Exterior Door Launch

Woodharbor Launches Exterior Door Line

Woodharbor Doors & Cabinetry, an innovator and leader in the custom pre-finished interior door industry, is again expanding its product line by launching its first exterior door line in July 2007. Woodharbor will offer a wide variety of styles, wood species and finishes similar to the interior line. They will launch with a select group of dealers nationwide and offer the exterior door line to their entire dealer base by late fall. "To the best of my knowledge, we are the only custom interior door and cabinetry manufacturer that also offers custom exterior doors" said Bill Alger, marketing/product manager, Woodharbor Doors & Cabinetry.

"We look at the exterior door as a natural fit for our mantra "bring your home to life" said Alger. "Our exterior doors allow homeowners to match up their entry door with the other products we offer to provide a unifying look throughout the home." Since it began in 1993, Woodharbor has developed products including interior passage doors, fire doors (between house and garage), kitchen and bath cabinetry and millwork (mantles, moldings, casement and wainscot).

As was the case with developing all their other door and cabinetry lines, developing an exterior door has been a learning experience, said Alger. While the company had the necessary equipment to build an exterior door, the process was much different from building an interior door. We built prototype doors and sent them to an independent testing lab to learn about the effects of the elements on our door" explained Alger. "This is how we learned we needed to redesign our doors in order to achieve the optimum level of sealing."

In order to achieve this optimum seal, the panels are built and finished before they are inserted into the doorframe. In comparison, interior doors are built by inserting the panel into the doorframe as it is being assembled. According to Alger, the company redesigned many of the door components to provide the most effective application of sealant during the build phase. Exterior grade glue and polyurethane finishing are used, and Woodharbor's stains have been reformulated for the best possible resistance to the sun.

"The process of building an exterior door that will endure the environment is much more complicated than the process of building an interior door" said Alger. Regardless of the challenges, "All of us at Woodharbor are excited to add exterior doors to our existing family of products to help people bring their home to life."

Woodharbor Doors & Cabinetry was founded by three brothers-Curtis, Jon and Dennis Lewerke-in Mason City, Iowa, in 1993. The company has grown from 25 people its first year to its current workforce of 520. Woodharbor had gross sales of $60 million in 2006.