Replacing a front entry door - build vs buy, what hardware, what wood species, etc

[Dan Friedrichs]

My house has a pretty standard 68"Wx80"H entry door unit - 36" foam-core door and 2 sidelights.

I'd like to replace this with something nicer. I have a set of Marvin patio doors, and another (unknown brand) patio door with 3-point locking - both have a heft and premium feel that is clearly lacking in the lightweight front door.

So my goals are an aesthetic upgrade, an upgrade to a more "premium" feel, an upgrade in air-tightness, and an upgrade in security (replacing the cheap Schlage lock with something better).

I'm leaning toward something painted, as I don't think wood will look good with the rest of the front facade.

I'm surprised at how obscenely expensive entry door units appear to be, which has led me to think of building my own. I have built a single entry door, before, and am comfortable doing it, but never built one with a jam.

Any entry door wisdom? Things you like, wish you did different, etc?

[Ron Citerone]

If you have the time give building a shot. All you got to lose is the price of materials. I have repaired and built a few jams for existing doors. I think the door would be the harder part which you have already done. I made an exterior door jam from untreated yellow pine and it moved some. Maybe I would use White Pie if I did it again. That's all I got for this one.

[Dave Zellers]

Jam sham. If you have built a door, you can build a jamb to fit it. I strongly encourage you to do it. The satisfaction factor is huge. If you have the time (a key factor) and the ability, you can design and build something unique to you that will make you smile every time you open it.

And close it.

For heavens sake, you can also make the threshold from scratch from some 8/4 white oak. It's only woodworking.

[Cameron Wood]

The jamb & prep can be 1/2 the cost. If you've got the wood, space, & time, then go for it.

If you have to buy the wood, that might approach the cost of a door.

It difficult to cut the slots for Q-lon weatherstripping, which is best IMO, so buying the jamb stock may be better.

I scrounged up a replacement entry door for my son's house, and made the sill & threshold from teak that I had. It looks great!

[Dave Zellers]

Re your title, what are the specifics? Will it get wet every time it rains? Will the sun pound on it all day long? Will it never see the sun? Will it get soaking wet and then the sun will pound on it? Things to consider...

[Dan Friedrichs]

Good point, Dave. Thankfully, it's under a deep overhang and behind a storm door, so it will neither get wet nor sun :) That definitely makes me more comfortable approaching this project.

[Mel Fulks]

You could replace the side-lites with splayed panels . If there is enough room, a splayed piece across ,ties it all together. And some
mouldings gives it a look “ found only in the most expensive magazines”.

[Tom M King]

I always use ball bearing hinges on entrance doors.

[Bill Dufour]

Male the side lights so they open for ventilation with bug screens.
Bill D

[Alex Zeller]

When building my house I just didn't have the time to build things like an entry door. I ended up buying an entry door where both sidelites open up as well as the main door. It's good quality but I think it could have been built beefier. The door jambs don't have the support like a normal door with sidelites would have. But I wouldn't replace it with anything but another door like it. Opening the two sidelites allows for lots of airflow without interfering with the door operation.

[Mark Hennebury]

Factories exist because it is easier and cheaper to mass produce things than to do one of a kind. Buying the material and hardware is expensive, building one is a lot of work, it takes a lot of time, effort and equipment. If you just want a door...buy one! If you want to build a door, build one.
I have built a few.

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[Bradley Gray]

Like Mark said, A lot of work. The parts have to perfectly flat and joints square.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Beautiful work, Mark!

[Richard Coers]

Price out all the components and materials. New double pane glass for the sidelights will be a big part of the cost. Do you have the shaper tooling to do an 8/4 frame material? If you have to start buying tooling, purchasing the entire unit starts looking more cost effective. I've done mostly commercial doors, from churches to a strip club. You can skimp on any part of the construction or materials. Sapelle or white oak would be my two suggestions for material. Then silicone bulb weatherstripping and an automatic door sweep. Even though I've made many in my years, I'd never do it now based on the super high costs of the materials. I'm not a fan of refinishing either, so fiberglass would be my first choice.

[Greg Quenneville]

Around here a door like Mark's bottom right picture would have cost around $15K four years ago. Good lumber has tripled in price since then.

My quote for 26 internal doors was $39,000 four years ago. I made them all myself for around $7,000. I imagine that my cost would be more like $20,000 now. It took over a month by the way. I would guess that a quote today would be more like $55K. This is why we can’t have noce things.

[Richard Coers]

Around here a door like Mark's bottom right picture would have cost around $15K four years ago. Good lumber has tripled in price since then.

My quote for 26 internal doors was $39,000 four years ago. I made them all myself for around $7,000. I imagine that my cost would be more like $20,000 now. It took over a month by the way. I would guess that a quote today would be more like $55K. This is why we can’t have noce things.
Aussie or US dollars?

[Rick Potter]

I have to ask. Why build a fancy expensive door if you are going to cover it with a storm door?? Each to his own, but maybe this is the wrong place to spend a lot of money and time?

No offense meant, just askin.

[Curt Harms]

I have to ask. Why build a fancy expensive door if you are going to cover it with a storm door?? Each to his own, but maybe this is the wrong place to spend a lot of money and time?

No offense meant, just askin.

A lot of recent storm door installs around here are mostly clear glass in a metal frame.

[Rick Potter]

Thank you. Lots of folks around here never heard of a storm door. Screen doors are rare too, except for sliders.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I have to ask. Why build a fancy expensive door if you are going to cover it with a storm door?? Each to his own, but maybe this is the wrong place to spend a lot of money and time?

No offense meant, just askin.

No offense taken - good question. The storm door is already in-place, and that definitely leads me away from building a "fancy" door. I'm thinking something like a modern-looking slab door, perhaps painted even, but spending $$$ on good hardware, seals, etc.

[Bill Howatt]

Thank you. Lots of folks around here never heard of a storm door. Screen doors are rare too, except for sliders.

Even around here where we can the odd time hit the -40 degree mark in the winter, storm doors are not as popular as years past for new builds or door replacements. They offer very little improvement in heat loss. The one thing they can provide is a glass that opens leaving a bug screen for some summer ventilation temperature permitting.

[Will Blick]

Really nice build Mark, I can see the hours tolling on that door! But it was worth it ! Impressive work!

I have built a few doors, but installed a LOT of doors through the years.
AS others pointed out, if its a sense of pride, build it, regardless of the cost.
If your design is unique and its hard to find, maybe build it, as custom designs can really get costly.
If its sheer economics...maybe building will save you some, assuming not too many mistakes, although based on the wood used, you can really spend a lot these days on the wood.

OTOH, if you want a nice selection to choose from, and not have to waste countless hours tracking down every part, jig, tool, then find one on sale. I find the cost of front doors reasonable considering I know the costs to build, especially if you get contractor pricing. Plus, my finishing jobs are never as nice as factory made. Unless you use oil finish, pretty simple.

Last few houses, I went with Fiberglass front doors, why? They wear so much better, never have issues with them. One n done. They come pre finished and look like wood. HD and Lowes sells them as well as any good door supplier. If you build your own, you have to be concerned about the moisture content of the wood, as they can warp, I learned that the hard way. you need a good pinless moisture meter to read thick wood, otherwise you can get some unreliable readings.

Also, the hours can really add up, as everything is a one-off. Certain router / shaper door bit sets are costly, and often you only use it once. you need jigs for hinge alignment, locksets, etc. The build also can be hard to manage as they get heavy and awkward. Mostly a problem if you work solo. As another poster mentioned, the frame / jam is half the battle, Very time consuming to get that frame perfectly square and plumb on all 3 sides as well as keeping the sides equal distance from top to bottom. The heavier the door, the more robust wood you need for the frame. Pre hung doors solve sooo many installation issues, specially if you have a little experience installing them.

I secure my pre hung frames with added cross members / spacers at the bottoms for interior doors, before I remove the packaging. I just nail some 1x pine across the jams. I never worry about nail holes on doors and jams that will be painted as its a long putty game before paint regardless. But if they will be stained or clear finished, different story....be sure you can find some good matching filler, another PITA. This is where consistent color wood matters so ONE putty color can be used throughout. Nothing more amateur than a gorgeous wood, with putty holes showing. Even with a perfect putty color match, they can still be obvious due to grain. So I shoot very thin nails to set the frame, then glue my support shims in. The door frame opening dimension should be near perfect as well, since you would be controlling that variable.

On pre hung doors the jam widths are usually perfect from from the factory. This allows a consistent reveal after door is put back on after frame is installed. I remove the slab / door and install the frame carefully so the straightness and squareness remains true. If the jam remains straight after installation, (use a long straight edge) and the entire frame is square AND plumb, I remove the securing pine cross members, then drop the slab on the hinges, insert hinge pins, and 90% of the time, you're done. You should have a consistent reveal around the door....IMO, the real check for a clean install and trouble free life. Also, open the door half way, let go...it should NOT move, i.e. self close or open further, ya gotta SET that frame plumb to prevent door gravity movement. The larger and heavier (wood selection) the door size, the more vulnerable it is to leaning. So be sure to use enough hinges and OVERSIZE the weight rating of the hinges, as a slight bend (or looseness) in the hinges can also lead to the issues above. I like the idea of ball bearing hinges mentioned by a previous poster, but I never personally used them. 4 heavy duty stainless hinges are prob. overkill enough.

(Oh yeah, don't forget to account for the height of thresholds and / or flooring thickness, when setting the frame so u dont have to saw the door bottom after the slab is already finished)

[Mike King]

If you are serious about building a front door, I would highly highly recommend taking the Alpine Workshops door workshop. Might as well learn from one of the best @Joe Calhoun...

https://alpineworkshops.com/workshops/window-and-door.html

Also note that you can rent the shaper cutters from Rangate necessary to make an entry door...

Mike

[Phillip Mitchell]

Will outlined a lot of it pretty well above. I have built some doors and will say that for me, it makes sense when it’s going to be stain/clear finish and I want control over the grain selection (either for aesthetics or wood stability or both) and if someone is willing to pay me what it costs to do it.

Loads of work and you don’t want to botch any of the steps along the way (wood selection, joinery, weather sealing, finishing, hardware, installation, flashing…)

Building doors is actually one of the more satisfying pursuits in woodworking that I have found so far and wouldn’t mind doing more permanently…but a *lot* goes into a properly designed, built and installed custom wooden door. The prices are high for a reason. If you have the time, tools and skills to do it yourself and you want the satisfaction and pride that can come along with it I’d say go for it, especially in a low exposure area with a storm door. If exposure was high and you had heavy UV and rain/snow to deal with then I would suggest otherwise and go fiberglass, etc

[Randy Heinemann]

We built our house and my wife wanted a wood door because it looked great. That door lasted about 5-10 years, requiring annual upkeep of the finish. A painted door will obviously require less annual maintenance. The fact that it is sheltered is also a plus. With a storm door, even more protection. However, I'd just say that, since replacing my wood door with a fiberglass insulated door which matches the trim of our house, I've had zero maintenance.

If you're looking for a woodworking challenge, it's a great project. For me, I'd put it in the category of making kitchen cabinets (maybe more challenging than that even). Could I do it? I believe I could. I've been a woodworker for 45 years and have a lot of tools and skills. Would I do it? While I thought about it at one point, the answer is never. It's a huge amount of work and getting it just right, then installing them is indeed a challenge. I think building and installing a door is a challenge at least equal to that.

Good luck. I'd love to see it when it's installed.

[Will Blick]

Great points Randy...
In my early days, I too underestimated the installation, as I put too much thought into the build. This can sometimes be true of kitchens as well. I can remember a lot of kitchen jobs where I did a lousy job of assessing how out of square / plumb / level the walls / ceilings / floors were. I would spend more time battling those issues during the install vs building the boxes!

In my last few jobs, I bought RTA cabinets with included door / drawer fronts, fridge panels, molding, etc ... not for the boxes (carcasses) as anyone can slap together boxes, but for the FINISHES! Last few jobs were all high gloss white for uppers, and textured matte color on the lowers. There is NO way I could have finished as gorgeous as these were done. They were finished in a factory in Taiwan with automated robots, ovens, etc. I could not even sub out finishing locally to look this good. And the cost of the RTA cabinets were less than what a local place would charge just for the finishing.

So sometimes, it just does not make sense to build, as there is so much more to the final look vs. just the ww component.

[Will Blick]

On wood species... Obviously go with an outdoor rated species....anything from domestic to your area all the way to exotics. Budget matters here!

About 2 years ago, I built a gate from African Mahogany, which has an excellent outdoor rating. Could not find it locally, so ordered from AZ supplier. Not many boards matched in color, not sure how I overlooked that fact as I am often very meticulous with wood selection. It was done on a whim, in a rush, etc. AND the wood was on sale, so I took a chance. Provided a note with the order to color match the boards. Maybe they did, and this was the best they can do. So I stained the lighter boards with pigmented stain to match the darker pieces. The color match looked very good when finished. Hit em with 10 coats of Spar Marine Varnish. It looked amazing. After 2 yrs of sun and weather, the stain faded, and the boards are mismatched, nearly worse than they had I left them unstained. Not horrible, but not the look I wanted. On a front door, it would be horrible ;)

Hand picking your wood is critical for a project like yours, or any outdoor project that you want color consistency. Sunlight is so bright, even if not direct hit, it can accentuate color variances. Its hard to rely on stain to correct color mismatches for outdoor projects. Even if you get good matching boards, its possible some might color shift differently than others. So another thing to consider. I will check, I might have a before and after picture to post.

[mark downing]

Apologies for this drift off topic.
Here on the west coast storm doors are seldom used but weatherstripping remains a primary concern.
For much of the mid-late 1900s interlocking brass weatherstripping was the industry standard. It was a time consuming process requiring special router attachments for both the door and jamb plus some kerf cuts by hand against the stops.

Does anyone know if these materials and practices are still available?
Mark

[Mel Fulks]

It’s still needed ,so I’m sure it’s available. The best stuff was sold in straight pieces, not rolled up. It was always the high end ,and
often only sold at specialty places, not chain hardware stores. It has spring to it, Kids love to pluck it to make music, and that’s okay
if they are shown how to do it right.

[Joe Calhoon]

Kilian hardware and a few others have it. Difficult to install and not thermally efficient but lasts a long time.

[andrew whicker]

What would be gained by building your own jamb?

Sincerely asking. The local contractor stores make a primed door jamb ready to go with rubber seals, hinge machining, and aluminum threshold at whatever width I want.

If I was building a custom door I might tell them to spare the hinge cut outs and maybe buy all the parts (header pc, side pieces and threshold) separately to build on site. Contractor stores can get in a hurry and miscut hinge pockets or use tooling that isn't sized perfectly, etc

Jambs aren't too complicated (obviously) but the rubber seal groove might be difficult. I'm sure they just sell a cutter specifically designed for it though. The door jambs also come with a matching cut out for the threshold.

This is of course painted. If it was stain grade you may have to build your own regardless.

The brick molding and interior trim would be more fun to spend time on, imo

[John TenEyck]

Exterior door frames, or what some call jambs, are not at all difficult to build. It's normally just 1-1/4" lumber into which a 1/2" rabbet is cut on the table saw. The vertical cut is cut 1/2" deeper than the horizontal cut, the resulting groove is what the Q-lon seals press into. Easy stuff.

You don't need a shaper and associated tooling to make doors. No one had such things 200 years ago. A table saw and router or mortiser is more than enough. A slab door is even easier, but I'd just buy a premade one if that's the design (?) I wanted. There are a lot of things to consider when building a door, but it's all doable. The tolerances on typical wood exterior door units I see are not all that good. The ones I've made are certainly better. I would not have a storm door over any door I made. Your location doesn't get sun, so you could add one, but why cover up its beauty? The insulation gain is minimal.

Most people will tell you to use solid wood, and there's nothing wrong with that, but stave core construction with veneer skins is every bit as stable and cheaper to build if you're not counting your time. It will be a flat as you build it and will stay that way.

You can spend as much or as little on hardware as you want. Quality hinges will assure the door opens/closes easily for decades. The lockset? Sure, quality units function better, but don't think about them as relates to security. Not many people are going to kick in your front door when there are less visible places to break in. If security is a concern get a security system or a big mean dog.

You can order insulated glass units of any size needed. I've never used them, preferring to make my own two pane system with tempered glass. Any benefit in R value of a sealed unit is minimal since all glass is a lousy insulator.

If you want to make your own door unit and have fifty or a hundred hours to spare, go for it. Great satisfaction in doing so.

John

[Jared Sankovich]

Sincerely asking. The local contractor stores make a primed door jamb ready to go with rubber seals, hinge machining, and aluminum threshold at whatever width I want.



I've never come across that before.

[John TenEyck]

What would be gained by building your own jamb?

Sincerely asking. The local contractor stores make a primed door jamb ready to go with rubber seals, hinge machining, and aluminum threshold at whatever width I want.

If I was building a custom door I might tell them to spare the hinge cut outs and maybe buy all the parts (header pc, side pieces and threshold) separately to build on site. Contractor stores can get in a hurry and miscut hinge pockets or use tooling that isn't sized perfectly, etc

Jambs aren't too complicated (obviously) but the rubber seal groove might be difficult. I'm sure they just sell a cutter specifically designed for it though. The door jambs also come with a matching cut out for the threshold.

This is of course painted. If it was stain grade you may have to build your own regardless.

The brick molding and interior trim would be more fun to spend time on, imo

For a painted door, nothing. For a frame and panel door that's not painted, however, a lot, since you can use the same species wood for the frame to give a consistent look to the whole project.

As I said elsewhere, you don't need a special cutter for Q-Lon weather seals. You cut the slot for them at the same time you cut the cheek of the rabbett in the frame members. You could do the same on a pre-built frame by disassembling it.

John

[Bill Dufour]

My wife loved it when I replaced the front door with a nice steel one with a window. Then she put magnets on it inside and out. Does not work since we moved and now have a nice fiberglass door.
BillD

[Holmes Anderson]

I was just making window sashes today and I think the same practical limitations apply to exterior passageway doors. They are not terribly difficult to build with proper tooling and you can make good quality windows and exterior passageway doors at a lower cost than the mass produced alternatives. However, it will be difficult to match the thermal insulation and air tightness of the mass produced alternatives. Speaking only for myself, I would only install my shop-made exterior doors and windows on seasonal homes and sheds. I think there was a New Yankee Workshop episode for building an exterior passageway door that covered some insulation techniques, but codes have changed a lot since then.

[Kevin Jenness]

I was just making window sashes today and I think the same practical limitations apply to exterior passageway doors. They are not terribly difficult to build with proper tooling and you can make good quality windows and exterior passageway doors at a lower cost than the mass produced alternatives. However, it will be difficult to match the thermal insulation and air tightness of the mass produced alternatives. Speaking only for myself, I would only install my shop-made exterior doors and windows on seasonal homes and sheds. I think there was a New Yankee Workshop episode for building an exterior passageway door that covered some insulation techniques, but codes have changed a lot since then.

I have to disagree on both counts. You can beat the cost of production millwork only if you ignore the cost of your labor. That works for a hobbyist, but if you have ever priced out custom door and window work you will see what I mean. On the other hand, there's no reason why you can't match or beat the thermal performance of a similarly constructed factory built wood door, and you can certainly improve on the typical dowel/unglued cope joinery.

[Holmes Anderson]

I have to disagree on both counts. You can beat the cost of production millwork only if you ignore the cost of your labor. That works for a hobbyist, but if you have ever priced out custom door and window work you will see what I mean. On the other hand, there's no reason why you can't match or beat the thermal performance of a similarly constructed factory built wood door, and you can certainly improve on the typical dowel/unglued cope joinery.

I agree about the cost of labor but I don't build many and look at it as a choice between unproductive time and inefficient productive time. On the performance issue, do you have plans for an insulated door with frame that can be made in a small shop and not cause problems with a 3 ACH blower test? I haven't attempted to build one but it seems like that would be difficult.

[Kevin Jenness]

I agree about the cost of labor but I don't build many and look at it as a choice between unproductive time and inefficient productive time. On the performance issue, do you have plans for an insulated door with frame that can be made in a small shop and not cause problems with a 3 ACH blower test? I haven't attempted to build one but it seems like that would be difficult.

No, I don't specifically. I was comparing more typical traditional designs. I have built some insulated doors from 2 1/4" to 3" thick using calibrated foamboard laminated with Extira or marine plywood and shopsawn veneer. They would probably have to be double rabbeted and triple sealed to meet the infiltration requirements of 3ACH50. I haven't been faced with that requirement but it's certainly a good goal and I assume more manufacturers and custom builders will be trying to meet it as code requirements advance.

I suspect the traditional stile and rail design is not the best suited for heavily insulated doors. There may be suppliers of composite materials for that purpose, probably in Europe, and perhaps Joe Calhoon knows of such. I have used foamboard between wood panels for better performance. but the joinery in foam core stiles and rails would be problematic. A better approach for that traditional look might be to clad a sandwich as described above with a stile and rail "applique". In any case, I suspect that sealing against infiltration and triple glazed ICUs are more fundamental to high performance doors than the raw R factor of the composite panel. Just my $.02, I am not a door specialist, rather a custom woodworker who has built a fair number of doors.

For reference, here's the website of a custom door builder working to passive house standards, with entry door prices starting at $10k. https://hammerandhand.com/about/our-approach/ Also, an exploded view showing their construction method https://hammerandhand.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/HP-Doors-Spec-Sheet.pdf and some videos on the subject https://hammerandhand.com/field-notes/custom-passive-house-door-woodshop-video-series/

I would say that if you have successfully built traditional doors and windows there is no reason why you couldn't build high performance versions. For doors you would need some kind of press. In any case the labor cost will be higher than units built in a production setting.

The shop I used to work for often builds doors along with cabinets and other millwork. They are moving toward more elaborate weatherseal systems than we used to do a few years back. I saw a couple of drawings today, one with a single-rabbeted door with two flipperseals and another using two shallow rabbets with one flipperseal and two small tubeseals. I will say that subjectively a well-fitted square edge door with good flipperseals seems to seal pretty well, but a blower door test will bring out the truth. Flipperseals are pretty tolerant of movement and moderate warpage whereas small tube seals and edgeseals are less so.

[John TenEyck]

You can buy a fair amount of natural gas or electricity for the difference in a door that costs maybe $2K to build vs. one that starts at $8K. Just for grins let's consider a door that's 3 ft wide and 7 ft tall. The top end Hammer and Hand door has an R value of 14. For where I live with 6100 deg days of heating, the seasonal heat loss through that door, excluding leakage, will be about 220K BTU. Natural gas costs about $16/1000 BTU's where I live, so the fuel cost for that door is $3.50. Now consider a solid wood door with an R-value of 1. The fuel cost for that door is 14x higher, or about $50. Even over 30 years the fuel cost will be only about $1400 more for the solid wood door.

Maybe there are good reasons to build thermally efficient doors, but fuel savings alone can't be the driving factor to buy one, at least not for me. You get to the same conundrum if you look at the cost of tankless water heaters over conventional. The $'s just never make sense.

John

I just realized the R-value of wood is about 1/inch, so if the door is 2" thick the fuel cost would be half of what I calculated, or $25/year, or an additional $645 over 30 years compared to the best H and H door.

[Joe Calhoon]

Kevin, agree the labor cost will be higher in a custom shop building these but with care you can achieve good performance results far better than most mainstream mfgs. The trick is avoiding the typical North American construction of square edge single gasket construction and aluminum threshold. All the good sealing gaskets, thermally broken sills, multipoint locks, hinges etc come from Germany, Italy Austria. Insulated cores of all types are available there but costly to source here. Dan Palmer of H&H was at the Alpine workshops several years ago and since have developed some good door building systems.
Double and triple rebated doors are not that difficult to build even with simple tooling. In the Alpine Workshop we show how to make 78 and 92mm thick double gasketed door edges just using the Multiuse cutter in several settings on the shaper. Easy on a programmable shaper but also possible on a conventional shaper with skilled setups. I have dedicated heads for my own work but use this method sometimes for custom thickness.
the Fenesterbau and Bau shows in Germany are the best for high quality, thermaly efficient door and window building.

here is a Instagram link showing building a historic mahogany door then sample euro door sections at the end.

https://instagram.com/p/Ca493j3LOad/

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[Kevin Jenness]

Kevin, agree the labor cost will be higher in a custom shop building these but with care you can achieve good performance results far better than most mainstream mfgs. The trick is avoiding the typical North American construction of square edge single gasket construction and aluminum threshold. All the good sealing gaskets, thermally broken sills, multipoint locks, hinges etc come from Germany, Italy Austria. Insulated cores of all types are available there but costly to source here. Dan Palmer of H&H was at the Alpine workshops several years ago and since have developed some good door building systems.
Double and triple rebated doors are not that difficult to build even with simple tooling. In the Alpine Workshop we show how to make 78 and 92mm thick double gasketed door edges just using the Multiuse cutter in several settings on the shaper. Easy on a programmable shaper but also possible on a conventional shaper with skilled setups. I have dedicated heads for my own work but use this method sometimes for custom thickness.
the Fenesterbau and Bau shows in Germany are the best for high quality, thermaly efficient door and window building.

here is a Instagram link showing building a historic mahogany door then sample euro door sections at the end.

https://instagram.com/p/Ca493j3LOad/

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Thanks, Joe. If I do any more entry doors they will have two sets of gaskets, but the rabbets will be cut with a router on the door and built up on the jamb. Good point about thermally broken metal sills- most of mine have had wood sills. Passive house standards will call for milking the law of diminishing returns for every penny, but I think the low hanging fruit is in better air sealing. Thanks as always for your perspective, informed as it is by the European industry standards.

[Joe Calhoon]

Kevin, nothing wrong with white oak thresholds. That’s my go to even on the euro doors. I have a dislike for aluminum. I have some in stock from Europe and use them if the client requests. Aluminum does not age well.

[mreza Salav]

Nowhere near the experience of others here but I built our entry door (system) back in 2014 (documented here) and I loved the outcome. Although wooden doors take quite a bit of time and care to build and also require regular maintenance, I like the look of them and especially when it's the result of your own work.
I don't have a well equipped shop and the door (42"x96"x2.25") was built using router bits and out of Honduran Mahogany. Plan ahead all the weatherseals and hardware you want to use well in advance.