New Doors for a Beautiful Home

Back in September I wrote 2 blogs (Sept 9th and the 24th ~ see below) about some custom doors for a home being built on the Redwood Coast.  Well the building is closed in now and we're building the exterior doors.  They will have 3 different designs.  Two simpler doors on the lower floor will have a nice design with a 4 lite top half.  The Great Room doors will have a bit more of a "flowing" design with arched top panels and 9 lites of Seedy Reamy insulated glass.  The grand entry will have another elegant door with arched top panels, nine lites, a dentil shelf, and beveled glue chip glass.  The entry will also have two sidelights and an arched transom with a strained glass Coastal scene by Zoleta Lee Designs.  Below are some progress pictures of the house.  Work on it has been stopped for the winter but work has been ongoing with the doors.  More to come soon!

 

 

 

 

Walking around the property, looking at all the preparations, walking through the rough framed home, and imagining just where the doors will hang for decades to come........ pretty cool.  Years of planning, earth moving, layout, milling logs, drying that lumber, and starting construction shows the love and care that is going into this gentleman's future dream home.

The garage and generator buildings are used to store building materials.  All of the site-sawn lumber was graded on site and air dried in a custom drying shed, pre-sealed and oiled on site, then stored under reflective tarps until it time to be used on the home.

Click on Any Image to Enlarge

The home will over look the meadow below, a forest to the East, and the Pacific Ocean is less then a mile to the West.  On a clear day the blue Pacific gleams on the horizon, inviting the viewer to hours of staring into the “future” with an afternoon of peaceful thoughts.

Months ago the owner started sorting out different designs for his doors.  Taking what he already had on the structures he had on his property, he added little details and varied designs.  I think I drew 3 or 4 different designs for the lower doors and his Great Room doors.  We changed some of the sizes, due to framing changes, and settled on the final designs.  Custom really means custom.

The owner has decide on Ribbon Grain VG Mahogany with figured Old Growth Redwood panels.  Some of the glass will be clear and some will be a textured art glass, called Seedy Reamy.  All of the glass will be tempered and insulated.


For more unique custom doors please visit our Website.

 

One doormakers solution ........

Here is One doormakers solution to the everlasting question.......

"How do you hang a wreath
on a Craftsman Door with no nails?"

A client asked me this very question so I laid awake a few nights before 

I came up with this solution.

Take a thin ribbon of any width and cut it long enough to tie around your bow
 or fasten it to your bow


CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE




My Dentil shelves are about 1/16" off of the door surface for water drainage,
 so slide both ends of the ribbon down behind the shelf



Here I am using a dowel to show you the principle, but......




you can use a much smaller item like a toothpick or the shaft of a Q-tip




mark the toothpick to the width of the ribbon





cut off the excess and pull the ribbon tight





Now just attach the wreath to your ribbon ....... and

Have a Very Merry Christmas !

and please visit Our Site again

Let's get ready for this project!

Walking around the property, looking at all the preparations, walking through the rough framed home, and imagining just where the doors will hang for decades to come........ pretty cool.  Years of planning, earth moving, layout, milling logs, drying that lumber, and starting construction shows the love and care that is going into this gentleman's future dream home.

The garage and generator buildings are used to store building materials.  All of the site-sawn lumber was graded on site and air dried in a custom drying shed, pre-sealed and oiled on site, then stored under reflective tarps until it time to be used on the home.

Click on Any Image to Enlarge

The home will over look the meadow below, a forest to the East, and the Pacific Ocean is less then a mile to the West.  On a clear day the blue Pacific gleams on the horizon, inviting the viewer to hours of staring into the “future” with an afternoon of peaceful thoughts.

Months ago the owner started sorting out different designs for his doors.  Taking what he already had on the structures he had on his property, he added little details and varied designs.  I think I drew 3 or 4 different designs for the lower doors and his Great Room doors.  We changed some of the sizes, due to framing changes, and settled on the final designs.  Custom really means custom.

The owner has decide on Ribbon Grain VG Mahogany with figured Old Growth Redwood panels.  Some of the glass will be clear and some will be a textured art glass, called Seedy Reamy.  All of the glass will be tempered and insulated.


For more unique custom doors please visit our Website.

Let's build a house .... with custom doors!

Back in early 2004, I received an inquiry, from a gentleman, in the Bay area.  He had recently purchased a piece of property on the Mendocino Coast and he was starting his long term project of build his “dream home”.  He was start by building his Garage and he wanted, of all doors, a Dutch Door on each side of his garage.  Soooo we discussed designs, an estimate was given, and a long friendship had begun.

I built two Dutch Doors for his garage, which is really “control central” for a roof full of solar panels, which will provide all of his future electricity for his garage and home.

                                                                                                 

              



The siding on the building was milled on this land and this is one of the more beautiful garages I’ve seen over the many years I’ve been building and making doors.  It turns out that the garage is also the “headquarters” for future building projects ....... and answering the phone when he’s on his 
property.

Then, moving on to July of 2007 he contacted me regarding another pair of doors to be placed on his Generator out-building he was about to start constructing.  It is a large building up on a knoll between the Garage and future home site. 

getting closer to today ............ Then in June of 2010 I received an email from my friend.  It read ...."We are just about finished with house design here and I would like to meet with you to discuss doors.  Can I come by one of these weekends on a Saturday to discuss?"

We started by going over rough openings, design ideas, drawings, and more drawings.  Some of the doors are now onto version 6 and I think we've got it, the final designs.

  I enjoy the process, but mostly, I strive for three experiences with each door client. 

One, and foremost ..... that the client receives the design and door which makes them happy and fulfilled that they have received the "door of their dream".  

Two, that the client becomes and remains my friend.  It is not pleasurable when working with unhappy folks who do not appreciate the effort and craftsmanship that we put into each door we create.

Three,  I always sleep better when I am remunerated for my efforts.  I'm reminded by a thought, I once read,...."No one can ever pay you for what you love to do, but they can pay for for your time."

More to come soon ........ please visit my Website.

Trying to Show and Explain Quality and Craftsmanship

Sooo......... there are literally dozens and dozens of door manufacturers out in this big wonderful world we live in.  And I’m sure that some of these manufacturers try to make a door that is not only nice to look at, but made with the “intention” for durability.

    Many of the doors on the market are presented as “solid wood, Oak” not solid Oak wood.  That is because the frame of the door is made with a Finger-Jointed 2nd party wood such as Pine or Poplar (see a youtube video on finger jointed wood at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9_IprVDZRo).

Here you see short pieces of wood,  joined with a Finger Joint.
This allows manufacturers to take wood scraps and
convert them to pieces of lumber used inside their doors.
WE DON'T DO THIS !

Then  the substrate (door blank) is edged with 3/4” Oak and the entire face surface is veneered with Oak or whatever species they are selling.  This veneer is about twice as thick as your business card 0.040" (yikes!) There are very few solid-wood door manufactures out there, and even fewer who use all vertical grain wood in the construction of their doors.

    How the wood is cut is very important.  Less than 25% of wood milled is "vertical grain", making it  more expensive.  However, vertical grain wood is infinitely more desirable than the cheaper and more plentiful flat grain.  Vertical grain is much more durable and stable, and will last up to twice as long!  Others may claim to use clear, vertical grain wood, but looking at their pictures frequently shows something completely different.  All of the salvaged lumber we have sawn, and all of the green
eco-friendly lumber that we purchase is Vertical Grain, because that will help us create doors that will stand the tests of time and the elements.

Here is a completed entry of
vertical grain Old Growth Redwood.
It is ALL solid Redwood

   Another revelation that I had (many years ago) was that if I delivered a door that was finish sanded but not sealed, all of the door parts “inside” of the door would never be sealed, by me or by the client.  Therefore it will be exposed to humidity and moisture.  This exposure makes the wood swell, shrink, mildew, water stain, enhance cracking, and could even cause joint failure. What a nightmare !
    Solution:  We seal every door frame, door panels, jambs, and even the door stops at least 3 times (many 4 times), with out own combination of premium exterior finishes, we call Varnish-Oil.

Here is a door frame that is soaking with our Varnish-Oil.
It will be wiped down after an hour or so and will
dry for 3 days and re-coated three more times.

These panels will receive 3-4 coats
of varnish-oil, allowed to soak in an
then wiped down and allowed to cure.

The panels will receive 3-4 coats of
varnish-oil before they are installed
into the door.

Even the stops for every door are soaked in a tub of our
varnish-oil so that, with the door and panels
ALL our door parts are sealed from the inside out.

      During the entire construction of each clients door, I photograph each step and after the door is glued up, I create a website for my client (and the rest of the world!) to see the progress and watch it blossom into the door they envisioned.  That is my goal and so far (knock on wood) this process and dedication to craftsmanship and quality is being embraced by very nice folks who dream up beautiful and unique doors for their home or office.  And for that I am thankful and strive each day to do better.

This "slice" of nature is a piece of vertical grain Redwood.
It is sliced very thin and that is the summer sun shining through.

Please visit Our Website to see how we make doors.  Thanks for stopping by.