WOOD EXTERIOR DOORS AND THEIR WARRANTIES

Everybody loves a wood exterior door…but are they covered under warranty.



Not always. The method of installation determines whether or not they are covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. How they are finished and how they are protected from the elements all come into play. And the requirements can differ from one manufacturer to the next. But….they all seem to share some common ground.

First finishing the door…

Clean and sand the door first. Whether you are staining or painting, they seem to want at least three coats of finish. One coat of sealer stain or primer… then two coats of top coat and it has to be on all six surfaces. Some mention sealing the cut outs for hardware as well.

And second installing the door…

They all want the door to be protected by an overhang or porch meeting the minimum requirements shown below. 
X = 1/2 Y

Figure 1: Where X is the length of the overhang required and Y is the distance from the bottom of the door to the base of the overhang

Do storm doors qualify as adequate protection in place of the overhang? I do not know for sure, but I think not. In the warranties I have read it doesn’t really say “No” but it doesn’t really say “Yes “either. I’ve provided three links below you can go to and see for yourself. You’ll also see that some manufacturers are quite in depth on what is required in order for their doors to be covered under their warranty.

In a nut shell…Wood doors need three coats of finish all six sides and an overhang or porch to be covered under warranty.

Anyway.

Bottom line…..Wood doors look great. They offer a lot of different designs and species to choose from and Yes……No doubt about it ….They require routine maintenance to keep them working properly.

Here are the links I mentioned:
 

Hope this has been helpful to you.

Have a good one,
Rich Vincent

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