01 / DOORS
The best Pemko thresholds, and how to read the model number before you buy
This is the commercial tier of a part most people buy at hardware-store level. It costs several times more, it is specified properly, and for a lot of doorways it is more threshold than the job needs.
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Pick by published height first: a 1/4 in saddle rarely upsets a door that already latches, a 1/2 in profile often does. Then width, against how much sill needs covering. Only one profile here carries a seal, so for the other four you still need a sweep on the door. Measure before ordering.
Why anyone searches for a threshold by brand
Almost nobody searches for a hardware part by manufacturer unless the manufacturer is doing something the rest of the category is not. With Pemko the thing is unglamorous and genuinely useful: the listings publish the complete section. Width, length, height, finish, insert type, all of it, usually in the title itself.
Spend ten minutes shopping consumer thresholds and you will see why that matters. Most listings give you a length, a photograph and an adjective. You cannot tell from them whether the part will raise your door by an eighth of an inch or half an inch, which is the difference between a job that works and a door that will not shut.
So the honest framing for this page is not that Pemko is better metal. It is that Pemko is specified metal, sold to people who have to order from a drawing. If you know what you need, you can buy it exactly. If you do not know what you need, the price premium buys you nothing at all, which is the first entry in the skip list below.
Reading a Pemko model number
The model numbers look like noise and mostly are not. You do not need to learn the system, but two conventions in the numbers on this page are worth knowing because they tell you what you are buying before you read the description.
- The trailing number is the length in inches. A part ending 36 is a 36 in piece; ending 72 is 72 in. That is why the same profile appears twice in the catalog with different suffixes.
- The letter in the middle is the finish. A is mill finish aluminum, the raw unanodized extrusion. D in these listings is dark bronze anodized. CN is clear anodized. Mill is cheapest and oxidizes dull; anodized holds its appearance.
- Not every profile exists in every finish or length. This is a commercial catalog with gaps in it, and a profile you want may simply not be made in the finish you want. That is worth knowing before you go looking for it.
Match the part to your gap
Measure at the widest point. Then read across. If your measurement sits on a boundary, take the larger band — a seal that is slightly too big compresses, and one that is too small does nothing at all.
| Your gap | Part type | Our pick | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard 36 in door, sill is sound | Fluted saddle, 4 in W x 1/4 in H |  Pemko 270A36 Fluted Saddle Threshold, Mill Finish Aluminum, 36 in L x 4 in W x 1/4 in HThe default. Lowest height here, so it is least likely to upset a door that latches. | $28.02 · CHECK ON AMAZON |
| Sill is split, rotted or drilled out | Fluted saddle, 8 in W x 1/4 in H |  Pemko 2748A36 Fluted Saddle Threshold, Mill Finish Aluminum, 8 in W x 36 in L x 1/4 in HTwice the width at the same height. Buys coverage and fresh material for the screws. | $67.35 · CHECK ON AMAZON |
| You want the threshold to seal too | Threshold with thermal seal insert, 5 in W x 1/2 in H |  Pemko 2005AT36 Threshold with Thermal Seal Insert, Mill Finish Aluminum, 5 in W x 36 in L x 1/2 in HThe only one here that arrives with a seal. Check door clearance: 1/2 in is tall. | $44.34 · CHECK ON AMAZON |
| Floor inside and outside are not level | Offset saddle, 7 in W x 1/2 in H |  Pemko 2727A36 Offset Saddle Threshold, Mill Finish Aluminum, 7 in W x 36 in L x 1/2 in HStepped, so it lands on two heights. Nothing flat will do this job. | $59.00 · CHECK ON AMAZON |
| French or double doors | Saddle, 4 in W x 72 in L |  Pemko 170A72 Saddle Threshold, Mill Finish Aluminum, 4 in W x 72 in LOne continuous piece, so there is no seam under the astragal where both doors meet. | $59.00 · CHECK ON AMAZON |
Saddle, offset, or with a seal
Three shapes cover almost every residential doorway, and choosing between them is a question about your floor rather than about your door.
A plain SADDLE is a flat plate with a slight crown, and it assumes the surfaces either side of it are at roughly the same level. This is the common case and it is what four of the five picks here are. The fluted top is not decoration: it is grip, on a surface that gets rained on and walked over.
An OFFSET saddle is stepped, so it sits on two different levels at once. If your interior floor stands proud of the exterior slab, or the porch has settled away from the house, a flat saddle will rock on the high point and leave a gap at the low one. An offset is the part designed for that and nothing flat substitutes for it.
A threshold WITH A SEAL INSERT carries a compressible strip along its top, so the door closes onto rubber rather than onto metal. It is the only configuration where the threshold is doing sealing work rather than just providing a surface, and it is the one to choose if you would rather solve the gap at the floor in one part than in two.
A threshold is not a seal
This catches people out often enough to deserve stating on its own. Replacing a threshold gives you a flat, sound, rot-proof surface across the bottom of the doorway. It does not close the gap between that surface and the bottom of the door, because that gap is set by how the door hangs, not by what is underneath it.
In practice a threshold replacement is half a job. The other half is a sweep or a door bottom on the door itself, chosen against the gap you measured once the new threshold is in. The parts are in best door sweeps, the Pemko versions are on best Pemko door bottoms, and the difference between the two part types is worked through in door sweep vs door bottom seal.
Doing them in the right order matters: fit the threshold first, then measure the remaining gap, then buy the sweep. Buying both at once and hoping is how you end up with a sweep that drags.
What we would skip, and why
Nobody in this category ever declines to recommend something. That is what makes universal praise worth ignoring. Here is what we would not buy.
Buying Pemko when a consumer threshold would do
This belongs at the top because it costs us the sale on most visits. For an ordinary house door that closes properly and just needs a tidy new saddle, the adjustable and oak-cored thresholds on best door thresholds do the same job for a fraction of the price, and several of them publish an adjustable height, which none of these do. Pemko earns its money on a door that gets used hard, a sill that needs real coverage, or a situation where you need to know the exact published section before ordering. 'Commercial grade' is not a reason on its own.
Ordering before you have measured your door clearance
A threshold is the one draft part that can stop a door working. It raises the surface the door closes onto, so fitting a 1/2 in profile where a 1/4 in one came out can mean the door binds, scrapes, or will not latch at all. Measure the height of the threshold you are removing and the gap under the closed door before you order. If the new profile is taller, you are committing to planing the door bottom or re-hanging it, and that should be a decision rather than a surprise.
Expecting a bare threshold to stop the draft
Four of the five picks here are bare extruded aluminum. They give the door a clean, flat, rot-proof surface to close onto and they do not seal anything by themselves. The actual seal is a sweep or a door bottom on the door, and that is a separate purchase covered in best door sweeps and on our Pemko door bottoms page. The one exception on this page is the profile with a thermal seal insert, and we say so in its entry.
Assuming mill finish will look like the photographs
Mill finish is raw, unanodized aluminum. It arrives bright and it does not stay bright: it oxidizes to a dull gray within a season or two outdoors. That is normal and it is not a defect, but it is worth knowing before you put an 8 in wide plate of it across your front doorway. Anodized finishes hold their appearance far better, and where a pick here is anodized rather than mill, the entry says so.
Judging a threshold on a published R-value or energy claim
There is not one, from Pemko or anyone else, and you should be suspicious of any threshold listing that offers you a figure. A threshold is a geometry part. What it can be judged on is the published width, height, length, finish and whether it carries a seal insert, and Pemko publishes all five in the listing title, which is genuinely more than most of this category manages.
Fitting one without regretting it
None of this is difficult but all of it is easier to get right the first time than to correct afterwards.
- 1Take the old threshold out before ordering if you possibly can. Everything you need to know about the sill underneath is invisible until you do, and rot under a threshold is extremely common.
- 2Cut to length with a fine-tooth blade. Extruded aluminum tears with a coarse one, and a torn end on a 1/4 in edge is permanently visible.
- 3Bed it in sealant. The screw holes go straight down into the sill, which is the one place you do not want water getting in; a bead under the threshold before you screw it down is the difference between this lasting and this rotting the sill you just fixed.
- 4Check the door swings and latches before you put the tools away, not the next morning.
If pulling the old threshold reveals a sill that is soft rather than just worn, stop and deal with that first. A new threshold screwed to rotten wood is a new threshold that will be loose by spring, and no part on this page fixes a structural problem underneath it.
Complete the kit
The parts that decide whether the seal you just bought actually holds. Skip these and you will be doing the job again in March.
An out-swing exterior door
Pemko 345AV36 Door Bottom Sweep with Rain Drip, Mill Finish Aluminum with Gray Vinyl, 36 in
A sweep with a rain drip on it, which is the detail that separates an exterior-door part from an interior one, and the cheapest Pemko part on this page.
Removing old weatherstrip adhesive
Goo Gone Pro-Power Adhesive Remover Spray, 16 fl oz, with Scraper
The step everybody skips: the new tape will not stick to the residue the old tape left behind.
Deep gaps before caulking
Frost King C21CP-C Caulk Saver Backer Rod, 3/8 in x 350 ft
Backer rod: the foam you push into a deep gap so the caulk over it is a seal rather than a bottomless hole.
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How we picked
- We rank on published height first, because height is the specification that decides whether your door still closes. Every pick states it, and the table places each profile against the situation that justifies it.
- Published width second, read against what the sill actually needs to have covered rather than against a bigger-is-better assumption.
- Whether it carries a seal insert third, treated as a use decision rather than a ranking. Four of these five are bare metal and seal nothing on their own; we say so plainly in every entry.
- No maker publishes a working gap range for a threshold and neither do we, because a threshold is not a gap-filling part. We did not test these. Prices come from the live price layer and are dated; the full method is published.
We have not tested these products and we do not claim to have. The full method, including what we refuse to claim, is on how we pick.
Questions people actually ask
- Are Pemko thresholds worth the extra money?
- For an ordinary house door that closes properly, usually not: a consumer adjustable threshold costs far less and several of those publish an adjustable height, which these do not. Pemko is worth it when you need to know the exact published section before ordering, when the sill needs real coverage, or on a door that gets used hard. Commercial grade is not by itself a reason.
- How do I know what height Pemko threshold I need?
- Measure the height of the threshold you are removing, and measure the gap under the closed door. If the new profile is taller than the old one by more than that gap, the door will bind or fail to latch. Pemko publishes the height on every listing, which is exactly why this comparison is possible before you order rather than after.
- What does the A or D in a Pemko part number mean?
- It is the finish. In the parts on this page, A is mill finish, which is raw unanodized aluminum, and D is dark bronze anodized. CN is clear anodized. Mill is the cheapest and will oxidize to a dull gray outdoors within a season or two; anodized finishes hold their appearance much longer. The trailing number is the length in inches.
- Does a new threshold stop the draft under my door?
- On its own, no. A threshold gives the door a flat, sound surface to close onto; it does not close the gap between that surface and the door bottom. You need a sweep or a door bottom as well, sized against the gap you measure after the new threshold is fitted. One profile on this page carries a seal insert and is the exception.
- What is an offset threshold for?
- A floor that is at two different heights. If your interior floor sits proud of the exterior slab, or the porch has settled, a flat saddle rocks on the high side and leaves a gap on the low side. An offset saddle is stepped so it lands correctly on both levels. If your floors are level, an offset is the wrong shape and awkward to fit.
- Can I cut a Pemko threshold to length?
- Yes, and the 72 in piece is sold with that expectation for double doorways under that width. Use a fine-tooth blade: a coarse one tears extruded aluminum and the torn edge stays visible. Deburr the cut end, and bed the threshold in sealant before screwing it down so water cannot get into the sill through the fixings.
Read next
The best door thresholds, by published section
The part under the door, not on it. Adjustable, low-profile and full sill replacements by published height.
The best Pemko door bottoms, and the three different parts hiding under that name
Sweep, shoe or automatic drop-down. Three different parts, and one needs the door off its hinges.
The best door sweeps, sorted by the gap they actually close
Six sweeps placed by the gap they close, from a slim vinyl blade to a brush for uneven floors.
How to measure a door gap properly
The index-card method, the three-point rule, and how to read your number against a published seal size.
Door sweep, bottom seal or threshold: which part are you actually buying?
Four parts sit at the bottom of a door. A table that tells you which one yours takes.