What comes to mind when you see door jamb like this?
A good question to ask is, “How did the rot get this far?” This certainly occurred to Steven Bayer when he purchased the fixer-upper several years ago.
The good news is, that door system and the five other exterior door frames Bayer replaced couldn’t have been in better hands.
Bayer and his family own and operate Bayer Built Woodworks, a Minnesota-based entry door manufacturer serving lumberyards and building supply centers throughout the upper Midwest. As you might guess, the pictured door rot extended well beyond the sill and jamb: Remediation also required some subfloor and truss replacement. “It was nasty,” Bayer laments.
Major Surgery
“I had to reframe everything under the door, including portions of the subfloor, truss and components. It was major surgery.”
It’s also the kind of entry door rot issue Bayer’s company never faces with their wood door systems.
“Wood doors are beautiful,” Bayer says. “But there’s no such thing as maintenance-free wood door system, especially in the upper Midwest. It’s true some door manufacturers say they can embed a stabilizer into the wood, guaranteeing rot-proof performance. I say no way!”
Bayer’s wood-friendly solution?
No-Rot Wood Jambs
“You can’t expose any species of wood to moisture at the base,” he cautions. Coated, treated or even vinyl-clad jambs simply delay the inevitable. The only thing that works in Bayer’s experience is finger-jointing a bit of waterproof composite to the wood jamb
The result: Bayer’s wood jambs don’t absorb water, warp, crack or rot. In fact, they come with a transferrable lifetime warranty to remove any doubt. It’s bold stuff, especially in the temperature extremes of the upper Midwest. “We know what works,” Bayer reports.
That belief is supported by a variety of innovations that have demonstrated faultless performance for the last 15 years:
- A finger-jointed composite base, eliminating any possible wicking action by wood exposure, treated or not.
- Works just like wood because … well, because it is wood. None of the movement associated with PVC, which typically requires more fasteners to minimize seasonal expansion and contraction.
- Finishes and paints like wood with no special paint or application required.
- “We’ve all seen how long two by fours from the same tree tend to twist and turn. The jambs we spec are straight and true and stay that way,” Bayer says. “Plus, we get great screw retention between the sill and jamb’.”
The veteran door manufacturer singles out Endura’s FramerSaver door frame as their go-to solution. “When we developed our own line of entry systems, we specified only components we could trust. We can’t afford callbacks. We’ve relied on Endura FrameSaver for a very long time.”
If you’re worked with Endura FrameSaver, you know what Bayer means. If you haven’t, it might not hurt to ask your local supplier about FrameSaver on your next project.
Learn more about how to end door jamb rot issues once and for all.
