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4. Door Replacement St. Louis: Entry And Interior Doors From Marvin And TruStile

On a January morning you can feel the air coming in under the front door, and the new weatherstripping you added in the fall didn’t fix it. Inside, the bedroom doors are the hollow ones that came with the house, and one of them hasn’t latched in years. Replacing doors raises more questions than most projects: which kind of door goes where, what the job involves, whether you need a permit, and how to compare one quote with another.

You can see Marvin and TruStile doors at Forshaw of St. Louis, which sells and installs both brands from showrooms in Frontenac and Ellisville. Marvin covers entry, patio and French doors, built to order in wood, fiberglass and aluminum. TruStile covers interior doors and also makes exterior doors. In the City of St. Louis, replacing a door usually needs no permit when the opening stays the same size, though historic districts are different. A good quote lists the door, frame, trim and installation line by line.

Which doors does a St. Louis home need replaced?

Most homes need two kinds of doors: exterior doors that seal out weather, and interior doors that close off rooms. Exterior doors carry the energy efficiency, security and hardware questions. Interior doors are about style, sound and how a room feels. Here’s how the openings match up with the two brands:

Opening	What it needs to do	Brand to look at	Where to read more
Front entry	Seal out weather, lock securely, set the look of the house	Marvin, with TruStile exterior doors as another option	Our Marvin entry doors page
Patio or French door to the yard	Let in light, open wide, seal like an exterior door	Marvin	Our Marvin entry doors page
Bedroom, bath and closet	Close quietly, match the trim and style of the house	TruStile	Our TruStile interior doors page
Office or study	Close for privacy while letting light through	TruStile, with glass options	Our interior French doors page
Older hollow doors	Block more sound, feel solid in the hand	TruStile	Our solid core vs hollow core page

If you’re replacing windows at the same time, Marvin’s collections cover both, so you can choose the doors and windows together. You can read more about Marvin windows in St. Louis before you visit.

Marvin entry and patio doors

Marvin builds swinging doors in single or multiple panel designs, opening inward or outward, and it will make almost any door in its catalog as an entry door or another exterior door. That range is the reason to start in a showroom, and our page on Marvin entry doors shows the collections side by side. The style you like on a front porch in Kirkwood may come in several collections, each with a different material on the inside and outside.

Marvin describes its door materials collection by collection:

• Ultimate pairs natural wood inside with extruded aluminum outside. In Marvin’s words, “Natural wood interiors with a variety of finishes are offered on Ultimate and Elevate products.”
• Elevate pairs that wood interior with Ultrex fiberglass outside. Marvin says “Proprietary Ultrex® fiberglass is featured on Vivid and Elevate exteriors and Essential interiors and exteriors.”
• Essential uses Ultrex fiberglass inside and out, for a painted finish with low upkeep on both faces.
• Modern has what Marvin calls “unique High-Density Fiberglass exteriors,” with aluminum on the inside.

Sizes, glass options and finishes for each door are things we confirm for your opening in the showroom rather than guess from a catalog. If your front door doesn’t need the aluminum exterior that Ultimate adds, we’ll tell you and quote Elevate or Essential. The right collection is the one that fits the house, not the biggest number on the quote.

TruStile interior and exterior doors

TruStile makes doors to order for the rooms inside your house, and it also makes exterior doors. The styles run from traditional panel doors to flat modern designs, and the doors come either as a slab or pre-hung in a new frame. TruStile also offers fire doors in 20-, 45-, 60- and 90-minute ratings for openings that call for one.

TruStile doors make the most sense when you’re replacing several interior doors at once and want them to match. Matching every bedroom, bath and closet door to one style is where a made-to-order door shows its value. A single replacement for a damaged door can work too, as long as the new one matches the ones around it. Our page on TruStile interior doors shows the styles. For a room that needs light, look at interior French doors, and if you’re replacing old hollow doors, see how solid core and hollow core doors differ.

Wood, fiberglass or steel for a St. Louis house

Fiberglass is the low-maintenance choice for an exterior door in a climate with hot, humid summers and cold winters, because it resists warping and rot. Wood gives you the traditional look and a stained finish, and it needs the most care. Steel is sturdy, but it can dent, and it can rust where the finish gets scratched.

Marvin’s collections let you split the difference. A wood interior with a fiberglass or aluminum exterior gives you stained wood in the front hall and a weather-facing skin outside. Each material fits when:

• Fiberglass inside and out fits when you want a painted look and the least upkeep on both sides.
• Wood inside with fiberglass or aluminum outside fits when you want stained wood in the house and a tough exterior facing the weather.
• All wood fits when the door is sheltered by a deep porch and the look of the house calls for it.

No one material wins every opening. Which side faces the afternoon sun, and how much shelter the door gets, count as much as the material.

What door replacement involves

Replacing a door follows the same steps whether it’s a front entry in Clayton or a bedroom door in Webster Groves: measure the opening, order the door, remove the old one, check the frame and sill, then set, level and seal the new door. The steps are simple. The care that goes into each one decides how the door works for years.

Here’s what each step covers:

• Measure. We measure the rough opening and the existing frame, and check whether the frame is square and sound.
• Order. Marvin and TruStile doors are made to order, so they take weeks to arrive. Ask for the lead time in writing on your quote.
• Remove. The old door comes out, along with its frame if the new door is pre-hung.
• Check the frame and sill. Soft or rotted wood at the sill gets repaired before the new door goes in.
• Set and seal. The new door is set, shimmed level, fastened, flashed against water and sealed against air.

The biggest choice in that list is pre-hung or slab. A pre-hung door replaces the door, frame, threshold and weatherstripping together. A slab replaces only the door panel, and it only suits a frame that is sound and square. Forshaw installs the doors it sells, so the same team that measures your opening sets the door.

Do you need a permit to replace a door in St. Louis?

In the City of St. Louis, you usually don’t. The City’s building division says no permit is needed for “replacement or repair of exterior doors and non-fire rated interior doors whenever no modification is made to the opening.”

The exception is historic property. Homes in a City Historic District, or that are City Landmarks, need approval for doors, and the City’s Cultural Resources Office can require a permit “even though it is not required by the Building Code.” If your house is in one of those districts, check before you order.

How to compare door quotes

Compare door quotes line by line, for the same openings, before you compare totals. Two quotes for “a new front door” can describe very different jobs. One may cover the door slab alone, and the other may cover a pre-hung unit, including a new frame, sill, trim, installation and haul-away of the old door.

Check these on every quote:

• What’s included: door only, or door, frame, threshold, trim and installation.
• The same door: the same size, the same glass, the same material and the same hardware.
• Lead time: the weeks until delivery, and the install date that follows.
• Warranty: what the maker covers on the door, and what the installer covers on the work.

Price both the door and the installation. Door prices run from a few hundred dollars for a door alone to several thousand for a custom entry with glass, and a total means little until you know what it includes. If you’re also pricing another brand, our page on Renewal by Andersen doors covers how it compares. If the lines match, you’re comparing doors. If they don’t, you’re comparing different jobs.

At Forshaw, you get an itemized, written quote to take home.

Energy ratings in plain words

For an exterior door, look for the ENERGY STAR label and the NFRC label. ENERGY STAR rates a door on how much heat it lets through, how much of the sun’s heat it lets in, and how much of the door is glass. A solid door and a door that’s mostly glass are held to different standards for that reason.

The NFRC label lists the door’s tested ratings, so you can compare two doors side by side instead of taking a description on faith. More glass brings in more light, and it also means more care in choosing the glass itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if I need a new door or just a repair?

Start with the simple fixes: new weatherstripping, a hinge adjustment, a new strike plate. If the door still drafts, sticks or won’t latch after those, the problem is usually the door or frame. Soft or rotted wood at the bottom of the door or the sill, a warped panel, daylight or water showing around the edges, and fog trapped between the panes of glass all point to replacement.

How long does door replacement take?

Setting a single entry door usually takes a day or less once the door arrives. Sidelights, a transom or rot in the frame add time, so a larger entry can run longer. Most of the wait comes before install day, while a made-to-order door is built.

Do I need a permit outside the City of St. Louis?

St. Louis County and each town in it set their own permit rules, so call the building office in Ladue, Chesterfield, Ellisville or wherever you live before work starts. Widening an opening or adding sidelights changes the opening, which is a different job from a straight swap anywhere you live.

Can I buy TruStile doors straight from TruStile?

No. TruStile sells only through dealers, who handle sizing, options, warranty and pricing. Forshaw of St. Louis is a TruStile dealer, so you can see the doors, choose a style and order through either of our showrooms.

Visit a Forshaw showroom

The easiest way to choose a door is to stand in front of one, open it and feel how it closes. You’re welcome to browse online first, then bring your measurements, photos of your openings and any quotes you already have to either showroom.

• Frontenac showroom, 825 S. Lindbergh Blvd, St Louis, MO 63131, (314) 993-5570
• Ellisville showroom, 15977 Manchester Rd, Ellisville, MO 63011, (636) 527-7655

Both are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00am to 5:30pm, and Sunday from 12:00pm to 5:00pm. Bring your questions about Marvin and TruStile doors, and we’ll help you find the right door for each opening, then put it all in writing.

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