{"id":74,"date":"2010-10-16T13:14:35","date_gmt":"2010-10-16T20:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/?p=74"},"modified":"2010-10-17T12:35:26","modified_gmt":"2010-10-17T19:35:26","slug":"why-fiberglass-doors-are-better-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/why-fiberglass-doors-are-better-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Fiberglass Doors Are Better-Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of these companies offer a stainable fiberglass door.\u00a0 ThermaTru’s\u00a0 ClassicCraft is their top of the line door.\u00a0 They have doors that can be finished to look like real wood. Oak, mahogany, rustic styles are just a few that they offer.\u00a0 The rustic doors even have knots and distressing built in to give them a very realistic appearance.\u00a0 When you are standing there looking at a prefinished door you will be hard pressed to know that it is fiberglass.<\/p>\n

The look is amazing!\u00a0 Here is a picture of a top of the line Jeld Wen door that I installed last year:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a prefinished fiberglass pair of doors with genuine mahogany jambs and trim factory stained to match….Again, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between jamb and door materials. These top of the line doors can get very expensive. ThermaTru offers a more moderately priced stainable door in their FiberClassic line.\u00a0 They have an embossed oak style grain that stains up nicely but they are not as finely detailed\u00a0 or as realistic as the ClassicCraft.\u00a0 They are also not as expensive!!<\/p>\n

A word of caution about staining fiberglass doors:\u00a0 Because they are fiberglass and not porous they do not absorb stain the same way that a wood door does.\u00a0 When finishing a wood door you apply stain and let it soak in for a bit and then wipe off the excess for a nice fairly even color.\u00a0 Since fiberglass doors do not absorb stains, if you wipe off the excess you will wipe off most of the color.\u00a0 You have to leave some of the stain in place on the door to get the depth of color that you are seeking.<\/p>\n

It is much like applying a faux finish.\u00a0 You wipe it on smoothly, avoiding lap joints and leave the stain to dry on the door.\u00a0 After it is dry you would apply a minimum of two clear top coats to protect the door and stain surface.\u00a0 The more coats of finish that you apply the better deep appearance you will achieve.\u00a0 If you are not a patient person familiar with this type of work you would probably be better off hiring a professional finisher to do the staining for you so that you will get a quality job that you will enjoy over the years.<\/p>\n

There are times that I will recommend a quality wood door.\u00a0 If the door has to match existing wood finishes, trim or sidelites and has plenty of weather protection I would say sure, choose a wood door.\u00a0 Oftentimes factory made hardwood doors are made without the thin veneers that I was describing earlier.\u00a0 If they are well made and finished properly they should give years of good service.\u00a0 A wood door will have more natural color variations then a fiberglass door.\u00a0 This is a feature that can push the decision in either direction depending on the overall architectural look that you are trying to achieve.<\/p>\n

As I said earlier…I am an old wood guy (been doing this kind of work for almost forty years!) but you really can’t beat these fiberglass doors for holding up.\u00a0 The great warranties, energy efficiency, styles available and comparable costs help many people make the decision to buy fiberglass for the exterior doors of their homes and offices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of these companies offer a stainable fiberglass door.\u00a0 ThermaTru’s\u00a0 ClassicCraft is their top of the line door.\u00a0 They have doors that can be finished to look like real wood. Oak, mahogany, rustic styles are just a few that they offer.\u00a0 The rustic doors even have knots and distressing built in to give them a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thedoorguy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}