what are the main differences between steel & FG exterior doors?

Need to replace double hung exterior front doors, and i'm wondering what are the main differences between steel & FG doors (quality, durability, cost, ?)?
Or is there something better?

I've also heard that lumberyards may be a better place to buy than a discount home center - true?

All advise is greatly appreciated!!

thnaks!

 

Both doors can be painted, the advantage the FG door has is that it can be textured to resemble wood.

The advantage the metal door has is the magnetic weather-stripping, much like your refrigerator door seals. Works really well to keep out drafts.

You can dent metal, like when moving in furniture. It somewhat harder to fix and if you don't paint them and scratch them, they will rust.

FG doors are somewhat easier to fix if you scratch them and they won't rust.

 

resercon is right, though I will offer a couple of different points of view. Repairing a dent in a steel door is not at all difficult. It's called Bondo, and 100 million cars that have the stuff can't be wrong. The difficulty in repairing a scratch in a F.G. door isn't so much the repair as trying to match the texture once the repair is made. Rust with a steel door is really not a problem, as long as you keep a good coat of paint on it so the steel is not exposed to the elements.

Expect to pay more for a F.G. door than a steel door, all features being equal.

I will almost always shop a lumberyard rather than one of the big box stores. A Home Depot or a Lowes is pretty much limited to what they can offer by what their corporate office says is an authorized purchase or source. Your local lumberyard usually doesn't have those constraints.

 

It was a great help!!!