I'm flattered that you included my quote, but I think that you might have mis-used it somewhat.

In the context in which the quote appeared, I intended the reader to take away the message that DIY... careful, smart DIY can trump technically advanced commercial offerings. Especially important when the commercial offerings yield substantial energy-reduction advantages... only not at a price that those who really need the advantages can afford. Thus the need for DIY.

I consciously tried to avoid trashing GSHPs in the Manifesto, because there is nothing wrong with how they work, or their reputation for reliability. They're great. But we can build them out of cast off parts.

I think the same is true for Passive House doors, too. I don't think you can argue that they are quite good. It's not just the R-value that is good, but also much care has gone into designing for superior sealing, double sealing. To cap it off, they do look great.

Most commercial doors such as the fiberglass ones from Big Box Inc are designed by a committee to offend no one. As a result, they don't really please anyone either.

Instead of trashing these hyper-expensive doors (I'd rather spend the money buying more insulation and also installing a DIY radiant floor... I could do all that for the price of one door, and have enough left over to make a door that was a very close match for the commercial Passive House door) we should start a thread on how to DIY an extremely good door that matches Passive House performance. The principles of their design should be emulated.

We can do this...

-AC

I'd be interested in that because I'm planning on building some well insulated doors for the walk-in freezer I want to build.

Then you are the perfect person to start a new thread.

-AC

Have you tried to source a used one? I'm thinking it might have a comparable cost and be much more robust if it were prefab. I worked in a bakery where they tried to DIY some equipment like this and it turned out pretty bad pretty fast. The commercial units are not made of materials that are susceptible to moisture issues.

I haven't looked into the details of door construction at all. That's on my list of things to do.

Right now my IMPRESSION is that I would take xps sheets, laminate them to sheet metal, and . . . . well, I haven't gotten that far yet.

I am looking at installing both an outswing and inswing high R foam core exterior door in the same RO. As my exterior walls with be 9" deep I should be able to do it even if I have to trim one frame down and cover seam with mullion trim. Double the R and double air seal for a lot less than $12,000. It just shocks me how such expense for energy saving products could ever payback. I would like the outer door to have vinyl or fiberglass frame though to outlast standard wood ones.

PVC frame? That's how I'm gong to be trimming the outside of my windows when I outsulate my house. Wood might not fare so well there.

Not entirely sure what you mean by "frame" though.

I believe they are technically called the jam(the frame that surrounds a prehung door.

Have you had a problem with door jams rotting? I'm not sure if I've seen that.

I have now had several wood door jams(frame on which door is hinged) rot at bottom at threshold(even behind storm doors. All have had to be tediously chipped away and filled with epoxy filler. Granted they have been economy service doors not top of the line.

Has anyone ever seen two insulated doors hung in the same opening. A possible concern I see might be frost trapping between them.