Sorry, no help on the brands, but I do have a question. If your current door is ok and the rot is just between it and the sidelights, have you considered having a finish carpenter replace/repair those parts?

12 years isn't very old for a door. If you choose not to replace the existing door, is there any way to prevent the moisture problem at the bottom.

Although we'd rather not spend the $$ or hassle, at this point it just needs replacing. Since day 1 we had difficulty getting the sidelights & door to hold paint. About 3 years ago we had a carpenter completely metal clad the exposed wood between the sidelights and door and & also above the door. On one side he put a seam in the metal about 2" from the ground (measuring error) which is letting in moisture & no longer adhering because there's nothing firm for it to stick to. The sidelights leaked so they replaced the framing. It still leaks air horribly & twice we've used towels to sop up the water that leaked in during a heavy rain. Currently if you push or tug on the framing between the door & sidelights you can move it about 1/2". The rep said it might not have been installed properly. I don't know.

I realize 12 years isn't very old, but at this point we just want to be done with the door.

Our first fiberglass door was a Therma-Tru, 36" with single sidelight. Never had a problem in 15 years. Granted, the exterior of the door was painted, but no problems.

When we moved three years ago, we replaced the steel door with another Therma-Tru with double sidelights. Again, the exterior is painted, and it gets the afternoon sun. No problems and I don't anticipate any.

Enjoy the journey.
eal51 in western CT

Likely because of our recent personal experience, but if you are spending that much money for goodness sake ensure you get an installer who knows what they are doing. I would go so far as to ask for the installer's reference and ability to go inspect their recent installations.

It might sound like a waste of time but for a $8K door, the last thing you need is to have the installation mess up.

How bad can an installation get? The link below is to our blog were we detail our 9 month journey of the replacement front door installation from H-E-double hockey stick (think about it for a minute :-) ). And, the installation was done so badly that they are building us a new door and will be removing the original replacement door (two side lights with a single door in the middle with a large glass insert) and installing with the new one they are building.....yes, with a different installer.

We are up to Part 23 of the series of blog posts (yes, lot's of pictures) and still not done. It could take a while going through all the posts in the series but if you learn from what happened to us it will be worth your time.

Good Luck.
Dan

Here is a link that might be useful: Replacement Front Door Experience

eal51: Therma-tru is the brand we wanted to go with when replacing the door; however it won't fit the arch.

dan dhrt: I'll read your blog & take note. We wanted to find a retailer who would also install so they couldn't point fingers if something went wrong; however they won't do that. We're in a rural area so our choice of contractors is limited. We've had good luck with one guy who's been excellent in fixing other problems we've had. The joys of owning a home.

Thanks for your words of encouragement.

Hi Hilltop,

How did you make out?

In our case, alls well that ends well ... eventually.

The initial installation was so bad that they sent the mufacturer out to see what the issues were and decided to remove the new door and install another one; not because the first door was defective but because the 1st installation was so bad that their was a risk of damaging the integrity of the first door when they removed it!

Yes, we have written all about our experiences with this that you can find in the above noted link.

Then, of course it took them 3 months before the credits we were to have received actually showed up on the retailer's credit card statement (just received yesterday actually) after some non-pleasant phone conversations between myself, the retailer, the retail store manager #1 and his replacement the next month, etc.

Quite an adventure. If it were happening to someone else I wouldn't believe it (part of the reason why I took so many pictures I guess :-) ).

Now I still have to rime and paint the inside of the door frame (completely unprimed unlike the first door frame which was primed and painted)as well as the molding on the inside of the frame. That is the task for this weekend. Last weekend we bought and planted some trees and perennials that were on sale.

I'd suggest before anyone orders & has installed a replacement front door they consider spending at least a little time viewing what went wrong with our front door installation so they know what to look out for.

Cheers,
Dan

Hi Dan,
I thought of you numerous times thinking "our situation can't get as bad as his".

Well here's our story. We ordered the door in late May and were told it would take 8-10 weeks. Jeld-wen rep & store rep were here 2 or 3 times to measure & make template before ordering so the new elliptical window would match the arch in the brick. Door finally arrived first part of September but the paint job was horrible so they sent it back. Week later door arrived again. Installed by our local contractor who does great work. Part of the subfloor needed to be replaced due to rotting from moisture leaks on old door. Width & height-wise the door & sidelights fit fine; however the upper curve of the elliptical on new door does not match the brick opening. There's a gap of 1 1/4" on upper left & 7/8" on upper right with no gap in middle. (Remember-only reason we went with same brand was because noone else could get elliptical arch to match) We're contacting a mason to see what to do. Also, we had planned and told them we wanted to use our old lockset since it was only 6 months old. I had specifically crossed the new lockset off the order blank. When the new door arrived it was predrilled for a different lockset & had a special triple latch system requiring a unit costing $600+ which they ultimately provided at no cost I'm holding back about 15% of the door cost till we figure out how to fill the gap. Our options are caulk, mortar, possibly a custom brick moulding (if we can find someone to make it), relaying the brick or other (not sure what that is).

As for the door--it's much more solid than our old door. The door rep said the upper elliptical window was custom made & he didn't keep a copy of the template so it would be a matter of he said, she said as to "why" the new window doesn't fit. The Formanek on the interior is beautiful. It looks like a solid oak door and matches our woodwork beautifully. On the exterior its steel as we ordered (since we get so much direct sun we were told to avoid fiberglass) and much tighter. Unfortunately, once installed I realized the lighter paint color (again recommended since we get so much direct sun) just doesn't go with our darker brick exterior so we're getting it repainted by an auto body shop. But the paint color was a choice we made so we'll deal with that.

We call it the door from hell. I wanted a porch when we built but hubby didn't. If I ever build a house again, I'll have my porch or at least a larger portico with extended overhang and a simple, one-unit door that could be easily replaced if needed. For the money that we put into the original door & now this replacement door we could have enclosed the area and had more living space.....or I could have had my porch :)

We tried something fancy with the door when we built. I realize now all I want is functional, tight & energy efficient.

It's good that you were able to hold back part of the payment.

With a big box building retailer you can't ... at least we couldn't. We are charged 100.0% of the cost at order time; not negotiable.

You should try and see if the additional masonry cost can be taken off what you have to pay for the door; worth a shot.

Good luck.
Dan