I’m planning a small cellar construction project in my basement and am hoping to find recommendations for a well-insulated a sealed door system that I can buy off the shelf (so to speak; happy to order). This is going to be a purely utilitarian project, without aesthetic considerations. So the simplest possible thing is what I’m looking for: no glass, no decoration, just a good seal and as high an R-value as I can find. The ones designed specifically for wine cellars are wildly expensive and too much about looks for this project. I’ve seen lots of generic recommendations in other threads and cellar construction sites for an exterior-grade door, but I’m hoping for specific brands, lines, etc. if possible, as wading through the thousands on Lowe’s or HD makes it hard to figure out what’s what. Ideal dimensions: 30 or 32" W x 80" H.
Not looking to build my own door or have a contractor build a door, even though I recognize that might yield better performance. It’s just too much complication right now.
Bump. Anyone have particular exterior doors they’ve used successfully in a cellar project?
It looks like ThermaTru has fiberglass and steel doors that are ~R7 (the solid ones with no glass). I would guess the ProVia Signet doors are about the same. ProVia Embarq seems very impressive, but still only get to ~R11, and they seem significantly more expensive. Anyone have experience with these or other brands?
I wanted a door with a glass window and bought a pre-hung fiberglass one-light door which was about $250 at Home Depot. All weather stripping was already installed. Does a great job of keeping the cold in the cellar (wine room really), and the double glazed glass is very well insulated.
Agree with Mark - based on your description of what you’re looking for, any well-insulated door will work. I would just find one that matches the style you like with the highest r value that falls into the price range you’re shopping. I went with one with panels that match the look of the wood doors in my house. Believe it it fiberglass or similar; my builder stained it to match the other doors. I don’t see a brand on it anywhere.
As mentioned already, an exterior door will be good. Fiberglass or metal depending on what has good R values and looks good. If you want to get tricky and have better insulation (or be see thru and still OK R value) you can do two of these if you can frame the door jam extra wide to accommodate the second door. We did this once as we have extra doors and were already framing that area in so it was easy.
I am in the “any good exterior door will do,” with good wetherstripping, category.
That said, from what I have seen/read, the door will be the weakest insulation point in your room. To combat that, I added (screwed on) four inches of additional foam board (about R-20) to the inside of my door. Needless to say, aesthetics were not a concern for me either, but this does provide a good and easy way to add some additional R-value to a standard exterior door. (I found very little difference between quality brands when I was looking.)
In stock fiberglass/steel exterior doors will typically have a double bore which you probably don’t want. The simplest and cheapest solution
will be a therma tru fiberglass flush panel door. These are typically bored and hung to order so allow a week or two for delivery.
Five months ago I used 2 Therma-Tru outside doors for a project. Good quality, nice & solid-feeling, good weatherstripping & seal. Not the most expensive door, but not the cheapest either.
Thanks for all these suggestions. It sounds like ThermaTru is a solid bet. The various customization options on their site are a little overwhelming, for instance I can’t see that there’s a single-bore handle option that I can select. Those of you who custom ordered, were you able to go directly through ThermaTruv to get the specs you were looking for?
Mine were custom ordered (not for bore, tho). The ordering process was handled through a local hardware/building product store that carries Thermatru. Their inside-sales guy went over the options and ordered what we wanted. Took 7 weeks for the doors to arrive.
my cellar was built strictly for function with no aesthetics in mind. Off the shelf insulated door (same one used between garage and house) comes insulated and protects air exchange very well.
Piggybacking on this thread with another door question. My current door to the room I’m using for a cellar is an interior door with basically no insulation. I could obviously replace it, but it’s an unusual size and would be a PIA to do so. Setting aside aesthetics, could I functionally achieve a similar level of insulation by insulating it with foam board and weather-stripping?
