Exterior Entry Doors, what's good?

[Capt Chrysler]

Hello Folks,

We are replacing the exterior entry doors on the house and garage. I have read so many bad reviews on Menards MasterCraft, Home Depot Jen-Weld & ECT... I'm about to go crazy.

If you have any comments, please speak up!



Thanks

Capt. Chrysler

 

[tjdux]

Just for some reference... people are far more motivated to write a bad review than a good one. There's a psychological satisfaction to writing a bad review when you're not happy with something thats much more powerful than writing a good one.

Sorry that doesn't help you choose but only trying to point out there's a good chance that for evey written bad review there are likely some unwritten good ones.

For example I have 0 complaints about my jeldwin windows from menards. But i also didn't go write a review either.

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[driftpin]

Not cheap, but probably one of the best residential doors on the market, in my estimation.
http://cgiwindows.com/door/sentinel-by-cgi-french-door/

Our doors include our patented concealed three point lock system, which unlike others in the marketplace is designed to activate all three locking points with one single turn, inside and out.

They use four hinges on each door, and the three points of fastening means it's much more secure when locked. When we remodeled, we used CGI windows and doors for the house and also added another manufacturer for the pool deck, nanawall, which also uses 3 points of locking, and the doors provide a clear span of nearly 18 feet when fully-open. From closed to fully-open takes perhaps less than 30 seconds, six three-foot individual doors, with the two middle doors acting like a pair of French doors, while the others are stationary until released.

https://www.nanawall.com/

We looked at la cantina doors for the same type of function, but I saw the thermal breaks and cross-section of the extruded aluminum pieces and felt the nanawall was better. A year after installation, and we are very happy with the products. Our structural requirements in coastal Florida are for high-velocity hurricane zone rated products, probably the toughest residential standard in the country.

https://www.nanawall.com/sites/default/files/images/sl73 - hero_0.jpg

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have bought a few exterior door from HD, I believe Therma-Tru brand. I have had no issues with them in the last 10-15 years that they have been installed.

 

[matt_i]

I also bought Therma Tru for my build from local lumberyard. These have no wood in the bottom of the door nor the casing for 12" up from the sill I think. Its fiberglass or plastic or some kind of composite material.

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Wincore fiberglass entry door. Lots of places sell them.

If you have Home Depot Exteriors do it they will go above and beyond what the factory warranty is, for example they cover accidental glass breakage, and the installation and materials warranty is Lifetime, non pro-rated.

 

[yeldogt]

Hello Folks,

We are replacing the exterior entry doors on the house and garage. I have read so many bad reviews on Menards MasterCraft, Home Depot Jen-Weld & ECT... I'm about to go crazy.

If you have any comments, please speak up!



Thanks

Capt. Chrysler

There is no simple or one answer.

When I started doing rehabs 30 years ago I was paying about what the in-stock doors cost at HD today. Everything, is price point driven w/ a much less knowledgable consumer. The big box store sell a value driven product that's not going to perform or look like the next step up in the food chain of doors.

One guy is happy w/ a simple 6 panel metal -- someone else wants wood.

What do you want?

 

[DCarr2]

something that is often over looked regarding the security of doors, is the hardware attached to the door frame.

99% of the hinges, and strike plates are held on by 3/4" brass screws, going into the soft pine frame, which will split and break with almost no force applied.

Instead, hinges and strike plates should be fastened with 4" deck screws to get to the 2x4/2x6 framing in the wall.

This will make your door MUCH MORE stronger, as well as secure in the event someone attempts to kick the door open.

Another area to think about is the area around the latch. they sell brass things to go around these areas to help hold the door together, or you can make your own out of plate steel.

the idea here is that as long as the door doesnt fail, the door will remain closed.

theres youtube videos out there on this.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Everybody's throwing brands...

The question that wasn't ask- "What are you looking for in these new doors?"

Security features?
Insulating values?
Material makeup?
Slabs? Prehung? Glass? Hinges? Yada, yada, yada!

 

[Capt Chrysler]

K'ledgerBldg, your correct. More info is needed.

1955 style house.

Insulation, in Nebraska I'll take all I can get.

Prehung

Leaning toward fiberglass

Capt. Chrysler

 

[Firebrick43]

I will throw in the best I have handled is therma tru. But even their frame saver jambs are junk. Still finger jointed rot prone **** from that point on up. Now in order just the door slab, some stanley fbb199 NRP hinges, and a royal pvc door jamb kit and assemble/hang it myself.

The door manufacturer doesn't prehang the doors, it's the distributor that does it. And from the lack of quality I have witnessed they only hire the most strung out meth addicts. Last prehung I got every single screw was driven crooked requiring plugging/redrilling, staples shot crooked and into the door, and staples driven thru the adjustable plate of the sill cracking it.

 

[6768rogues]

Don't buy anything that has a proprietary locking system. Parts are very expensive and become obsolete before the door is shot. Buy doors with regular dead bolts.

 

[rodpoa]

I’ve built custom made French doors with laser cut multi lock deadlocks. At least nobody should be able to get in


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[yeldogt]

Don't buy anything that has a proprietary locking system. Parts are very expensive and become obsolete before the door is shot. Buy doors with regular dead bolts.

what doors? are you talking about 3 point ..... like a Pella or LePage

 

[lakeroadster]

We replaced (2) exterior entry doors with Jeld-Wen doors from Home Depot within the last year.

I really have no major complaints.

Only issue we had was the last door... we had to pick through the 3 doors that were in stock in the store to find the one that had the least amount of dents on it.

Even the one we picked out had some dents.

Their packaging is lacking. Better packaging and the dents would never happen.

The aluminum sills need full support underneath... but that wasn't a big deal for us.

 

[6768rogues]

what doors? are you talking about 3 point ..... like a Pella or LePage

Yea, especially Pella. I wouldn't put a free Pella product in a dog house.

 

[Trey T]

Can I get opinions on steel vs FG exterior doors? need to replace the man door.

 

[carlaisle]

If you are interested in solid wood doors, these guys are worth checking out: https://kochandco.com/. I have some of their exterior doors and they're no joke. Scaled at 120 lbs with no jamb or hardware. Excellent construction and finished beautifully. They will not be the cheapest option.

 

[Professor Fate]

Can I get opinions on steel vs FG exterior doors? need to replace the man door.

Fiberglass all the way. Left steel behind years ago.

And the comment about security with hardened locks and multiple hinges...... I know that anyone that wants in your house is getting in. Hmmmm, I wonder if this plate glass window is hardened?

 

[engineer2]

I put in a new custom Menards front entry door a few months ago. A contactor buddy helped. It's really a 2 person job.
It looks fantastic. It took 6 hours for R&R, not including painting and trim.
Advice:
Check your RO and dimensions!
You may need to rent a truck to get it home, or they can deliver for $100 or so.
Takes 2 people to handle if it has sidelights.
Inspect for shipping damage before you load up.
Pro:
Ordering is super easy with plenty of options.
Price was reasonable compared to HD and other stores. ($2600 vs $4000+)
Fast delivery. At store in 7 days. The plant is local to us.
Con:
Dimensional accuracy is not so great. 1/2 difference from top to bottom width, but it had 2 side panels.
Needed some tweaking and shimming to get it to fit.
RO is a bit bigger than older doors. We had to modify the RO.

 

[PoorUB]

I have three entry doors on my house, and one on the garage. They are all what ever Menards sells, Mastercraft? Zero complaints. A couple of them are well over 20 years old. Perhaps, because they were not the low priced doors they are better quality, Even so they were no crazy expensive.

 

[Jeff C]

Wow… 2017 thread brought back to life.

But just to join in the fun… fiberglass door, frame saver jambs, pvc trim should hold up well. If you have a deep front porch, a wood front door is nice.