I don't know the answer to your question regarding the best material for the environmental exposure.

I can say that our current house has steel builder grade doors. We are currently building a new house and went with Thermatru doors. We went with the Classic Craft on the main entrance to be painted and the Smooth Star on the basement entrance to be painted.

The Classic Craft is a considerably nicer door, but I find both of them are much nicer than the steel builder grade doors I am used to.

PlastPro doors are far better designed and constructed than Therma Tru and are less expensive.

The 3 best doors are provia, hmi, and homeguard. The high end therma tru is pretty decent though. The standard therma tru leave alot to be desired,

My local home lumber stores have never mentioned ProVia, HMI, or Home Guard doors. I'm guessing their price points are much higher than PlastPro and Therma-Tru. Yes?

Right now, the recommendation is that if we go with a wood grain fiberglass door, we should have it pre-stained rather than do it ourselves. I'm open to getting a quote and sample, hopefully, but if the price is too out of reach, we might have to go with smooth fiberglass doors that we paint ourselves. The main door we use (off the kitchen) is primed steel, no paint. I have to scrub box elder bug feces off of it often.

Is there a paint for entry doors that can withstand vigorous cleaning?

Could a pre-stained wood grain fiberglass door withstand vigorous cleaning?

Nicole, would you mind sharing what you're quoted for that Marvin Ultrex window? I just got a quote today that has my eyes bugging. Not sure if I should keep shopping dealers.

Given that house, if you insist on getting a new door, absolutely 100% without a doubt you should go with a conventional steel exterior door.

Skim_02, here are the quotes for each type of window (no installation) of Marvin Integrity Wood-Ultrex, stone white exterior, white interior, white hardware, Low E3 glass:

Double Hung 30x60 SDL 2W1H $530.70 each

Double Hung 30x56 SDL 2W1H $504.76 each

Glider 60x42 SDL 2W2H $714.52 each

Casement 17x31 no SDL $316.49

P8 Direct Glaze (Octagon) $484.75 (we're going with All-Ultrex at $264.97 to save money).

Doing simulated divided lites added a lot of extra cost. I wish we could have gotten the satin nickel hardware, but I thought having the pine interior primed white was more important. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Strategery, do you think we should go with a steel door because of the house's exposure and wear and tear? Ease of maintenance? I really don't have a preference, but the doors definitely need to be upgraded. Nothing was installed well when the house was flipped two home-owners before us.

My home has no porch protecting the front entry. I replaced the steel entry door with a Pella fiberglass door. The Pella door showed signs of rot and delamination within 18 months of installation (it's a wood frame with FG skins like Therma Tru.) I replaced the Pella with a PlastPro which is holding up beautifully for the past two years. The PlastPro makes use of composite in lieu of wood except in the bore and hinge areas where they use engineered wood and cover it with composite material.

If you opt for a stained fiberglass door, you will likely have a lot of maintenance if exposed to the weather with no porch. I highly recommend the factory stain option because it is difficult to stain fiberglass.

Steel, for the good price point. Get pre-hung, and have the framing and sill repaired at same time if needed. The last photo shows rot below the door.

It is crucial that the exterior frame is clad and that the siding mates properly. The photos show problems. I can’t tell which is the front door and which is side. The deck one should have wood ramp replaced with something more durable and non-slip.

If you want a glass door then forget about insulation.

"My local home lumber stores have never mentioned ProVia, HMI, or Home Guard doors."

I don't know where you are located, but two of those top door companies are regional. HMI does not sell west of Pennsylvania. Home Guard is based in Indiana and sells in the Midwest. Provia sells all over the country, but their prices are very high, and so some lumber yards won't carry Provia because they don't don't have a customer base in that income level.

I am in the Midwest, and bought a Home Guard steel entry door (they make fiberglass doors too) and am mostly pleased. "Mostly pleased" because the door itself is fantastic, a much heavier gauge than the steel door it replaced, very well insulated. The company was easy to work with and friendly, though I mostly dealt with my contractor. Home Guard is an old-fashioned style company which I actually liked. What I didn't like was that my order included 2 sidelites, and Home Guard did those poorly. I guess doors, not sidelites, are their forte.

I also got a quote from Provia, and it was astronomical given that my steel door was pretty humble. Just couldn't afford it, and I was willing to stretch, but not by that huge amount.

Nicole, thank you. I've been quoted $624 for the double hung 32x60 window from two different companies. Wonder what I can do to get that lower...

This is the Therma-Tru Smooth-Star 3/4 Lite 1 Panel Flush-Glazed door (S2013-SDLGBG). It's the most farmhouse-style door I have found so far. I'm not sure it's even available to me as it wasn't in the Seal-Rite Therma-Tru door catalog. I'm definitely still open to PlastPro (especially if it's more rot-proof) and steel, but overall, I'm finding style options to be limited for budget-friendly doors. It's easy to find great design ideas on Houzz, but most of those ideas are out of reach.

Strategery, I'll look into cladded door frames. "The photos show problems," is a kind way to put it. Lol. We're up against quite the DIY challenge. We have never used the front door. The whole step-down entry needs to be rebuilt. You won't be surprised that the first time I stood on the floor in it, the word "spongy" came to mind. The side door on the deck is the door we use. The "threshold" was installed as a temporary fix because the threshold that was there wasn't attached to anything underneath. Our little Freddie Mac foreclosure is a house of horrors in lots of fun ways.

Charles Ross Homes, I'm looking into factoring finishings (stain and paint), and I'll ask my local lumber guy about the wood in Therm-Tru slabs vs. the composite wood in PlastPro. Thanks!

friedajune, I'm totally with you on stretching but not by a crazy amount. I've had to make several mental adjustments to pricing in this process so far. I'd like to believe it's possible to fix up a house and do it right without spending a fortune (a relative term, of course...let's just say I have a modest income).

I'm in Wisconsin, so maybe I can look into Home Guard.

skim_02, I'll update this post on which doors we get, their cost, and what our initial impressions are.

We are looking at these Vistagrande Masonite doors. In person, they look beautiful. I'm trying to verify the specs of them (composite frame? wrapped? etc..), however they may be worth looking into.

Update: We got new quotes and have chosen our door styles. The Therma-Tru S2013-SDLGBG Smooth-Star - Flush Glazed Fiberglass Door is $712 before tax ($967 painted white). The Therma-Tru S1207-SDLGBG Smooth Star - Flush Glazed Fiberglass Door is $738 before tax ($993 painted white).

Is it worth the extra $510 + tax to have them prefinished with white paint? If the finishing is included in the warranty, I'm not sure how enforceable it would be due to our house's exposure to the elements (wear and tear, etc.). We need to get a paint sprayer at some point, so is it worth getting a consumer paint sprayer now and doing the doors ourselves? Do you have recommendations for exterior and interior paint as well as for a paint sprayer? Would automotive paint be more durable than exterior paint? We have access to a paint gun for automotive paint if that helps. We could definitely use the $510 + tax somewhere else on our house, but if that's reasonable and the cost of painting the doors ourselves is a good chunk of that, we'll choose prefinished. Any thoughts? Thanks!!

It's worth the extra $$ to get the composite door jams. Hopefully your supplier offers this option.

Is the front door an outswing?

You should clear away the bushes and create a small landing. It will make that area more usable.

I am in WI, and cannot imagine entry doors with that much glass in them. Not trying to be Debbie Downer but have to ask. Will you have a storm door too? Won’t it be drafty on those Jan days and ten-below-zero nights? And anyone coming to the door can see into your home.

In answer to your question, factory-finish paint is always better unless it’s a poor-quality manufacturer.

Ksc36 - I disagree with you about the composite door jambs. Do you actually have a door with them? I drank the marketing Kool-aid when I ordered my new door, and chose the composite door jambs that replaced the 25-year-old wood door jambs. I am wondering if you did same. The wood jambs are heavier, feel solid. The composite door jambs feel light, and not solid.

I should have realized that the composite door thing is a way for door companies to charge more for something that is much cheaper for them to manufacture, and so they made up a bunch of hooey to make people buy them. Sounds great in the brochures though. The owner of the door contracting company told me he has begun steering his customers away from the composite jambs now that he's had some experience with them.

Not all jambs are the same. My supplier sets up my doors the way I specify. Cheapo Depot sets them up as cheaply as possible. I've torn out dozens of"new" wood framed doors, they last about 5-10 years here. I'd find a new door contracting co., he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I disagree Ksc36. Contractor was top-notch. Don't mistake me for a naive uneducated lowball-pricing homeowner. The door and jambs definitely did not come from "Cheapo Depot" as you put it. Nope, this composite-jamb thing a lot of smoke and mirrors in order to charge more. That's the truth.

The doors will be sourced from Millwork Distributors Inc., using Therma-Tru slabs. We honestly can't really afford Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. (I have no favorite) and are pushing ourselves to buy these "budget friendly" (these are Therma-Tru's words) doors for over $2K from our local hardware store. I hope they last more than 5 years. We got our first Marvin Integrity Wood-Ultrex windows yesterday, and I'm feeling good about that investment so far. They're gorgeous! Someway along the way, though, I hope to get back to actual budget friendly options.

Should be great Nico. Is your front door an outswing? Maybe that's required where you are? If not, you really should do inswing.

Strategery, oops, sorry. Yes, both doors are inswing, and we have already cut away the bushes to work on the house.

Shannon, my house is the Debbie Downer, not you! I'm expecting the glass to be cold, but the door styles are a compromise between me, my husband, and the house's original farmhouse roots. The front door is a step down from the hallway (not much to see), and the side door faces a field and forest. The neighbors are far. The county highway runs along the front of the house, but between the angle of view and the speed of drivers, we're not too worried. There should be a way to attach privacy blinds if needed. One step at a time. :)

@Nicole, thanks for the update. Hope you are happy in the long-term. We decided to choose the reputable millwork company in our city, who offers only the Masonite door of the 3 brands that we were looking at. I trust (I hope not naively) their expertise on hanging the door, frame selection, etc. Here's hoping we are also happy in the long-term!

Also, side note: I used your recommendation of less lites per window to get our overall cost down, which helped save a lot of money. Thank you!!

A steel door is not as attractive as a fiberglass door but it is more energy efficient and stronger. Be aware of sun and amount of glass in window. I live in northeast, the steel front door facing west with a fan shaped window on the upper 1/8 of the door heats up. As a precaution, you may want to have exterminator spray as you are replacing doorframe.