engineered wood door

[Stuart Noble]

My gut feeling is that engineered wood should be more stable for an exterior door than solid timber. The existing Victorian front door is only being replaced because the bottom rail is pissed, creating a gap that varies with the seasons, and making any sort of draught exclusion impossible. Also, I'm not totally convinced that an extra £55 for mortice and tenon joints is really worth it. The door will be painted, and is part protected by a porch. Aside from the pros and cons (which I'm sure are exhaustive), has anyone actually gone for dowelled, engineered hardwood and then regretted it?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Solve that by taking it off and thoroughly sealing it. And protect against driving rain..

If you mean simply using machined painted marine plywood, should be good if well sealed.

[Stuart Noble]

I've been "solving" it on and off for the last 20 years and now I'm determined to have a straight door like normal people :-)

This sort of thing

"These doors are manufactured using LVL (Laminated Veneered Lumber). LVL or more commonly known as ?engineered timber ? is a modern method of construction that is economical with the use of natural timber resources. The main parts & rails of the door are constructed using solid strips/blocks of timber, which are glued and then clamped together. They are then faced with a veneer and edged with a solid timber ?lipping?. The benefits of using engineered construction doors over more traditional methods are; The door has a much more uniform look (no mismatched colours/panels, everything matches), It is far more unlikely to twist, split (we do not get problems with panels splitting) and possibly the most important reason is that it is much more Eco friendly!"

[RubberBiker]

Which will be prone to damage over the years.

Solid hardwood generally just takes on "character" with the knocks and scrapes of life.

[NT]

I have to second that.

NT