Red Green wrote:
ransley wrote in
:

On Oct 7, 9:51 pm, "retired53" [email protected] wrote:
"ransley" wrote in message


... On Oct 7, 5:32 pm, rmorton wrote:

SWMBO has decreed that front door must be replaced with a
fiberglass one. After I don't know how many hours shopping for one
she has narrowed it down to 3 different brands and styles. Knowing
absolutely nothing about these doors and finding very little of any
use on the web except manufacturers/vendors ramblings and a few
bitter homeowners comments, I decided to place the question to you.
Are there any known problems or support issues with the following:
Pella, Therma-Tru or Benchmark by Thermatru? The price of all are
very similar and to my untrained eye the doors appear very similar.
I would appreciate any and all constructive comments.
What is your door now, I am looking at Menards fiberglass doors but
they have to be finished, unfinished the sun will degrade it. I am
looking at fiberglass over metal for winter insulation, but wood is
about as good. For a home wood looks best.

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After my wood door got kicked in by a burgler I've omly bought metal
exterior doors.
Its not the door its the hardware the thief broke, with the same
hardware you will be just as insecure.


For my own doors I usually make a piece of wood to fit between the stud
and door jamb, glue and screw it.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16jq0qe&s=4

That way the deadbolt is into solid wood attached to the RO. But you're
right, couple of whacks with a framing hammer or a size 14 workboot and
the hardware is toast.
A quality deadbolt won't shatter. What shatters is either the edge of
the door, if it is a cheap door, or more commonly, the cheap
finger-glued door jamb. I've repaired plenty of both over the years.
Filling the cavity between jamb and RO, using real screws on the strike
plate and door edge, and even lagging the jamb through a block into the
stud, make a big difference. Real metal door in real metal frame is most
secure, of course, but usually considered unacceptable by the homeowner
due to the look. They sell all sorts of extended-vertically strike
plates, and metal cups, and wrap-around-the-door trim plates to
repair/reinforce cheap doors. For a side or garage door, a hidden-screw
shield to keep crowbars away from lockset, and a tubular guard around
the knob, to keep it from getting vise-gripped, are often effective.
Kicking is LOUD- if you can pull a car up to the door and use legs or
jack to apply point-force against the latch, it breaks a lot more
quietly. If there is nothing to push against, a pair of size-huge
vicegrips and a pipe on the knob stem or outside of deadbolt, can twist
it right out of the door.

You learn a lot being a gopher on apartment construction projects. Empty
but near-finished buildings, supply shacks, and tool cribs, are thief
magnets.

--
aem sends...