Hello-
We are getting ready to have our front entry door replaced with an
entry door and two sidelites. We have determined that we cannot afford
Therma-tru.
We have also been looking at Benchmark by Therma-tru at Lowes and
Feather River at Home Depot. We have ruled out Jeldwen because they do
not seem to have wood-texture doors. Another brand that was mentioned
was Door Fab at Lowes.
I'd appreciate your thoughts about these doors. We will do our own
stain most likely.
This door will not get heavy use at all- will be opened rarely. As
for the finish, if owner applied, I would guess one door would be as
good as .
Thanks very much for your help!
Frank

frank1492 wrote:
Hello-
We are getting ready to have our front entry door replaced with an
entry door and two sidelites. We have determined that we cannot afford
Therma-tru.
We have also been looking at Benchmark by Therma-tru at Lowes and
Feather River at Home Depot. We have ruled out Jeldwen because they do
not seem to have wood-texture doors. Another brand that was mentioned
was Door Fab at Lowes.
I'd appreciate your thoughts about these doors. We will do our own
stain most likely.
This door will not get heavy use at all- will be opened rarely. As
for the finish, if owner applied, I would guess one door would be as
good as .
Thanks very much for your help!
Frank



The only person who will really care which door you get is your wife--
or maybe her girlfriends. So let her pick it out and make some points.

Only thing is since there are sidelites, be sure to use a double
cylinder on the deadbolt-- and make sure you get a Grade 1 security
level lock. I recently picked up a nice Schlage at HD on sale for $109.
Most of the Grade 1 models were at least $160.

Bitzer wrote:
frank1492 wrote:
Hello-
We are getting ready to have our front entry door replaced with an
entry door and two sidelites. We have determined that we cannot afford
Therma-tru.
We have also been looking at Benchmark by Therma-tru at Lowes and
Feather River at Home Depot. We have ruled out Jeldwen because they do
not seem to have wood-texture doors. Another brand that was mentioned
was Door Fab at Lowes.
I'd appreciate your thoughts about these doors. We will do our own
stain most likely. This door will not get heavy use at all- will
be opened rarely. As
for the finish, if owner applied, I would guess one door would be as
good as .
Thanks very much for your help!
Frank



The only person who will really care which door you get is your wife--
or maybe her girlfriends. So let her pick it out and make some points.

Only thing is since there are sidelites, be sure to use a double
cylinder on the deadbolt-- and make sure you get a Grade 1 security
level lock. I recently picked up a nice Schlage at HD on sale for $109.
Most of the Grade 1 models were at least $160.

Double-cylinder is dangerous in fires, and outright illegal in some
areas. If you (or your kids) can't find the key in the dark and the
smoke, the door ain't opening. And if you leave the key in the lock all
the time, there is little advantage over a turn handle. Don't believe
me, ask your local FD, or your insurance agent. If you are that worried
about burglars, add a little decorative metal grille over the
side-lights at waist height.

--
aem sends...

"aemeijers" wrote in message
...

Only thing is since there are sidelites, be sure to use a double
cylinder on the deadbolt-- and make sure you get a Grade 1 security
level lock. I recently picked up a nice Schlage at HD on sale for $109.
Most of the Grade 1 models were at least $160.

Double-cylinder is dangerous in fires, and outright illegal in some
areas. If you (or your kids) can't find the key in the dark and the
smoke, the door ain't opening. And if you leave the key in the lock all
the time, there is little advantage over a turn handle. Don't believe
me, ask your local FD, or your insurance agent. If you are that worried
about burglars, add a little decorative metal grille over the
side-lights at waist height.


I agree that the double cyl is a bad idea.

As a locksmith, I recommend that you give strong consideration to the idea
of either having the sidelights fabricated with a Lexan panel or if the one
you like is glass then on the interior set in a Lexan panel that you can
remove with a screw driver for the occasional need to clean the inside.

An additional tip would be to not forget the top and bottom of the door if
you go with a wood door. Often the top and bottom never sees any paint or
sealer and this allows the door to suck in moisture in the wet season.

If you are going to install weather stripping, (a real good idea) pay
attention to the how the face of the latch and deadbolt sit in the door in
relation to the weather stripping. I have seen too many lock failures where
the installer of the weather stripping will hack into the latch or the bolt
and cause a failure down the road.

If the lock face is 1 1/8" and centered on a 2 3/4" thick door, that only
gives13/16" from the front of the latch to the face of the door so any
weather stripping can't be wider than that unless you offset the latch a
bit.

Also if you use some kind of compressible weather stripping, First adjust
the latch strike plate so the latch holds the door shut and then give the
dead bolt strike plate about 1/32" clearance. You do not want the bolt to
rub on the strike plate as this tends to cause premature failure.

Hope this helps.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Apr 20, 11:37*am, frank1492 wrote:
Hello-
* * We are getting ready to have our front entry door replaced with an
entry door and two sidelites. We have determined that we cannot afford
Therma-tru.
* * We have also been looking at Benchmark by Therma-tru at Lowes and
Feather River at Home Depot. We have ruled out Jeldwen because they do
not seem to have wood-texture doors. Another brand that was mentioned
was Door Fab at Lowes.
* * I'd appreciate your thoughts about these doors. We will do our own
stain most likely.
* * This door will not get heavy use at all- will be opened rarely. As
for the finish, if owner applied, I would guess one door would be as
good as .
* * Thanks very much for your help!
* * * * * Frank

I bought my Therma-Tru door through the local Norandex-Reynolds (a
contractor supply house) franchise, same place that I bought all of my
Simonton windows.

The ProVia storm door gets ordered from them next week.

Anyway, I figure I paid ~30% off list as compared to the home centers
and almost 50% off what some of the fancy "door and window, sales and
installation" stores quoted me.

Even if I had paid an independant contractor to install the door, I
still would have saved money over the "fancy" quotes. Since I did it
myself, I'm way ahead.

Look around for some contractor supply houses in your area, find out
what lines they carry, do your homework on those lines, and see what
kind of price-break you can get compared to the "obvious" places to
shop for a door. You can also ask them to give you some names of their
favorite contractors who might give you a decent price on installation.

frank1492 wrote in
:

Hello-
We are getting ready to have our front entry door replaced with an
entry door and two sidelites. We have determined that we cannot afford
Therma-tru.
We have also been looking at Benchmark by Therma-tru at Lowes and
Feather River at Home Depot. We have ruled out Jeldwen because they do
not seem to have wood-texture doors. Another brand that was mentioned
was Door Fab at Lowes.
I'd appreciate your thoughts about these doors. We will do our own
stain most likely.
This door will not get heavy use at all- will be opened rarely. As
for the finish, if owner applied, I would guess one door would be as
good as .
Thanks very much for your help!
Frank


Our front door has the dise lites which we like but we also have the
transom window option which we would never get again. The transom window
runs the full width of the unit, including across the side lites. Thus the
door frames do not run through to the top of the unit. This allows for
vibration when we shut the door and makes it seem cheap which it definitely
was not. Skip the transom windows!