Which fiberglass door is the best

Both fiberglass and steel offer major advantages over wood entrance doors, which, while beautiful, require regular maintenance and lack the endurance, security and energy efficiency of fiberglass or steel.

ProVia, which offers both fiberglass and steel entrance doors, offers its insight into choosing the best door system for your home or business property. Fiberglass entry doors are the 1 replacement choice by homeowners and are best suited for single-home residences. Steel doors more commonly are used by commercial property owners but also are well-suited for residential purposes. Unless you decide to purchase a cheaply made fiberglass door unlike that of Therma-Tru, you will likely recoup the upfront cost of a fiberglass door throughout its lifespan.

Often the first impression of your home, the front door is not to be underestimated for its ability to attract potential buyers and impress your neighbors and guests. Choosing a fiberglass door like that of Therma-Tru not only provides the custom curb appeal you desire, but offers unmatched thermal efficiency, low maintenance and durability— all at a reasonable price.

Low Maintenance and Durability That Lasts Fiberglass is a composite material that is resistant to fading, cracking and chipping. Custom-Made for All Styles With a vast range of options encompassing casual, traditional and modern designs, a custom-ordered fiberglass door can easily fit any entryway with a shape and finish that will complement any architectural style.

Goldilocks Pricing In general, fiberglass doors tend to cost a bit less than wood doors and a bit more than steel doors, putting them right in the middle of the three options. Are you still thinking? While the filler is still soft, use a sharp pencil to mimic the door's graining.

Sand the hardened patch lightly and refinish the entire door. It's hard to argue with the natural beauty, warmth, and authenticity of wood, and you can plane down the door's edges if the house settles. Today's laminated veneers and engineered-lumber cores reduce the notorious problems of swelling and sticking.

But wood exterior doors remain vulnerable to sun and rain and will rot if you don't keep up with the caulking and the painting or varnishing. They represent the lowest-cost option and still command the greatest market share. But if you want an authentic wood look, metal-skin doors can't challenge the realism of fiberglass.

Plus, steel skins are subject to dents and dings and can be hot or cold to the touch. The best steel products are galvanized, but if the coating wears off, the door can rust. In areas where salt air or frequent rain is an issue, fiberglass has the edge on durability. Jeld-Wen Pro Series. Putty-like "sheet molding compound" is stamped under high heat and pressure with a steel die to form the fiberglass skins.

Stiles are inch-thick laminated veneer lumber LVL capped with composite for rot resistance. Rails are full composite. Jeld-Wen Architectural Fiberglass. Long-strand fiberglass is machine-pressed onto silicone molds cast from real wood doors for realistic graining. Four-inch-thick LVL stiles are capped with a hardwood edge band.

Rails are composite. Major door manufacturers such as Masonite, Peachtree, and Pella offer a wide range of doors made of various materials. Here are the types of door materials to consider. Fiberglass A practical choice for most people. These doors are available with a smooth surface or, more typically, an embossed wood-grain texture. An edge treatment on some makes them look more like real wood.

Pros: Fiberglass doors resist wear and tear better than steel. They can be painted or stained, are moderately priced and dent-resistant, and require little maintenance. Cons: They can crack under severe impact. Steel This type of door accounts for about half the market. Pros: They're relatively inexpensive and can offer the security and weather resistance of much pricier fiberglass and wood doors.

Steel doors require little maintenance—unless dents are a part of your home scenario. They're energy-efficient, though adding glass panels cuts their insulating value. Cons: Steel doors didn't resist weather as well as fiberglass and wood doors in our abuse tests and the laboratory equivalent of torrential rain, strong winds, and a decade of wear and tear. And while they're typically low-maintenance, dents are hard to fix, and scratches may rust if they aren't painted promptly.

Wood Provides the high-end look that other materials try to mimic. Pros: Solid-wood doors were best at resisting wear and tear in our tests.

They're also the least likely to dent, and scratches are easy to repair. Cons: Wood doors remain relatively expensive. And they require regular painting or varnishing to look their best.

Manufacturers offer dozens of options for panel and glass designs, grille patterns, sidelights, and transoms.