Ozone-friendly Insulated Composite Doors

Most manufactured exterior doors have a core of polyurethane insulation, which is made with ozone-depleting HCFC-141b. Of those that use ozone-safe expanded polystyrene (EPS), most are steel, which works all right but can be limiting in terms of design flexibility. A new line of exterior doors from door-and-window giant Jeld-Wen—the Elite Alterna—expands the options with a wood-fiber composite door.

The Elite Alterna line is assembled for Jeld-Wen by DoorCraft, Inc. The door’s frame is made of laminated veneer lumber, its core is 1.5 lb/ft3 (24 kg/m3) density EPS, and the facing is a phenol-based wood-fiber composite. The wood fibers are an industrial waste product: planer shavings from the company’s mills. According to Jeld-Wen, this is the first wood composite door designed for exterior applications. Unlike fiberglass doors, the composite exterior must be painted to remain protected when it’s exposed to weather, says Jeld-Wen Lab Manager Randy Clark. Clark reports that Jeld-Wen used to use urethane insulation extensively, but they had problems with shrinkage of the insulation and were concerned about R-value de- terioration. The Elite Alterna comes with a five-year warranty.