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Which wood species are best for exterior doors?

The Wood Guide · Choosing and comparing

Buying guide

Wood for exterior doors

A door that no longer closes is worse than a door that looks weathered. That is why one property counts above all others for exterior doors.

  • Stability first
  • Only then durability
  • Afzelia and meranti dominate
door timber
Red-painted wooden front door with stained-glass fanlights (Alkmaar)
Red-painted wooden front door with stained-glass fanlightsAlkmaar
Weathered wooden double door in Ghent: paint gone, wood grey (Ghent)
Weathered wooden double door in Ghent: paint gone, wood greyGhent
Summary

The choice at a glance

With almost any outdoor wood you look first at the durability class. With a door, that is the second question.

An exterior door is caught between two worlds. On the outside thirty degrees of sun and driving rain, on the inside a heated house with a humidity of thirty per cent. That difference pulls at the wood, every day, for years.

A door made of a species that moves a lot sticks in August and leaves a three-millimetre gap in January. A door made of a stable species does exactly the same in both cases: it closes. That is why, for door timber, dimensional stability comes first, and durability second.

Why a door is different from a façade

A cladding board is allowed to move — it overlaps its neighbour and nobody notices a millimetre. A door sits in a frame with a tolerance of a few millimetres on all sides. The same movement that is invisible on a façade makes a door unusable.

First requirement
dimensional stability — does the wood move little?
Second requirement
durability class 1 to 3
Third requirement
weight — the hinges carry it for years
Classic
oak, meranti, afzelia (doussié)
Modern
Accoya and thermally modified wood
Essential
all six sides treated, including top and bottom

To be fair: the most beautiful door in the most durable wood will fail if the top and bottom edges are left untreated. Those are the two surfaces nobody sees and that absorb the most moisture — and they are the most common cause of a door that warps after five years.

In pictures · does your door still close in August? The door chooser

Your door

Wood species

All six sides treated?

The five usual species

Oakgoodclass 2average
Afzeliaexcellentclass 1–2low
Meranti (dark red)goodclass 2–3average
Accoyaexcellentclass 1very low
Thermally modified woodvery goodclass 2–3low

What a wooden exterior door asks of you

  1. Check every year — especially the bottom, south and west
  2. Readjust the hinges — half a turn a year
  3. Measure the gap — summer and winter; more than 2 mm difference = moisture problem
  4. Keep the drip edge clear — leaves and dirt hold moisture
Accoya: why the paint stays on →
Side by side

The five usual species

Wood species Dimensional stability Durability Appearance Maintenance
Oak Good Class 2 Classic and timeless Average
Afzelia (doussié) Excellent Class 1–2 Warm reddish brown Low
Meranti (dark red) Good Class 2–3 Calm reddish brown Average
Accoya Excellent Class 1 Light, usually painted Very low
Thermally modified wood Very good Class 2–3 Deep brown right through Low
Why Accoya conquered the painted door

Acetylated softwood moves so little that a coat of paint stays on it much longer — paint cracks because the substrate moves, not because of the paint itself. For a painted door that means repainting every ten years instead of every four. See Accoya.

Deciding

Which species for which door

Classic front door on show

Oak. Timeless, hard, class 2 and it ages with dignity. Use stainless steel — the tannins turn ordinary steel black.

A door that will be painted

Accoya. The paint lasts considerably longer because the substrate hardly moves.

A door facing south or west

Afzelia or thermally modified wood. That is where the load is greatest and stability counts double.

Keeping an eye on the budget

Dark red meranti. Ask explicitly for the dark red group — light red and white meranti belong indoors.

Treat all six sides

Front, back, two sides, top and bottom. The top and bottom are end-grain surfaces that absorb moisture ten to fifteen times faster than the faces. Untreated, they soak up water while the rest stays dry — and that imbalance is exactly what makes a door warp.

Keeping it up

What a wooden exterior door asks of you

  1. Check every yearGo over the finish, especially at the bottom and on the south and west sides. Touching up small cracks takes minutes; a coat that has failed costs a door.
  2. Readjust the hingesA door drops over the years. Half a turn a year keeps the gap even and prevents wear at one point.
  3. Check the gapMeasure in summer and in winter. If the gap stays the same, the wood is performing well. If it varies by more than two millimetres, there is a moisture problem.
  4. Keep the drip edge clearThe threshold must be able to drain water. Leaves and dirt hold moisture at exactly the most vulnerable point.
Quick answer

Frequently asked questions about wood for exterior doors

Which wood is best for an exterior door?

Afzelia (doussié) and Accoya for maximum stability, oak for the classic look. With a door, dimensional stability counts for more than durability class.

Why does my wooden door stick in summer?

The wood absorbs moisture from the humid summer air and swells. With species that move a lot that is a few millimetres — enough to stick. See how wood moves.

Do I need to treat the top and bottom of a door?

Absolutely. They are end-grain surfaces that absorb moisture much faster than the sides. Leaving them untreated is the most common cause of a warped door.

Is meranti suitable for an exterior door?

Dark red meranti is — class 2 to 3 and good dimensional stability. Light red and white meranti belong indoors. Always ask about the colour group.

More in The Wood Guide

Door timber in perspective

A door isn't judged on how it looks, but on whether it closes.

To The Wood Guide Afzelia Accoya

Have a question about your project? Just ask — we're happy to help.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Alkmaar — Dqfn13, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ghent — Ferdinand Stöhr, CC0

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