# Wood species for entry door jamb



## kbgreiner (Aug 14, 2014)

Hi folks,

Long-time lurker, first post!
I'm re-building the door jamb on my entry door and trying to figure out what wood species to use. It's for a cape in MA, will be painted white and will get some wet weather. I'm trying to do a solid job on it, will get 6/4 stock and cut a rabbet for the door stop. Looks like the reasonably affordable options are:

poplar
red oak
western red cedar
vertical grain fir
southern yellow pine

I'm tempted to use poplar since it's fairly cheap and paints well ... but hesitant because of the potential for rot. There will be a storm door protecting it, but still seems like a risk.
Oak would be nice from a security point of view (hardest on the list), although it always feels like a shame to paint oak.
Thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks!!


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

I would not use poplar, I don't think it would hold up that long, plus it's pretty soft. You might want to consider cypress or white oak. Both are strong, rot resistant and should last a long time. For the size of the piece of wood, I wouldn't worry about cost so much or painting a piece of oak.
Mike Hawkins


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## kbgreiner (Aug 14, 2014)

Thanks Mike. Judging by our subtitles, we think alike 

I will think about white oak. I don't have a thickness planer (yet), so I'm buying D4S and it gets up there in price. Sure would be nice!


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

If it were me I would use pressure treated pine for the jamb. Depending on how fresh it is you might have to just put a coat of primer on it for several months before you could completely paint it but the wood would never rot.


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## kbgreiner (Aug 14, 2014)

Just for posterity, I ended up going with Sapele.
When I took the trim off, I found that the old jamb is 1-1/4" thick - plus the 1/2" door stop! Sapele seemed like a good combination of durability, paintability, price.
So now I have some new monster thick awesome door jambs. The Sapele is amazing, shame to paint it. But turned out great.


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