A new entry door in Weymouth runs $2,300 to $4,500 installed for a like-for-like swap. But the clause that decides whether you still have a warranty in year three isn’t about price — it’s that most steel and fiberglass doors have to be finished within two to four weeks of installation, and that hardware coverage is excluded within five miles of salt water. Almost all of Weymouth is inside that line.
By JR Reis, Owner & President · Last updated October 2026
Nobody reads the warranty until something fails. Four clauses are worth reading first.
1. The door has to be finished, and fast. Therma-Tru requires steel slabs to be finished within two weeks of installation. Steves & Sons gives thirty days for steel and fiberglass. Past that window, finish-related failures aren’t covered. And “finished” means every surface — faces, edges, and critically the top and bottom edges, which are the most commonly skipped and the first place an unfinished door wicks up water.
A door delivered primed is not a finished door. Primer is a bonding layer, not a weather barrier.
2. Hardware coverage stops five miles from salt water. Therma-Tru and Steves & Sons both exclude mechanical and locking mechanism coverage for products installed within five miles of a body of salt water. Draw a five-mile radius from Hingham Bay and the Weymouth Back River and you’ve covered essentially the whole town.
This isn’t a reason not to buy the door. It’s a reason to spec corrosion-resistant hardware deliberately, because on an exposed elevation here the lock and hinges will degrade before anything happens to the slab — and you’ll be paying for that yourself.
3. Improper flashing can void the whole thing. Steves & Sons names it explicitly: without proper flashing including a sill pan and head flashing, coverage can be void. A door sits at the bottom of a wall, takes every drop that runs down it, and has a horizontal joint at the threshold that gets walked on. Doors take more water than windows do.
4. The frame is often not covered. The slab may be fiberglass, but the jamb and brickmould around it are frequently wood, and most warranties exclude them. When someone says their fiberglass door failed, the frame is usually what actually gave out.
These are market ranges, not quotes — every door we price gets walked first.
| Scope | Installed cost |
|---|---|
| Steel pre-hung swap | $2,300 – $3,800 |
| Fiberglass pre-hung swap | $2,700 – $4,500 |
| Solid wood entry, finished | $3,300 – $5,800 |
| Full-frame replacement, vs like-for-like swap | add $700 – $1,200 |
| Storm door over an existing entry | $1,500 – $2,200 |
| French or double entry | $4,500 – $8,500 |
| Premium custom wood, sidelights and transom | $10,600 – $18,400 |
And here’s a conflict worth naming. The Cost vs. Value report puts a steel entry door replacement at roughly $2,547 in New England, recouping about 216% of its cost at resale — the highest-returning project in the entire report, by a wide margin. A grand fiberglass entrance averages about $11,953 and recoups roughly 85%.
On the numbers alone, steel wins outright.
On a coastal elevation in Weymouth, steel is frequently the wrong door anyway — for reasons covered next. If you’re selling in two years, the steel ROI figure is real and you should take it. If you’re staying fifteen, the lifecycle math points the other way. Both can be true, and any contractor quoting you only one of them is selling rather than advising.
| Material | Coastal lifespan | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Steel | 10 – 15 years | Surface corrosion by year 8 – 10. Once the skin is scratched through, rust spreads underneath the paint film |
| Fiberglass | 30+ years | Nothing corrodes or rots. Can crack under heavy impact. Dark colours in direct sun risk heat damage |
| Wood | Indefinite with maintenance | Refinishing every 2 – 5 years; on an exposed elevation, closer to two |
Fiberglass is the right default here, and it isn’t close. It doesn’t rust, doesn’t rot, doesn’t absorb moisture, and holds a wood-grain finish convincingly. Steel and fiberglass are comparable on insulation — both land around R-5 to R-6 per the Department of Energy, with fiberglass edging it.
Three things matter more than most people expect:
Most of these are not door problems, and a contractor who leads with “you need a new door” hasn’t diagnosed anything.
If it sticks only in summer, that’s a wood door doing what wood does — absorbing humidity and swelling, then shrinking back in winter. It’s seasonal, it’s normal, and the fix is usually a small amount of material removed at the binding edge, not a replacement.
If it sticks year-round and is getting worse, the frame has likely moved. Settling pulls an opening out of square. Frequently the real cause is simpler: the top hinge screws have pulled out of the jamb, letting the door sag. Replacing those with three-inch screws that reach the framing behind the jamb fixes a surprising number of “I need a new door” calls in an afternoon.
If it’s draughty, work through three things before considering replacement:
The quickest diagnostic: on a dark evening, have someone shine a bright light around the door’s perimeter from outside while you watch from inside. Wherever you see light, air is moving. That tells you whether you have a seal problem or a door problem in about two minutes.
We’d rather adjust a threshold and replace weatherstripping than sell a door that wasn’t needed.
Yes, we install storm doors. We also talk people out of them regularly.
The problem is heat. Sun passes through the storm door glass and gets trapped in the air gap between the two doors. That pocket reaches temperatures well above the outside air, and the result is bubbling, skin cracking, warping, baked paint, and melted plastic components on the entry door behind it. A dark-coloured door multiplies the risk — dark pigment absorbs solar energy and drives surface temperature higher.
Whether it voids your warranty depends on the manufacturer, and they disagree. Therma-Tru states that a properly installed storm door does not void their limited warranty. Steves & Sons states that if inspection shows the storm door caused the damage, coverage may be void. So the answer is not “storm doors are fine” or “storm doors void everything” — it’s check the warranty on the specific door you’re buying, before you buy it.
If you do install one:
A storm door genuinely helps on an older draughty wood door, on an entry with no overhang that takes weather directly, or when you want ventilation and a screen in summer.
Skip it on a new, well-sealed fiberglass or steel door. The energy gain is marginal — an entry door is a small fraction of a home’s heat loss — and you’re adding risk to the thing you’re trying to protect. If sun and rain protection is the goal, an overhang does the same job with none of the warranty exposure.
Two parts of this job are where we’re different from a door-only installer.
We flash it properly, because the warranty requires it. Sill pan under the unit, head flashing above, lapped correctly behind the housewrap. If you want the detail on how water actually gets into an opening and what it costs when it does, that’s in our guide to window and door leaks in Weymouth.
We finish it on site, inside the warranty window. Paint or stain, including fiberglass graining, on all six surfaces — faces, both side edges, and the top and bottom edges that everyone forgets. This is the whole reason a painting company installing doors is a different proposition: the finish isn’t a separate trade we’re waiting on, and the two-to-four-week clause doesn’t quietly expire while you’re trying to book someone.
Interior trim repair and repainting around the opening are part of the same scope. For windows rather than doors, see our Weymouth window replacement guide.
Where we work: Weymouth — North Weymouth, East Weymouth, South Weymouth, and Weymouth Landing — plus Hingham, Braintree, Quincy, and Hull.
Service details are on our window and door installation page. Finished work is in the gallery.
How much does an entry door replacement cost in Weymouth?
A steel pre-hung swap runs $2,300 to $3,800 installed and a fiberglass swap $2,700 to $4,500. Solid wood finished is $3,300 to $5,800, and full-frame replacement adds $700 to $1,200 over a like-for-like swap. A storm door over an existing entry is $1,500 to $2,200. Coastal-rated units run 30 to 50% above standard.
Why does my exterior door stick, swell or let draughts through?
A door that sticks only in summer is wood swelling with humidity — normal, and usually fixed by easing the binding edge. Sticking year-round and worsening usually means the frame has moved or the top hinge screws have pulled out of the jamb, which three-inch screws into the framing behind will often fix. Draughts are nearly always worn weatherstripping, a failed door sweep, or a threshold that needs adjusting — most exterior thresholds are adjustable.
Do you install storm doors as well as entry doors?
Yes, both. We’ll also tell you when a storm door is a bad idea. Trapped heat between a storm door and the entry door behind it causes bubbling, warping, and baked paint, and some manufacturers treat that damage as voiding coverage while others don’t. We check your specific door’s warranty before recommending one, and if you proceed we use a vented model.
Will the new door be properly flashed and sealed against wind-driven rain?
Yes — sill pan under the unit, head flashing above, lapped correctly behind the housewrap. It isn’t optional: manufacturers including Steves & Sons name improper flashing as grounds for voiding the warranty. Doors sit at the bottom of the wall and take more water than windows, so the threshold detail matters more than people realise.
Do you finish, stain or paint the door after installation?
Yes, on site, in paint or stain, including fiberglass graining. It’s also a warranty requirement rather than a preference — most steel and fiberglass doors must be finished within two to four weeks of installation depending on the manufacturer, on all six surfaces including the top and bottom edges. A door delivered primed is not a finished door.
How long do exterior doors last in coastal weather?
Steel runs 10 to 15 years near salt water, with surface corrosion typically appearing by year 8 to 10 — once the skin is scratched through, rust spreads under the paint. Fiberglass lasts 30 years or more because nothing in it corrodes or rots. Wood lasts indefinitely with refinishing every two to five years, closer to two on an exposed elevation.
Is a steel or fiberglass door better for a Weymouth home?
Fiberglass, for most coastal Weymouth homes. Steel is cheaper up front and the Cost vs. Value report shows a steel entry door recouping around 216% of its cost at resale in New England — the best return of any project in the report. But steel corrodes near salt water, so if you’re staying long term, fiberglass wins on lifecycle cost. If you’re selling within a couple of years, the steel figure is real.
US ProPaint & Renovation
Adress:175 Derby St STE 4 Hingham, MA 02043
Phone: +1 (617) 922-6305
Toll Free: +1 (800) 964-0717
Email: office@uspropaint.com
Massachusetts Contractor
License 186517 ·
Lead-Safe Certified
Serving Weymouth, Hingham, Braintree, Quincy, Hull, and the South Shore.
