Marvin Windows and Doors confirmed today it has stopped offering entry doors. The news comes at roughly at the same time Warroad, Minn.-based Marvin began selling siding for the first time in its history.

Marvin confirmed suppliers' reports that it was no longer selling entry doors but declined further comment. Speonk Lumber in Speonk, N.Y., reported in its newsletter that issues with Honduras-based manufacturing and transportation systems led to the closing of the entry door line.

The siding line, called Apex, will use the same pultruded fiberglass as Marvin's Infinity and Integrity windows. Apex launched to select markets, including Minneapolis.

"Unlike fiberglass siding panels produced by other companies, mostly for farm buildings, Marvin said Apex is the first fiberglass siding that can be installed on a house in overlapping boards that look like traditional siding," the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported May 18 in a story on a Marvin event celebrating the rollout of the product.. The article also stated the products would be geared toward the "upper tier of the building supply market."

According to an April 2006 ProSales article, Marvin had previously only offered entry doors as part of its custom services. The entry doors were handcrafted made-to-order in Honduras from a variety of wood species, including Honduran mahogany and cedar, white oak, walnut, and cherry.

The discontinuation of the entry doors line saddened long-time Marvin customer David Roberts, president of Roberts Architects, Evanston, Ill., reported a blog by Remodeling, a sister publication of ProSales. "We've used a lot of their entry doors, which were really terrific," he said.

The change came so abruptly that Roberts had quotes from his Marvin dealers on an entry door project, and his client was in the midst of product selection. "One of my suppliers called and said, 'I know we have a quote out to you, but we aren't going to be able to do that project,'" Roberts said. "He told me the line was being discontinued immediately."

Roberts said his supplier told him that outstanding warranties on entry door products would continue to be honored by the manufacturer.