However, each individual has to decide for themselves whether the doors are worth the cost, based on the amount of maintenance they do, their current financial situation, and other considerations.
Furthermore, the Bilco basement doors satisfy the building code requirement that finished basement areas have an emergency exit. If you plan to convert your basement into a living space, they may therefore be the ideal solution – and indeed, they may be a necessary one, because this is a law.
Is it Expensive to Install Bilco Doors?
Although the doors themselves are fairly pricey, a lot of the expense lies in the installation costs, and these can vary significantly depending on how challenging the project is. If the installation team will need to modify your space to fit the doors or otherwise do non-standard work, the cost will massively increase.
You will likely need a professional company to install the Bilco doors, because they need to be fitted exactly right in order to function well. If the installation process isn’t done correctly, you may get issues like leaking, water pooling, poor insulation, and more. You therefore want to hire a firm that can assess your current space and fit the doors properly.
This does usually add a lot to the price, and doors that cost $750 to purchase will often be over $2000 to fit. That means more than half of the cost is the installation, rather than the cost of the door. Be prepared for this if you are contacting companies for quotes, as it is pretty standard.
You might feel that this is too expensive and you don’t want to pay it, but bear in mind that fitting the doors improperly will mean you don’t enjoy their full benefits, and could compromise the security of your home. Unless you are skilled at DIY, it’s better to pay a company to do this properly than to attempt it yourself.
It’s also important to note that if you have your doors installed by a certified installer, you will get a full warranty on the Bilco doors. This means that if a component on the door fails within 5 years of purchase, they will provide a replacement component without cost. If you install the doors yourself, you will probably not receive this warranty.
Are Flat Doors or Sloped Doors Better?
Bilco offers both flat doors (which sit in a sloped foundation) and sloped doors (which sit in a flat foundation, but have sides to slope the door). The slope helps water to run away from the doors and prevents it from pooling on the metal and seals. Which door you need will depend on your current setup.
Both door styles should work well, but it’s best to get advice from a local company that can assess your space before you settle on one kind or the other. You may already have the setup for one or the other type (e.g. having a flat foundation or a sloped one), in which case, the decision may be easy.
Final Thoughts
It is expensive to add Bilco doors to your basement, and could be as much as $5000 or even more, if your installation is non-standard. The doors alone usually cost upward of $500, and could be $750. When you add installation costs to that, you’re looking at about $2000 as a minimum in most cases, even for fairly simple fitting jobs.
