The front door is shaping up. The first stain wasn't red enough so we are adding a coat of Sedona Red to help it along. The two bottom panels are cut out and waiting for stain. We glued a layer of 1/8" insulation to the back side of each bottom panel. This should help insulate the panel area and prevent cracking in the winter. The new glazing pieces should be in soon and we hope to frame and hang the door in the next two weeks.

The exterior wood door we have right now dries up and cracks every winter. This year there are 3 cracks in the door panels that are large enough to see light through. I think it has an R-value of -5. In the summer the heat blisters the door until most of the finish peels off. I think we have refinished it 3 times in the 5 years that it has been up. Word of advice:

If you want an exterior wood door then protect it from the sun and the rain.

When you salvage windows you have to be prepared for a few things:

1. There is a good chance that there is problem with the window, even if you haven't found one yet. Ours had trim nails that poked through the aluminum cladding. We didn't see this when we bought them because they were not very clean.....which leads us to our next point.

2. If there is a problem, the owner (and probably the contractor who was supposed to install them) won't care what happens to them as long as they get replaced. This particular window was removed from the job site and stored in an aviary for pigeons with gastro-intestinal disorders. We have Pella windows in the existing house and have been happy with them. As we mentioned before, do your homework on the performance characteristics, be a little open minded with the sizes and give yourself a little time. Windows are pretty easy to come by, especially double hungs.