Lots of factors to be included in the opinion. Things like which direction the door faces. North facing in winter get punished by cold/snow/etc. South facing doors get heat in summer, South facing fiberglas doors have been known to disfigure due to excess heat. Storm doors can help or hinder a doors longevity. Pros of wood doors: Lots of different natural colors. Lots of intricate details possible. Strength is usually high Cons of wood doors: Wood moves with weather(temp and humidity) Wood has to be finished(painting hides the grain. Clear finishes have to be periodically renewed) Wood doors are heavier. Wood door parts can separate due to weather. Real wood doors are much more expensive that clad doors. Fiberglas doors are simply wood cores covered in a fiberglas shell. They can have asimilar look to wood, but have to be painted/stained to have a grain pattern. Like vinyl siding having a texture like wood but the look of plastic. I have steel doors on my house---wood cores with a steel cover.

I have a good friend who sells replacement windows and doors and we when we replaced one of our doors last year she told me not to get fiberglass. I ended up with a steel door and I'm happy! I wasn't able to buy a door from her anyway as she lives in a different state. Her comments lead me to believe that the fiberglass just doesn't hold up as well, in the long run. Good Luck! Sue

The posts and frame would be wood in a vast majority of cases. You can sometimes order the frame material of a better quality of wood so that it is easier and prettier when stained.

Sharing a negative experience with Marvin or any other windows is not "smearing a brand." A "vetting process" is ineffectual when it relies on the manufacturer's customer service and sales reps. to give correct information, and they do not provide correct information. That is never the consumer's fault. On this site, buyers and sellers should be able to share their own experiences without having those experiences picked apart by anyone else. For those consumers who want to hear from someone who bought Marvin Essential windows, I will again share my experience. I find the windows lack quality. They rely on far too much ABS plastic. The plastic cheapens an otherwise ok product. Their customer service does not provide correct answers to consumers questions. Their design, especially where two double-hung windows are joined together, is, according to another on this site, "hideous." Sadly, I have to agree with that assessment. Others have claimed that the windows are not energy efficient. I would agree that my house is colder since installing the Marvin Essential windows. It is not well known that another brand, Alpen, fills the chambers of their fiberglass windows with a foam to improve energy efficiency. Marvin leaves the chambers in the Essential frames hollow. I can also tell you that the ABS plastic on the Essentials is not coated but the fiberglass is. This leaves an odd difference in color between the plastic and the fiberglass if you choose white. You must make your own choice, but that was my experience. Asking Marvin customer service and their sales rep. for exact information regarding the materials was a waste of time. Neither could be relied upon for accurate information. I was told the windows were fully fiberglass except for the small parts one would expect not to be, like seals. Hope sharing my experience helps others and even helps Marvin to improve their product. Until they do improve it, I would not purchase it again.