I am looking at something like this: Traditional Collection - Marvin Windows and Doors -

thoughts?

 

I can't speak for your neck of the woods since most of my experience is from the S.E. Here the sun and rain play havoc on wood doors. That's not to say we don't use them.

The finish on wood door lasts best if there is a nice porch roof to protect it. On the ones that have little protection, it isn't uncommon to need to sand and repoly on a yearly basis.

If the added maintainence is too much - there are some good looking steel doors that look sharp on many houses - you just have to paint them - which generally holds up longer than poly and is more forgiving if you delay recoating.

 

Yep....yer crazy...lol.

Unless you have someone else to do the required maintenance, I'd look at fiberglass.

 

All of the above. But I have a wood door(milder climate) facing west, that I renew the marine poly about evry 3-4 yrs. Has held up fine. Of course there is a full glass storm door.

In general, fiberglas doors would be my choice, more energy efficient that wood but look like wood, no rust or dent problems like steel. Less maintenance.