I am in the market for a new front door system. I am looking to fiberglass, but want a painted color, not wood stain. Do fiberglass doors come already painted to your desired color or do you have to paint it after it arrives? It seems like it defeats the purpose of getting a low maintenance material like fiberglass if you turn around and paint it, which would require repainting.

 

I don't know that I've ever seen a prefinished fiberglass door although I've painted/stained a few of them. I always thought the main reason for a fiberglass or steel door was it would outlast wood.

 

Thanks for the reply. Maybe that is just a misconception on my end. I thought fiberglass doors didn't require any upkeep at all -- wood requires regular painting to keep in good shape where fiberglass didn't.

 

IMO a wood door looks the best but if the door is exposed to the weather any - your better off with a steel or fiberglass door. About the only time I'd recommend a wood exterior door is when there is a good size porch to protect the door from the sun and rain.... or if you have an odd size opening and the door has to be trimmed to fit. Both fiberglass and metal doors paint real nice although I have more experience with the metal doors than I do the fiberglass. Occasionally I run across a metal door that has never been painted, just the factory primer - they seem to do ok.

 

Yes you can get them prefinished. It can even be one color outside, and another color inside if you like. I order mine from Target Windows and doors, which is a local company in my area. I'm sure other suppliers offer a similar option, but expect to pay for it, it isn't cheap. ($$$)

Also there is pretty much nothing in existence that doesn't require "some" sort of maintenance. For instance, what are you going to do when your painted door gets scratched by the furniture movers? Anything that is painted will require repainting at some point. Fiberglass is "low-maintenance" in that it doesn't absorb moisture like wood does. Being more a stable material, it will hold paint better and longer than wood.

Another idea if you are looking at steel doors, is that you can just take the door to a local body shop and have them spray it. Turns out just as nice as the finish on your car. You could even wax it if you like. LOL

 

There are (or were) several companies that sold pre-painted FG doors. Some even touted that they were heat reflective. Of course they came in a limited color selection. We sold one brand for about 2 yrs when I worked at HD. You could get just the exterior done or both int and ext, even different colors. It was kinda pricy...seems like it was $150 per side with a 10 year warranty on peeling or flaking. Wasn't just a paint...more like a hard coating of some sort...they really looked nice.

Well...I only sold a few and w/in 6 months people were back complaining. Peeling, bubbling, chaulking, etc. The company pulled that option very quickly and IIRC were bought out and we quit carrying their entry doors. Wish we had quit carrying their patio doors as well....poorly made pieces of crud....though they sure weren't cheap. Atrium was the brand back then...I'm sure the company has gone through several changes.

FG doors are great as long as the frames are also wrapped with vinyl or made of a composite. Not just the ugly 1" plastic blocks at the bottom to raise the frame off the ground. When Stanley started doing that I thought it seemed a good idea til I looked closely...the blocks had a raised lip that just trapped water and the bottom of the wood frame was raw wood.....dumb dumb dumb!

FG doesn't dent and doesn't rust, I'd consider that a major advantage over steel. Some also say they insulate better, not sure of that, esp if they both have windows in them. Repainting really depends on the conditions it's exposed to....sun, rain, hail will take their toll on anything.

The only thing that wouldn't require painting would be a vinyl or aluminum clad system...but they still require maintenance, cleaning, waxing etc. You also have to make sure it's not just the door and/or sidelights that are clad. I've seen vinyl clad doors where the frames were still just pre-finished wood...not clad at all.