Front Door - When to use "puerta principal" or "puerta de entrada"

Question

Hola! I noticed, in today's "Word of the Day", the sentence: Enrique se acercó a la puerta de entrada. While trying to understand the translation, I discovered another way of saying "front door" (in SD's dictionary sentence examples). Would someone please explain when it is appropriate to use "puerta principal" and "puerta de entrada"?
¡Gracias! Gilly

I like both the question and the answer. Front door, where I live, is the one facing the street on which you live. We never use our front door because the access is better at the back door. - Jubilado, May 22, 2013

Answer 1

From what I can tell, "puerta principal" is specific to the "front door" per the SD dictionary and per wordreference.com it refers to the main entrance (de edificio).

Per wordreference.com "Puerta de entrada" is more like an entry door or entrance door which could be literally in the front or even inside the building.

It looks like the use may be cultural and/or regional.

Given the information in my comment to Gillygaloo, our "puerta principal" is our back door! So how does one say "back door"? - Jubilado, May 22, 2013

Jubilado, in your case you would say "La puerta trasera, la cual usamos como la principal" - 005faa61, May 23, 2013

;) - 0080b918, May 23, 2013

Gracias, Julian. - Jubilado, May 23, 2013

Answer 2

In my city,the front door is not necessarily the entrance door.It is the door that is outside the house.Most people use the side or back doors for security reasons.