Amanda Hergenreder and Gustavo Caicedo discuss why a wood door cannot be cut down and showcase the reasoning.
Featured in this video:
MF7466 – 2 Panel Metropolitan Door (Simpson)
Syndication: Reeb
Therma-Tru Fiber-Classic and Smooth-Star Doors
From curb appeal to convenience, Therma-Tru’s Fiber-Classic collections feature wood grains to suit any style. Choose from two wood-grained collections, in a wide variety of door sizes and glass designs, for the perfect fiberglass door to fit a variety of home styles. Looking to add a splash of color to your entryway? Smooth-Star is the answer if the best look for your home is a smooth, paintable surface. The more attractive and durable alternative to steel, Smooth-Star fiberglass doors are ready-to-paint (no need to prime!) with crisp, clean contours.
Wood Door Durability
Knowing the durability of your door is important when it comes to moisture management. Moisture affects a door and causes it to warp or rot over time creating three durability levels – good, better, and best.
Note: Metropolitan doors are no longer offerd. Any reference to Nantucket doors includes both the standard and optional joineries.
| Style | Good Durability | Better Durability | Best Durability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nantucket | ✔ | ||
| Metropolitan | ✔ | ||
| WaterBarrier | ✔ | ||
| Performance | ✔ | ||
| Standard | ✔ |
Good Durability
Doors with a good level of durability look like solid wood, but they are a number of blocks glued together, covered with a veneer. Whether it’s the stile or the rail, we can see these different parts, which are solid, but not solid lumber, and the product is glued together only at the dowel pins. These parts and pieces take on moisture at different rates, causing the door to open up and swell. More moisture can get in causing veneer delamination, stile and rail separation, and eventually rot.
Better Durability
Doors with a better level of durability have a core covered with a veneer, but also have a composite block on the bottom of the stile. This block of composite material stops any water from being able to get into the stile making for a much tougher door. The bottom rail, the most vulnerable part of this door, is solid lumber; there is no core and no finger joints. The stile and rails are glued together at the dowel pins, but instead of just being glued at the dowel pins, this whole surface area of the stile and rail joint is covered with glue. It does two things: it makes a tough joint, and the glue gets into the open end grain of the solid lumber bottom rail and helps seal it up.
Best Durability 
Doors with the best level of durability are the toughest wood doors and are constructed in one of three ways. The construction of the better door can be taken up a level by adding a medium density overlay over the entire exterior of the door. This MDO stops water to make the door durable in any application. The other two doors with the best durability are solid lumber – no veneers, no edge strips, and no core.
Two boards are face glued together to keep the door rigid and stable and resists warping and bowing. One solid lumber door has its stile and rail joints held together with dowel pins and glued at the cope. The other solid lumber door has a massive mortise cut into the stiles and rails. Those components have glue applied along the cope and are joined by a tenon. Face pins are applied through the door and tenon to hold that joint together forever.
Wood doors look really similar but their different construction techniques dictate the durability level of the door. Durability is also directly related to the exposure of your home and what warranty your door will have. It’s important to buy the very best quality product that’s the most durable for the best return on investment.
Exterior Door Glazing Compound
When an exterior stile and rail door includes glass, it may also include a glazing compound. The glazing compound waterproofs the glass to the wood parts of the door so finding excess glazing compound around the edges of the glass is expected. But why is that there?
When manufacturing the stiles and rails, the components are moved through equipment that machines the sticking profiles into the door. If the door is expected to have glass installed, only one side of the stile/rail is prepped for sticking, known as the solid sticking. This allows the glass to easily be placed into the door once all the components are assembled.
A glazing compound, which is similar to a caulk, is applied to the solid sticking side of the door. The glass is bedded into the opening and pushed into the compound to ensure there is a tight seal. During this process, the glazing compound will fill in the areas between the wood parts and the glass and will “squeeze out” around the glass lite. At the time of glass installation (glazing) the glazing compound is somewhat runny and sticky and it needs several days to set-up, so it cannot be removed immediately.
A secondary line of glazing compound is added to the open side of the glass and a glazing bead, a piece of wood that has the sticking profile, is nailed into place to hold the glass. With glazing compound on both sides of the door, chance of water getting around the glass is minimized or eliminated and it helps with a superior finish in that stain or paint will not seep down behind the stick or the glazing bead.
This compound should be removed prior to finishing the door. It is incorrect to use a razor knife or a razor scraper to remove glazing squeeze out because it will damage the door, scratch the glass, and can create issues for the glazing compound. The proper tool to use is an awl, which is round with a sharp point. To remove the glazing compound, simply press the awl firmly against the glass and run around the edge of the glazing bead or the sticking. This will leave a nice transition from the glass to the glazing compound to the wood components and allows a good “lap” of finish onto the glass. After running the awl around the perimeter of the glass, use a plastic scraper to lift the compound off the glass. Spraying the glass with glass cleaner will help protect the glass and keep things clean.
While flat glass is most popular, textured glass offers a dramatic and tactile design option. As the name would suggest, textured glass has one side that is not flat due to the texture of the glass. It used to be common practice for the texture to be on the exterior side of the door but due to best glazing practices, the texture is placed to the interior side of the home. Beveled glass is considered the same as flat glass so the bevels will be to the outside of the home.
Flat Glass
Beveled Glass
The process of using glazing compound on both sides of the door is called “double bedding”. As noted above, this allows either side of the door to be to be considered exterior. Why is this important? When hanging an exterior non Water-Barrier door, the solid sticking will always be placed to the exterior side of the unit. Water Barrier doors have an MDO (medium density overlay) applied on the exterior side of the door for superior painting results and for a contiguous skin to help eliminate stile and rail movement especially in extreme exposures. Due to the construction employed in making this kind of door, the glazing bead will be to the outside and the solid sticking will be to the inside. Either way, Reeb Simpson doors are designed and engineered to offer the best in durability.
Typical Exterior
WaterBarrier® Exterior
Premium Fiberglass Doors – Performance
Gregg Hoyer illustrates the performance differences between a Therma-Tru Classic Craft and a Therma-Tru Fiber Classic including durability, function, and build quality.
Premium Fiberglass Doors – Design
Gregg Hoyer illustrates the design differences between a Therma-Tru Classic Craft and a Therma-Tru Fiber Classic including price, layout and visual appeal.
Exterior Door Construction Materials – Wood vs Fiberglass vs Steel
In the world of entryways, there are three basic material types available for residential exterior doors.
Wood Door
Fiberglass Door
Steel Door
Wood
Authentic wood doors use stile and rail construction by joining multiple components to create an overall design that is architecturally correct and features defined details in and around the panels. Wood doors can be stained to enhance their natural beauty. Standard sizes for wood doors typically are 2'-6", 2'-8" and 3'-0" wide by 6'-8", 7'-0" and sometimes 8'-0" high, however they can be special ordered to fit any size opening. Although wood doors are quite durable, they are not the most energy efficient. As with all exterior products, they require maintenance and should be refinished annually to retain their beauty and avoid issues caused by moisture. Nantucket and WaterBarrier doors are constructed to withstand the elements in any exposure type. Performance Series doors require a partial overhang due to the extra protection at the bottom of the door but not at the top. Standard construction doors can split and crack under high temperatures in addition to parts separating over time and should only be used when fully protected. However, when properly cared for, a wood door can last for many years.
Fiberglass
Fiberglass doors are two large molded skins with a polyurethane foam core between the skins which is a great insulator against heat and cold. The fiberglass sheets, along with the foam core, do not absorb moisture and therefore eliminate the rotting, warping, peeling, and bubbling that can affect other exterior doors. Fiberglass doors mimic the grain of real wood doors and can be painted or stained. They are popular for their high insulation values, low maintenance, and resistance to dents and scratches. Premium fiberglass doors are architecturally correct like wood doors.
Steel
If aesthetics are not a priority and a budget directs the buying process, a steel door is a great alternative. Steel doors can be painted and feature the same polyurethane foam core found in fiberglass doors, therefore offering the same insulating protection against cold and heat. Steel doors will either be hot or cold to the touch depending on exterior weather conditions. Home-to-garage entryways are a prime example of where a steel door is a popular option. Steel doors are economical and offer good insulation, require low maintenance if placed in a fully protected exposure, and won't rot. However, steel doors are highly susceptible to rust and can easily dent.
There are pros and cons to selecting a wood, fiberglass or steel door, however understanding their construction in
relation to the concept of exposure will provide you with the knowledge needed to confidently choose the correct
door type for your specific exposure.
View our PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION GUIDE to see which materials are best in each exposure type.
Why Buy A Wood Door?
Paul Ciccone walks us through the essentials of why a wood door might be the right choice for you. From price and customization to maintenance and durability, this video is a must-watch if you are considering purchasing a wood door.
Smooth-Star® Shaker Style Doors
Therma-Tru’s Smooth-Star® Shaker style doors and sidelites combine simple designs with broad appeal.
Featuring clean, simple lines with square recessed panels, these new designs bridge the gap between yesterday’s styles and today’s trends.
Smooth-Star® Shaker Style Door
Shaker style doors and sidelites come standard with flush-glazed glass.
Built directly into the door during the manufacturing process, flush-glazed glass eliminates the need for a lite frame allowing more natural light into the home.
The glass is surrounded by the door’s polyurethane foam core providing durability, while a dual adhesive high-performance weather seal eliminates pathways for air and water infiltration.
- Glass built directly into the door.
- Clean lines for a seamless appearance.
- High performance seal to prevent air and water infiltration.
Privacy and textured glass adds a simplistic yet decorative element to the entryway. Low-E glass enhances the Shaker styling of the door while adding the benefit of energy efficiency.
Chinchilla
Chord
Granite
Rainglass
Satin Etched
The flat profile Simulated Divided Lites (SDL) complement the square recessed panels on the doors and sidelites. SDL bars are used to create 2, 3, 4, or 6 lite configurations for doors, or 2 lite configurations for sidelites to coordinate with existing window grid patterns on the home. Available in both 6'8" and 8'0" heights, Shaker style doors pair well with either a craftsman lite Shaker style flush-glazed sidelite or a full lite flush-glazed sidelite both available in 6'8" and 8'0" heights.
An optional 4 block dentil shelf can be added to Shaker style doors in order to complement architectural
elements around the house. The craftsman lite 2 panel Shaker flush-glazed door is ideal for front, side,
and back entry doors, while 2 panel craftsman Shaker doors deliver the Shaker aesthetic without glass
and is ideal for utility door applications.
Smooth-Star Shaker style doors are backed by Therma-Tru’s lifetime limited warranty and their exclusive
flush-glazed fiberglass door replacement rider which provides protection in case of accidental glass
breakage during construction or installation. Providing a seamless appearance by no longer needing a
lite frame, Smooth-Star Shaker style doors and sidelites offer a clean, simple aesthetic with long-lasting
performance.
