What’s the Best Exterior Door Material?
With so many options available on the market, how do you choose the best exterior door material for your home? To help you make your decision, we compare 3 of the most popular exterior door materials below.
Finding the Best Exterior Door Material
Let’s compare wood, fiberglass, and steel exterior doors so you can decide on the best exterior door material for you.
Wood Exterior Doors
Wood exterior doors are one of the more traditional choices for your home, and they also are a great option for adding a bit of character to your home’s exterior.
Let’s take a closer look at the characteristics of wood exterior doors:
- Durability: While they are a durable option, wood exterior doors are more prone to warping, cracking, bowing, scratching, fading, and denting.
- Appearance: When looking for a more traditional, architectural, or high-end appearance for your home’s exterior, wood doors are the best option. With so many species, finishes, and styles to choose from, you’re sure to find a beautiful option that’s perfect for you.
- Maintenance: Wood exterior doors require regular routine maintenance. This can include repairing scratches, staining, and refinishing. This routine maintenance is important for maintaining the appearance and longevity of your exterior wood door.
- Energy Efficiency: While they’re not as energy-efficient as fiberglass doors, wood doors do offer additional energy efficiency properties when a solid hardwood or insulated wood core option is chosen.
- Price Point: Wood exterior doors are one of the more expensive materials to choose from. The price continues to go up the more customization options you add on.
When looking for beautiful exterior wood doors for your home, we recommend Glenview Doors®. Glenview Doors® are available in a variety of architectural styles, all offering superior durability, insulation, and stability.
Fiberglass Exterior Doors
Fiberglass exterior doors are constructed from two large molded sides with a polyurethane foam-filled core. Let’s look more closely at the advantages and disadvantages of fiberglass exterior doors:
- Durability: Fiberglass exterior doors are one of the most durable options on the market. This is because of their foam-filled cores and molded sides.
- Appearance: Fiberglass doors are customizable, which means they’re available in a variety of shapes and finishes. From a wood appearance to the unique color of your choice, you can customize your fiberglass door to fit the exact specifications of your exterior.
- Maintenance: When compared to wood and steel exterior doors, fiberglass requires the least amount of routine maintenance. Due to the way they’re constructed, fiberglass doors are resistant to denting, fading, chipping, and cracking. They also won’t need to be repainted or refinished like other exterior door materials need to be.
- Energy Efficiency: Because of the way they’re fabricated, fiberglass exterior doors are one of the most energy-efficient options on the market.
- Price Point: Fiberglass exterior doors are more expensive than steel doors, but typically less expensive than wood doors. This makes them a great mid-point price option that offers a wide range of additional benefits.
If you’re considering a fiberglass exterior door for your home, our experts at Standard Supply & Lumber recommend Therma-Tru™ Doors. Therma-Tru developed the first fiberglass door in 1982, and today they’re the leading manufacturer of both fiberglass and steel exterior doors.
Steel Exterior Doors
Steel exterior doors are a simple and durable option for any homeowner. Commonly chosen for garage, side, and service doors, steel exterior doors are a great option. Let’s explore the characteristics of steel exterior doors to determine if they’ll be a great fit for your application.
- Durability: Even though steel is a durable material itself, steel doors are not the most durable exterior door product. Steel doors can be easily dented, and they can also rust over time. This limit on their durability also shortens the lifespan of this exterior door material.
- Appearance: Steel exterior doors are typically only available in a flat, painted finish. Unlike fiberglass, it cannot mimic the appearance of real wood. The customization options for steel exterior doors are more limited compared to other exterior door materials.
- Maintenance: Steel doors are a low-maintenance exterior door material. Whereas wood doors can warp and require routine staining, refinishing, and repairs, steel doors do not.
- Energy Efficiency: Steel doors are not the most energy-efficient material. Especially if you choose a steel door that doesn’t have a foam core, you will most likely notice its lack of energy efficiency. Even if you have a steel door with an insulating foam core, it’s still not the most energy-efficient material. This is because steel is a conductor of heat.
- Price Point: Steel exterior doors are less expensive to manufacture, which makes them the lowest-cost option compared to fiberglass and wood doors.
When looking for the right steel exterior door for your home, our team at Standard Supply & Lumber again recommends Therma-Tru™ Doors.
So, What is the Best Exterior Door Material?
After thoroughly comparing the characteristics of each exterior door material, which one is the best? While which material is best for you depends on your unique scenario, here are our winners:
- Wood doors provide the most beautiful aesthetic but are the most expensive option.
- Fiberglass doors are the most durable and energy-efficient.
- Steel doors are the most cost-effective and low-maintenance.
Exterior Door Selection at Standard Supply & Lumber
At Standard Supply & Lumber, we proudly partner with the top exterior door manufacturers in the industry to be able to provide you with the best possible options. Our selection offers the quality craftsmanship you expect, along with the material, style, and color options you want. Contact us today to discuss our selection of exterior doors.
