Replies

1. 
   rob.kelly | May 23, 2001 08:58pm | #1

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   Are you building your own door? Which way does it face? What part of the country? Is it sheltered? What dimensions if not the std 36x80?

1. 
   David_Thomas | May 24, 2001 12:35am | #2

   *I went with with Stanley's 1/2 lite, steel-over-foam doors for $189 at Home Depot. Six of them between the house and garage. Reasonably insulated and only below -25F do I get any condensation on the inside of the glass. My blower door test came in at 0.07 air changes per hour so the doors (and everything else) must be pretty tight. My wife didn't realize they were steel for many months until I told her. They're stamped with raised panels. Although a carpenter would never be fooled.I've seen wooden doors that cost >$5,000 that weren't of the best wood and made me wonder about their long-term stabilty. Direct sun and/or a hot porch is tough on wood doors as is repeated water exposure.Some of the other doctors in town have been having a most-expensive-door contest. The most recent entry and current winner cost $18,000. Not our style. -David

1. 
   calvin_ | May 24, 2001 01:53am | #3

   *One caution with steel doors. They will rust if left forgotten and unattended or in areas of salt/constant wet. Course wood wouldn't like those conditions either. The magnetic seals cant be beat, at least not by normal off the shelf reasonably priced wood doors. Pease and Stanley make a decent door. I refuse to install Thermatru. A couple fibreglass doors I've installed looked darn nice stained on the inside. Best of luck.

1. 
   Ralph_Wicklund | May 24, 2001 02:12am | #4

   *Calvin, what don't you like about Thermatru? They are fiberglass doors. I've installed only one that was fiberglass; don't remember the brand; had no problems.

1. 
   calvin_ | May 24, 2001 02:56am | #5

   *Ralph, we've met but you don't know my talents or work. I try to do the best possible job with the materials provided. Believe me I gave Thermatru a chance. They used to be made here in Maumee. After they moved their operation I noticed a change in the quality but continued to install if the customer wished to use their doors. One was particularly frustrating because for one, the homeowners other door/jamb was laying in pcs in the crap pile. No matter what I did, including trying to set the frame to the bastard door would satisfy me and I presumed the owners. Finally ground the metal on the top to fix that outasquare sob. Cpl more came dented or the thresh/jambs outta whack and I started to advise against that brand. Last straw was a good repeat customer that bought two of the atrium units at a fundraising auction. Couldn't tell em to take em back and agreed to set these at either end of a wide breezeway. Three door units and another nitemare. They were impossible to get perfect and that's close enough for my work when humanely possible. I'm not saying they didn't have a run of bad luck, but just don't advise their way anymore. My bad luck was on their steel doors only. Maybe the fibreglass are better but I would assume they're in the same jambs. Peachtree is another one I'm not real happy with. And with all the similarities of style etc, I don't feel I'm limiting myself too much. So, there you have it. A bit long winded but those Thermatru's really PMO. Hope you and the wife have a long leisurely weekend.

2. 
   Ralph_Wicklund | May 24, 2001 04:57am | #6

   *Thanks, Calvin. I'm kinda picky too when it comes down to it and have been known to send stuff back or recommend against a product or two.And, yes, we plan to have a loooong leisurely weekend. Just committed to 10 years payments on a new travel trailer and we're taking it on it's maiden voyage. Now I just have to hope my old van can hang in there a while longer. Priorities, you know.

3. 
   Andy_Engel_ | May 25, 2001 02:56pm | #7

   *Calvin, a comment on ThermaTru, or any other steel door's quality. I worked for three years in the early 80's in a prehung-door shop. At that time, ThermaTru and Peachtree supplied the components, and local shops such as ours assembled them into prehungs. As far as I know, that system is still in place. I probably have put together 1000 of them. At our shop, we were very careful to cull out dented doors; other assemblers might not have been so concerned. (We also coped by hand the stop legs on our interior prehungs, so you might guess that we were more anal than most shops)Same issues with the frames. The manufacturer sent out pallets of legs, heads and thresholds that we assembled into prehung units as needed. We culled or repaired damaged pieces.So, while an out of square door is surely the fault of the manufacturer, sloppy assembly or damaged components are the fault of the millwork shop assembling the units. Andy

4. 
   Art_B | May 25, 2001 03:11pm | #8

   *Scrounge and build your own is one way - $5 including glass for surplus scrap door from oak pallets -- see attatched, but maybe too much time.

5. 
   James_Wright | May 27, 2001 06:36pm | #9

   *I bought a mahogany door for 50 bucks never had a problem with it. it is a very stable wood.

2. 
   vladimiro_montesinos | May 27, 2001 06:36pm | #10

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   I am looking at replacing my home entry door.

   What are the pros and cons of wooden doors, steel, etc? Any recommendations out there?