I can't speak about Reliabilt. Glad you like the Therma-Tru doors which seem to get high marks on this forum.

I'm not sure if all the Therma-Tru doors are built at the same place. We ordered 3 finished exterior doors in Jan/Feb. The first time they were delivered, the local dealer rejected them because of bad staining/finish job. They were re-orderred and still haven't arrived. When the dealer inquired, they said "oh, we lost the info on what stain you wanted." So, the factory did nothing. Fortunately, this delay isn't holding up the rest of the remodel yet. If they aren't here in the next few weeks, I will get a lot more assertive.

We paid major bucks for the 3 doors in a mission style with glass panels on top.

"The expert at Lowes" - isn't that an oxymoron?

ThermaTru is a higher-end product compared to the Reliabilt line; there are good reasons why they cost more. If you can afford ThermaTru, I wouldn't go the cheaper route.

lkremodel - So sorry to hear you've had problems. The pictures of the mission doors are beautiful. My house is Williamsburg style, so my doors are pretty plain. I'll be painting these myself.

formula1 - I'll stick with Therma-Tru. Thanks for the advice.

Does anyone find any quality differences between the ThermaTru doors sold at Lowes versus those sold at local dealers? I have heard many rumblings from contractors about Lowes and Home Depot products having a different quality despite being the same model of a product sold at a local dealer.

The ultimate Fiberglass Door is built by ProVia in Sugarcreek, Oh.

Of course it's not a "budget" door and the "expert" at Lowe's probably hasn't heard of it.

Michael

Benchmark by Therma Tru is made exclusively for Lowes. Its much cheaper than the Therma Tru low end smooth star.
Reliabilt is by Jeld Wen. The door is fine. But Jeld Wen only sells the doors to Home Depot and Lowes. HD and Lowes have some one else make the frames.

Therma-Tru is better quality door, it's made with more high end materials and has better insulation. Have purchased three Therma-Tru and one Reliabilt; also, always make sure your Lowe's installer has had a few years experience. Ours installed Reliabilt fine but put the doorlock on backwards and once we discovered it they would not come back out to fix it without charging a fee.

From my examination either one felt substantial but the Pella door was a major disappointment. Every one of those on display were chipped while the thermatru and RB were perfect.

I think it boils down to preference.
We ended up b]purchasing a Pella fiberglass entry door May 2010 and LOVE it. A Therma-Tru fiber glass door with the rought iron was twice as much as the Pella. The Therma tru also did not allow the choice of glass (Pella does and we chose Water glass) nor does Therma-tru allow to choose the size of glass (we wanted 3/4 lite). On Therma-Tru, the fiber glass door has stock granite glass in 1/2 lite only with the iron between the two pieces of glass. With Pella, we chose the grain finish on the fb, the glass lite size and type, and the iron is on hinges so that the glass behind can be cleaned. The Therma-tru was twice the price of the Pella.
A year later, we have not had one issue and I love my door every time I drive up to the house.
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