Steel entry door

Steel entry doors from the big box stores are typically 26 or 28 gauge, have wood framing (exposed) around the slab, are usually filled with the elcheapo polystyrene foam (think $2.99 cooler from the gas station) and are basically JUNK like others have mentioned. Decent steel dors from Jeldwen, Therma Tru, Polaris, Pella etc. are most generally a much heavier 24 gauge steel skins and either steel or LVL type perimeter slab frames.

But the best steel (and fiberglass) entry doors available anywhere (IMHO), are those from ProVia. They are an ultra heavy 20 gauge steel, with zero wood edge framing and filled with the closed cell polyurethane foam. It takes a strike with a baseball bat to even put a mark on them. They come pre finished from the factory (painted or stained), and pre-formed exterior cladding for the jambs and brickmold. Plus, they are VERY customizable from the jamb depth, width, height, even specifying the height and width of the finished brickmold so that the door slips right into the opening perfectly.

Are they a LOT more expensive that a home center POS? Sure.... absolutely. But, try telling the home center dude you want a 4-7/8" jamb depth rather than standard 4-9/16" because you want to cover a crappy caulk line from the previous door. Or tell him you want to add a bit of a spread in the mulls to make the door a little wider, or to REALLY cross his eyes, tell him you want 5/16" shaved from the top brickmold and 1/8" added to each side brickmold (with cladding pre-bent to those exact specs) so that you end up with a nice 3/16" gap around the perimeter to do final caulking. All you'll get are the sounds the principals secretary made in Ferris Buller's Day Off when Cameron called..... "Ummm.... Uhhhh.... Errrrrr.... Ahhhh.... Ummm." When he finally gets over the shock of you even asking, let alone even knowing what the hell you're talking about, NO will be his obvious answer.

ProVia entry door systems are simply the best doors I've ever used.

I completely agree with the other Pros. I very much dislike those sub $200 junk doors from Depot and Lowes. Ironically, I'm preparing a proposal at this very moment with a Jeld Wen pre-hung 32"x 80" fan-lite primed steel door out of Home Depot that I'm already dreading the installation. It's for one of my good buddies from HS that is starting to invest in rental properties and this is his first duplex. As horrible as these doors are even new it will be the nicest thing in the entire duplex except for the new carpeting. Sad!

I've been dealer of ProVia/Precision Entry for over a decade and it's so very rare that I have to utilize something else. As Homesealed also mentioned HMI and Homeguard, I like their doors also. Upper end ThermaTru is also nice. I rarely stray from ProVia as those Mennonites that own ProVia are brutal when it comes to changing your dealer's wholesale multiplier if you fall below certain sales numbers from your previous year.

It's funny how those Jeld Wen, RB, and Masonite doors weigh less than a storm door of the same size. One can carry these doors like a case of bottled water. Complete garbage. I hate the fact that my buddy wants them and that's all his budget will allow for. To top it off, I have to pull the brick molding and glue and screw the jamb extension kit and mill finish sill nose to allow for almost a 6.75" wall thickness due to multiple mods done to the walls over the years regarding siding.

My previous experience with these kinds of doors has led me to allow more time for the installation as trying to square them up and get proper weatherstripping contact is more challenging. Since I'm always worried about jamb and brick molding rot, cladding the jambs and brickmolding is standard for me with PVC coated or smooth aluminum. I back seal this cladding with Novaflex typically and use a Van Mark trim former or Tapco Brake Buddy as I'm not a huge fan of hollow box bends on brick molding. Free hand trim forming also looks nice if you're matching ProVia's pre-fit cladding and the one has to re-bend a piece.

I like to keep some oversized Q-lon in the truck also as a very last resort if I'm really fighting the door for some strange reason. A proud door carpenter should be able to make the reveals work but we all have a door or window once in a blue moon that I swear came off the line made out of tolerance and defies logic. The one thing that I hate most about these doors is the fact that I have to change the mortising in the strike side jamb to accommodate the Schlage factory deadbolt strike plate. What a pain. Never looks as good as good custom ordered door that is married with the hardware and mortised that way.

The Lowes down my way in South Jersey and Delaware has their steel doors manufactured by "Reliabilt." Home Depot's down here carry Jeld Wen. It's only every couple of years that I mess with one of these doors so I'm not claiming to be an expert as to whether HD or Lowes has the better option on a builder's grade door. I'd check both stores out and closely examine the products if one must go that route. What's kind of sad is the fact that there isn't really a little step up in pricing. It's a big leap to get something better in regards to cost.

I hear what TimNJ is saying and understand it. So much of a door's lifespan is also related to proper maintenance and care. I see so many doors and windows never maintained at all. Not ever cleaned even once or painted. Without a storm door installed, if the door jambs receive a lot of moisture the corner weather stripping foam cheater wedges can aid in jamb rot if their the standard open vinyl open cell foam variety. I've seen some manufacturers go to a closed cell wedge version.

TimNJ said:

Personally, I try to steer customers a way from pre finished doors.

Maybe with the exception of some newer construction, there are a lot of variables where you need to do some "tweaking" with the unit to get it to sit in the opening properly with the correct reveals and tight seal.

If the unit is all pre finished that may effect my ability to make corrections as needed. That's why I get unfinished and tell the customer if they truly want a professionally finished complete job, hire a professional painter to put the finish on it.

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Why would you steer people away from a factory finish? It is about the most durable finish that they can get, damn near automotive grade paint, clear coat, etc. No offense to pro painters, but that is some thing that they can't replicate short of taking the slab off and taking it to a body shop to be sprayed... Not sure how that would affect any needed adjustments anyway, but I'd also add that the quality units mentioned above rarely need corrections as long as they are measured properly. When I first started on my own and had to be low-priced (because I didn't know any better) I'd spend a whole day farting around with box store doors, and then after putting in a few quality units I'll never go back. You can literally cut the install time in half or less when they flop in perfect right out of the box.

HomeSealed said:

Why would you steer people away from a factory finish? It is about the most durable finish that they can get, damn near automotive grade paint, clear coat, etc. No offense to pro painters, but that is some thing that they can't replicate short of taking the slab off and taking it to a body shop to be sprayed... Not sure how that would affect any needed adjustments anyway, but I'd also add that the quality units mentioned above rarely need corrections as long as they are measured properly. When I first started on my own and had to be low-priced (because I didn't know any better) I'd spend a whole day farting around with box store doors, and then after putting in a few quality units I'll never go back. You can literally cut the install time in half or less when they flop in perfect right out of the box.

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I can count on one hand the number of entry doors that I install in 6 months time where the RO framing is not skewed from one side of the opening to the other. When I do the estimate you can see it in the way their door is closing to the weatherstripping. Either tight seal at bottom corner and barely or not at all touching at the top corner and vice versa.
I always pull the brickmould off and the set the bare jamb, then set the door in and make my adjustments for proper reveal and weatherstripping contact. Then I usually end up ripping the backside of the brickmoulding to make up for the out of wack framing.

Pre-painted leaves me too liable to damage the finish. I still do them, I just don't like to.

Last prepainted unit was ThermaTru. The door and sidelight were prepainted green, jambs white. Millwork company damaged the paint on the window trim and "touched it up" with a green that didn't even match:laughing: I'm not talking about a little nick, they painted a section about 10 inches long in wrong color.

The bad part was I put the door in for one of the sales guys from the supplier and he deals with the millwork company half a dozen times a day and the millwork company still sent the door out like that.

Scratching and damaging those expensive pre-finished entry doors seems to be about the easiest "Murphy's Law" goof up that I run into. ProVia's mountain berry and forrest green on smooth steel seem to love some of my hand tools. I have one chisel in particular that loves to ride in the slots of my speed square when not placed correctly in order, and then it just randomly jumps the heck out of it's pouch on my tool belt.

I'm real lucky as to never have put any type of scratch that required replacing the slab or abuse/overuse of the factory supplied touch up paint. I perform all finish work myself thus prefer as much pre-finished products as possible as my days are long enough. Removing brick molding is very common for me with really goofy walls and openings. No big deal because 95% of my door customers desire cladded jambs and brick molding/ext. trim casings so I can hide anything that's not too far out with the cladding.