Also, has anyone used Plast Pro doors?

Wondering why you're making the switch from wood to fiberglass.

The house is designed in such a way that there is no cover on the entry door. This makes it fully exposed to the sun and rain and it takes a huge toll on the door and its getting hard to maintain. The door faces south west so it gets hit with full sun for most of the day. Hoping the fiberglass would fare better in these conditions.

I painted a door in the same situation with marine enamel all around and it is still going strong 6 yrs later.

Excellent, Patricia

Great suggestion Patricia! I'll have to look into that.

Treating the beautiful wood door to withstand the elements is a fantastic idea. It would be such a shame to lose all the character and natural beauty of wood in favor of fiberglass. My house had one (with a horrible centered oval of "leaded" glass) and it made me sad every time I looked at it. When I finally swapped it for a new wood door I couldn't believe the transformation! And did you know that the right door reaps a pretty high return when you go to sell? A carefully planned and executed sprucing up of your existing wooden door is the right way to go:)

I totally agree. All the fiberglass doors I'm looking at are the ones that replicate wood appearance and charm. With some of these newer models it is extremely hard to tell the difference. Jeld-Wen Fiberglass doors are extremely nice (heavy and hand crafted) but extremely expensive also starting at around $3k for just the door slab. The next one down in my opinion is the new Avantguard series from Masonite which is around $1.2K. Apparently they have taken a real wood door and scanned it using a high resolution scanner. The image is then printed and textured onto the fiberglass and then covered with an automotive grade coating. The results are very impressive. If you haven't seen one they are selling these at HomeDepot now.

Go with fiberglass for your situation. I just did this. Jeld Wenn looks fantastic if you can afford it. If not, go with Therma Tru. You do not want to have to maintain real wood in your circumstances.

It's not the wood it's the paint. That much sun takes it toll. Get a better paint and everything should be fine. I live in So Cal, never had a problem with wood.

I'm interested in what you decided and if you are happy with it. We live in a foggy area and have a south facing door also. The original wood has warped and it has become too difficult to fix. It is 65 years old. We like a Jeld-Wen fiberglass door but Masonite is $2000 less. The difference is quite noticeable side by side but they won't be side by side. My husband is leaning towards the Jeld-Wen.

I am ecstatic with it. I paid the premium and got the Jeld Wen fiberglass door. I've had it for several years. Looks like new. No maintenance and looks like a fine wood door. Well worth the premium price.

HI Carol,
We ended up going with the Thermatru Classic-Craft American Craftsman. We got it in early 2014 so it's coming up on 4 years now and still looks and feels like brand new even with the southern sun exposure and constant exposure to the elements. We have had no issues with it at all!

I'm in your exact same shoes right now, SW exposure replacing the original door and can't decide between wood & fiberglass... (I do have an overhang but it stills gets some direct sun). Difficult choice. Going w the Craftsman style also.

We almost got the Jeld Wen fiberglass door but it was $4500 without installation. We ended up get the Therma Tru Fiberglass door. We chose the Classic Craft Arbor Watch craftsman door. We shopped around at independent stores and the big box stores. We had one quote of $5000 with installation from one store but we got the same exact door for $3200 with installation at another store.

Efficiency? Surprised nobody mentioned this. Seems all the concern is curbside $ but nobody factored in whether your resell value is actually offset by the expense to your heating & cooling for an 8' x 3' poorly insulated wood door. Sure, if you plan to flip the house then why bother with anything more than a door that looks "pretty" but if this is a keeper home then the total cost of an inefficient door can be modeled by your engineer/architect. That's what we are having done with our new build. And I cannot find a solid wood door that gets an Energy Star rating (usually a U-factor <.3).

And locally sourced from a managed forest? Nobody mentioned this wood coming from a responsible forester (FSC, SFI certified, etc.), or from craftsmen local to your area; which is sad to see you're not looking at impact. We looked at Masonite b/c they had craftmen at a old facility just 25miles away that we could source the door from instead of halfway across the Earth. (Buy local!) Sadly, Masonite shuttered that location a year before we built to the loss of both us and those American craftsmen. We wound up switching to Marvin because they were relatively close (200miles) and FSC certified.

We try to buy local as often as possible but cost also figures into our choices. For a fairly local craftsman, our door would have been $3,000 more. We can't afford that now that we are retired and on a fixed income.

I am calling around/asking questions on buying a patio French door (fiberglass). ThermaTru and Jenweld has wood (not all fiberglass). Anderson is fiberglass outside and wood inside I called the companies directly. Masonite patio doors has terrible reviews on Home Depot and the price is so low compared to ThermaTru etc - seems too good to be true and is according to their reviews. I am looking in Plaspro now. Plastpro sell ALL fiberglass doors to others who modify the doors for customers. One guy said beware of the type of glass whoever you buy Plastpro doors from - he said ODL glass is best. Stanley makes an all fiberglass front door but does not make fiberglass patio doors. Google the company name 800 number and call them.

So....How did it go w/ the Plastpro door? I have also been comparing ThermaTru and Plastpro. Home Depot has been indicating to me that the ThermaTru is all fiberglass. But you are correct, I contacted ThermaTru today and they have wood edges. I see ThermaTru's warranty has numerous exclusions though as well, such as the paint/stain finish that worry me since I am on the coast. One of our metal doors has rotted away and an outdoor fan so I know it's considered a harsh environment and they told me we wouldn't be covered since we are less than 5 miles from salt water. I also am looking to get a low-E glass insert and an Energy Star door, but I need the HVHZ version where I am. Thanks.

@alysalever I purchased the Plaspro door from a seller in my city. Love them. No more rot or termite issues like with my old single pane aluminum clad Home Depot French doors. My only regret is not going with a vendor who would have painted the doors for me for $800. The vender I choose did not paint the doors. The contractor that installed my doors was hired to paint them and he did a terrible job painting the doors. These doors have double pane glass and are ALL fiberglass and VERY heavy. I recycled the rot damaged old aluminum clad Home Depot French doors after my contractor repaired them and now they used in a newly created hallway closet by the front door to hold coats and shoes. .

@Alysaleve I looked at my French door excell sheet notes done on the doors I was researching. Jenweld has wood from my notes. My notes under Thematru are not complete but I definitely rejected them for reasons other than they did not carry a 10 lite French door which I wanted. Call ThurmaTru directly and ask if their french doors are 100% fiberglas - absolutely no wood.. Pella is all fiberglass or poly from my notes. Remember ThurmaTrue is very expensive. Plastpro a little less so so that might factor in your decision. I am extremely happy with my solid face fully fiberglass front door and my Plastpro fully fiberglass French doors.