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For Free Brochure with Measuring and Installation Tips plus Our Complete Price List - Click Here |
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Which is better, Wood, Fiberglass, by David B.Clymer V, door expert since 1971, First Please take this Simple Test
Which is better, Wood, Fiberglass, Our weatherproof doors or Iron Doors? Wood Doors - I don't think any time should be wasted talking about soft wood doors like Pine - Fir - Poplar etc. These are strictly cheap builder grade doors that do not have any of the qualities that would make a good door. Those qualities are: 1. Stability - It really doesn't matter how beautiful the wood is if it is not stable in the environment that you are using it for. Oak for example is a beautiful wood but makes a terrible door because it so susceptible to warp - swell - crack (check) - split. Keep in mind that you are expecting your Entry door to maintain it's integrity while the climate on the outside is virtually the opposite from the climate on the inside!.. Well that's right isn't it? When its 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity in August you bet we are all trying to make the inside a cool 72 and 60 percent humidity at the least! Most exterior doors are only 1 3/4" thick. That's a lot of stress to adjust to in only 1 3/4". We really are asking a lot of these "natural" products to perform well under sometimes brutal climate variations. Pine - Fir - Poplar and other soft woods just can't cut it. Even a top quality wood such as Mahogany will under perform in exposure conditions. Many of our customers are replacing their doors just for that reason. Fine wood doors are expensive and still require a lot of maintenance, to stay beautiful and functional. It is frustrating to have to replace an expensive door in just 5 or 6 years. We all have the expectation that our front doors should last as long as our homes do. 2. Appearance - When you study wood and its features and uses, one of the qualities of wood that is little known to the public, but important to woodworkers and furniture makers, is a quality called wood "luminescence". This is actually a measurable quality to the wood's "glow". The way it captures and reflects light. That is why beautiful expensive dinning room furniture is most often made of wood species that are high in luminescence such as cherry and mahogany. Pine and popular and Fir are on the lowest end of the luminescent scale so when you stain and finish such woods they have the color but they seem dead. Again Mahogany is a winner. Cherry is beautiful but has several unstable factors making it inappropriate to use as a solid door. Alder is the hot new wood for door making because of the popularity of distressed and "Old World" imperfections such as knots, contrasting graining, splits, cracks and generally everything you normally don't want in a fine door. But because of it's unique appearance and styling it can be used to make a great looking door. It should not however be subject to extreme conditions or it will not perform well as an Exterior door. 3. Maintenance - Wood doors that are subject to sunlight and or the elements WILL need periodic and routine maintenance. If you are unwilling to recoat the outside of your wood door 1 or even 2 times a year with the correct spar-urethane product, then don't buy a wood door or don't expect it to look like new 5 years from now. If you plan to paint your wood door, don't buy a wood door! The only reason to buy a wood door is because of the esthetic beauty of the wood itself. It's rich color and depth of glow can make your door an important value. An extremely bad exposure, no overhang or porch, face south or southwest, live on a hill, or by the seashore, have no trees in your front yard, then you should definitely not purchase a wood door and consider our Designer Weatherproof Doors! Fiberglass Doors - They are great for what they are. They are inexpensive to make in mass production and should be inexpensive to buy in Lumber yards and Home centers. They are usually behind the curve in up-to-date design because the big companies that mass produce them a filling orders for an existing demand not creating it. If I had to cross the Atlantic in a boat I would rather it be fiberglass than wood. I still just don't like the fake way they look and they are NOT inexpensive. Before you commit to purchasing a fiberglass door unit you should compare our prices with theirs. Ordinarily, our Designer Weatherproof Doors would be much more expensive that the fiberglass door unit, but because you are able to buy your door from us DIRECTLY, we offer a very competitive price compared to the high quality Fiberglass doors. The way they are made is with a fiberglass skin and a urethane foam core makes them extremely light weight which to me feels flimsy. The fiberglass skin has plastic appearance that looks very artificial to me. One problem for us is that contractors and builders LOVE these doors. They are lightweight, easy to install and last well against the elements. This makes their life easier and they aren't worried if your home has a plastic look. Our doors, on the other hand are solid, heavy and prefinished. Really, it does take quality contractor to handle and install our doors, not a framing carpenter. Fiberglass Doors are not subject to warp crack or split, but they can develop an "oil can" bowed kind of appearance if they are painted a dark color and get direct sun. The bottom line its really about the aesthetics. If you find a fiberglass door that satisfies your need, buy it. But keep in mind, instead of getting an ordinary door that most people have, you can get an outrageous looking door from us for close to the same price. Also, don't plan on trying to make a Fiberglass door have a natural wood appearance. Even if you are an accomplished faux artist and have it looking like a Chris Craft the first go round, you will never be able to maintain the original finish. Trust me I have heard 100's of complaints from fiberglass door owners that were told by some "expert" that they could stain their fiberglass to look "just like wood" and they all had to eventually paint their door. You probably guessed it, but we do not sell fiberglass doors. We could but we don't want to. Steel Doors and Iron Doors - I'm not talking about the ultra cheap embossed panel - foam filled - type of door you see on apartments. I am referring to a new trend in Steel or Iron doors that have an "Old World" styling usually incorporating some type of wrought iron and glass design. Similar in design to our Composite Designer Doors. They are cool looking. A little on the dungeon side, but they do work for some of new popular castle like homes being built today. One popular brand on the market is actually named Castle Entries. That may be appropriate for you if you truly have a home that looks like a castle, but most people don't. I believe our designs are much more appropriate to blend the traditional styles of architecture with the "Old World" styling so popular today. Look at our before and after pictures on our Home Page to see what I mean. They are way too expensive. Steel is cheap. Most of these doors are being made in Mexico and China where the labor is cheap. Why does a double 8 ft. door unit cost $12,000 ? When you see an "IRON DOOR" you are not looking at IRON! You are looking at paint! All the iron/steel doors are painted! Many of these finishes are cheap and unattractive as they or being painted in a third world country that does not have the aesthetic or quality standards we have in the good old USA. Also, some of these manufacturers are offering a cheap knock-off version of a better known brand and mislead consumers with lower prices or special offers. I know this is a relatively new trend but I have heard some negative comments about the leaking of water around the weather-stripping and glass seal, rusting and difficulty repairing dents or maintaining the unique paint technique applied in the foreign factory. One customer told me "that our iron door is so HOT in the afternoon sun that NOBODY could use the front door till late in the afternoon!". "So HOT you could fry an egg on it!". The biggest problem of all is the fact that ALL of these doors will RUST. They have a HOLLOW Rail and Stile (the sides top and bottom). They are filled with urethane foam. Here's the problem: After your door is installed and the air conditioning is turned on, atmospheric moisture (condensation) will find its way into the hollow internal core it rails and style. This fact is unavoidable. In the manufacturing process it is impossible to seal the complete skin of the steel. Similar to a failed insulted glass unit, which most of us have had. Over time, this moisture build-up, and starts rusting the inside core of the door! Keep in mind the internal core of the door is unpainted unfinished steel. There is no way for you to see this happening or fix it. Eventually, maybe in 2 or 3 or 4 years the rust will "come thru". Much like the appearance of rust damage on an older car, the rust starts to look like blisters near the bottom of the door. STEEL is GUARANTEED to RUST! It is not a matter of IF. It is only a matter of WHEN! I wonder why these doors are sold with only a 1 or 2 year warranty? What is an Oldeworldart Weatherproof Door ? We exclusively use a fabulous EXTERIOR MILLWORK WOOD SUBSTITUTE, named "EXTIRA", to manufacture our unique weatherproof doors. Extira is the reason we can offer a limited "10 year WARRANTY". Most people are familiar with the new exterior composite products called TREX Decking or Azeck cellular vinyl board which are quickly replacing wood as material of choice for exterior applications. Extira is in the same family of new engineered products but is only available to commercial vendors who can manufacture and finish it properly. As a weatherproof hybrid exterior product it offers many superior qualities to any natural product. The manufacturer of this product, CMI corporation ( http://www.extira.com/ ) is a billion dollar company, that has been studying the finished and unfinished test samples of this product for 9 years in all different environments including the Everglades swamp!, and has shown no rot, twist, expansion or contraction. We have been using this same product to manufacture exterior doors for 5 years. We have also been considered a model partner company for us to continually report the performance of their products. The real proof of its product in our application for door making, is the fact that we have been making doors for 5 years using this product and have had NO claims on the product itself! So this product and process gets an A+ rating from us! That's why we are willing to offer a limited LIFETIME warranty on this product and our workmanship! Our weatherproof doors are perfect for most applications. Especially any kind of harsh environment where doors are subject to salt air, direct sun, direct weather, heavy commercial use, etc. It is a however, a paint grade product. We have been very successful in creating several great unique exterior finishes including metallic finishes in antique bronze, weathered bronze and wood toned distressed styles. These finishes are permanent and will never have to be maintained other than a periodic application of our commercial grade super hard urethane. We are also able to make our doors to compliment any architectural style and in any size or shape!
Our door material has an extra quality of being very dense and heavy, which gives the door a great solid feel when opening and closing the door. This material is also very energy efficient, much more so than wood or fiberglass. I have had nothing but positive response to our weatherproof doors. Old World Styling with today's technology "THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS"
Our designs are Unique our quality is unmatched and your choices are UNLIMITED! Our weatherproof Designer Doors are the absolute best door on the market and will give you a lifetime of Design and utilitarian satisfaction. We don't jus make doors, we make Conversation Pieces!
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