Colour and style come last. The material decides how the door weathers, how much it insulates, how it handles a knock, and how much of your Saturday it wants each year. Every Pacific Homes package includes its exterior doors, so this is a decision you make with your Build Specialist rather than at a showroom afterwards.
Steel, fiberglass and wood are the three entry door materials that come up on nearly every build. None is wrong. Each has a place, and the right one depends on the exposure of the entry, the climate, how much maintenance you are prepared to do, and whether the opening is a standard size.
The strongest choice for security and the most durable against everyday use. Steel doors are noise resistant, energy efficient with a good thermal barrier, customizable in style, and usually the most affordable over the long run. That makes them a common choice in the city and on rural sites alike.
Steel can dent, and where the paint chips off a dent, rust can start. A covered entry helps. The steel doors in our package are Masonite’s steel collection.
The most versatile of the three and the lowest maintenance. Fiberglass does not rust, warp or rot, keeps looking new with little upkeep, takes paint in any colour, and insulates well, which makes it very energy efficient.
It usually costs more up front, and it is difficult to trim, so a non-standard opening may rule it out. The fiberglass doors we supply are from Alliance Door Products.
The most flexible for appearance. A wood door can be styled modern or antique, carved, panelled or plain, and painted or stained any colour. Wood is durable, insulates well and is straightforward to repair.
Wood asks the most of you. A front door takes weather, and a wood one needs staining or sealing and occasional repair of moisture damage. If you are not prepared for that time, choose one of the other two.
A door under a deep porch roof lives an easier life than one facing the prevailing weather with nothing over it. Exposure pushes toward fiberglass; a covered entry opens up wood and steel.
Cold, wet coastal winters and dry interior summers ask different things of a door. Insulation value matters more where the heating season is long. Your wall depth is chosen for the climate; the door should keep up with it.
Be honest. Wood rewards attention and punishes neglect. Fiberglass forgives almost everything.
A custom plan sometimes produces a non-standard entry. Steel and wood can be trimmed; fiberglass largely cannot, so decide the door before the opening is final.
Steel wins on security. Wood wins on character. Fiberglass sits between on both and ahead on upkeep.
A Pacific Homes package includes metal or fiberglass insulated exterior doors in primed wood frames, with weather-stripping and aluminum sills, along with garage doors, openers and all the hardware. Wood doors and upgraded styles are specified at design stage. The full component list.
Fiberglass and insulated steel both insulate well; a solid wood door insulates less by itself. In practice the frame, the weather-stripping and the sill matter as much as the slab, which is why the doors in a package arrive pre-hung in primed frames with both fitted.
Fiberglass. It does not rust, warp or rot and takes paint well. Steel is close behind if dents are touched up promptly. Wood needs regular staining or sealing.
Yes. The standard package specifies metal or fiberglass insulated doors; a wood door is an upgrade specified with your Build Specialist at design stage.
Fiberglass takes paint in any colour. Steel is painted too, but the coating is what protects it from rust, so chips need touching up. Wood can be painted or stained.
Doors, windows, siding and roofing are selected together with your Build Specialist, so the entry matches the house and the climate it is in.
