Wood outperforms all other doors

DECENT research shows almost l\507o of retail customers asking questions or showing concerns about the environmental impact of wood products. If you find your customers reluctrnt !o buy wood doors, because they think they are anti-environmental, you can assure them nothing could be less true.

Despite claims of some using substiurte materials, extsrior wood doors, because they are manufactured from the most environmentaily compatible building product in the world, perform better, arc more energy efficient and more "oullspsnrally acCeptable.

Wood is an environmental building product for a healthier planet. It comes from a renewable and natural resource which can be perpemated for products and the environment, is both durable and biodegradable and has low energy requirements in its manufacture.

Wood is one of the best natural insulators, Jim Glasgow, technical services manager, Jeld-Wen door group, maintains. 'Wood fiber contains many cells, each of which trap air and create natual insulating pockets throughout the entire wood mass. Insulated glass uses the same principle. It's the trapped air, not the glass that provides the energy benefits."

"Wood is several hundred times more energy efficient than metal. That's why we use wood to create a thermal break between the exterior and interior surfaces of metal doors," Glascow adds.

Most energy loss associated with doors occurs in a process called infiltration. Studies conducted by the National Wood Window and Door Association show air fiavels around an object, rather than through it, with energy loss occuring between the door and the jamb and the threshold as air infiltrates cracks and gaps.

Wood doors are often compared unfavorably with those of other materials because they require finishing

Story at a Glance

Why wood is the most environmentally acceptable material available for a door selling points energy efficiency facts ... results of National Wood Window & Door Association studies.

and maintenance. However Glasgow is quick to point out that the truly' maintenenace free door does not exist. Unfinished metal usually rusts and corrodes and unprotected fiberglass can show the effects of exposure to ultraviolet rays.

"Almost all door manufacturers use some wood," explains Peter Dempsey, Jeld-Wen marketing manager. "All of our doors including the metal, molded or vinyl overlays use wood because of its excellent performance characteristics."

"It's interesting to note how many sales gambits make an unfavorable comparison to wood, claiming that wood can warp or buckle, although the same wood is used for interior frames in metal, molded and fiberglass doors precisely because it is so stable and perfonnance reliable," he adds.

Although wood doors are often accused of having a negative environmental impact, non-wood doors use more energy intensive materials. Both metal and fiberglass doors use petroleum-based insulating materials which deplete a valuable, limited energy fesource. Metal ranks much higher tlan wood in energy output from raw material extraction to finished product. In addition, some manufactured materials have a high initial R-rating, but begin to decompose quickly. As Dempsey puts it, 'Wood is a natural product with energy efficiency that does not diminish over time."

"Claims and counter claims of non-wood door manufacturers have affected the wood door industry's market share," Dempsey concluded. "Buf speaking from the standpoint of a manufacturer of many competing exterior door products, we try to be careful about the claims we make. It's more a question of market niche and appropriateness of the installation than a question of performance, energy efficiency or maintenance. Not all claims are what they seem."