Seeking Recommendations for an Energy-Efficienct Door
wiscoguy
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
I’ve gotten some great info on these boards and I’m down to the end here. I hadn’t really considered my doors I need a quality front door. I saw a couple companies that were like 8000 and while I’m sure they are beautiful that’s just out of my range. So looking for some options and or suggestions for good quality doors. I already have a few good options for sliding doors but not a front door.
Thanks appreciate any help.
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I’m giving your question a bump. While you wait for people to weigh in, check out this article by BuildingGreen’s Alex Wilson: Seeking an Affordable Energy-Efficient Exterior Door.
https://www.thermatru.com/technical/learn-about-energy-efficient-products/
https://www.provia.com/entry-doors/embarq
https://www.pellabranch.com/blog/global-blogs/entry-doors-elegant-can-be-efficient-/
https://residential.masonite.com/learn/energy-efficiency/
https://www.jeld-wen.com/en-us/products/exterior-doors
Wiscoguy,
I've been researching this issue as well. Jeldwin's exterior doors get good review but are a bit pricey. Therma-Tru is more economical and widely available at the big-box stores.
I bought an Intus PVC door a few years ago for another house. It was great and not much more than Therma-Tru. Unfortunately, the manufacturer has existed the residential market.
I appreciate the comments. I hate that doors in the us only have the center locking point I wish we had more options for multiple locking pints like European doors have.
All new exterior residential doors in British Columbia are now required to have have three point locks. it adds about $400 to each one. Our lumberyard can install them on any of the doors they carry.
Do you guys ship to Wisconsin?
No harm in asking them: https://www.slegg.com/content/doors
Or one of the suppliers they list.
Malcolm, the lumber supply company installs the additional locking points after receiving the door from the manufacturer?
T,
Yes. they have their own door plant. They pre-hang the doors and install the hardware.
The thee point locks are complex piece of hardware. If they go wrong there is no just running down to the store for a new lockset and installing it yourself. It's a service call for sure. All the windows here now have them too.
The way the door supply chain works is kind of complicated. In many cases there is a value-added distributor that buy slabs from somebody like jeld-wen and assembles them with hardware and a frame to make a prehung unit, which you then buy from a building supply company or lumber yard. In the Northeast, that distributor is brosco. They have a huge catalog online with many options including multipoint locks. They even have a price list online.
This is very helpful to know.
And it may explain why door shopping is so frustrating. You go to a door manufacturer website, and it has lots of pretty pictures of awesome houses with snazzy doors. But otherwise the websites tend to be just about unusable, for any actual information about the doors, they want you to visit a dealer. So you go to a dealer, and they might have a handful of sample doors, and maybe some brochures, but they say, "oh, if you want to see all the options, you should visit the manufacturer website." It's like nobody really knows what the product is they're selling.
I installed Therma Tru doors on my Passive House. All three have the three point locking system, and they are very nice.
Is this in the US
Therma Tru has a triple-point option on their doors. Looks like it's been a "standard option" in the US since 2017 or so. A Google search on "therma tru multiple point locking" brings up info. If you find a better value on "European quality" doors, please let us know.
The Afton passive house used a company out of Amery Wisconsin.
http://www.doorsofdistinction.com/
Wisco,
You might want to read "All About Doors."
Key takeaway: air sealing is probably more important than R-value for doors.
Provia embarq as mentioned above
I've been researching doors too. Planning to go with a Therma Tru Classic-Craft with single sidelite and a multi-point lock--roughly $5,600! If I wasn't so picky about the architectural styling, I'd go with a Fiber-Classic and save money--but it is still a very nice door! I was also very interested in ProVia but no dealers near me.
Keep in mind that standard exterior doors are only 1.75" thick, so there's a limit to how much r-value you can get. With a solid wood door you might have R-1.5, the glass probably has more insulation that the frame. If you go to a thicker door you're not standard any more, and you have to worry about issues with hardware and mounting.
The Thera Tru fiberglass door comes in some appealing styles. I got two as described above - slab from Therma Tru, prehung mounted into a frame with transom & sidelight by the local door distributor in a configuration not offered by Therma Tru. If I had to do it over I would:
1. Get the doors with 3 point locks. One of my doors is already slightly warped by the workers unlocking it and for some reason kicking the lower latch side as they enter.
2. Buy the door that has a sidelight WITHOUT sidelight or transom. I would frame the opening for the door only out of wood all around so there are solid jambs and header, and frame the sidelight and transom separate for either a window install or sidelight /transom separate from the door supplier. The single 2x prehung door jamb between the latch side and the sidelight is not very solid, and I would prefer to have solid wood into which I could sink some long 4" strike screws, but the entire thing is only about 1.5" wide. I'm glad it is a rarely used door, but I'm concerned it would not stand up to someone trying to kick it in.
Thanks
We had originally installed a ThermaTru fiberglass door with sidelight and 3-point lock on my house while it was under construction, but there was a break-in on site, and the door seemed to have been very easily pried open, even with the locks. I get that they have an energy benefit in places with high wind, but they didn't add much security in my experience.
After that break-in, we ended up installing a commercial insulated steel door with steel jamb, which at least feels much more solid (although it hasn't been tested yet in an actual break-in, and knock on wood won't be anytime soon).
What kind of sliding doors do you want to buy, and where will you install them? Of course, the quality of any door should always be the best. After all, no one will be pleased to know that the doors collapse before their eyes in a couple of months. I've heard that interior sliding doors and exterior sliding doors should have no differences in strength and quality. If some salesperson tells you that, run away from him. I bought great 4 panel interior doors for several offices of my company. These doors never slam, their handles never jam, and the glass never cracks. These same doors would be great for exiting the back patio with the pool at my house. I've thought about installing the same doors in my home, not just in offices. So, carefully inspect the quality of the doors, and talk to the salespeople. https://www.ukoakdoors.co.uk/internal-oak-doors/four-panel-doors