Ready to Buy Doors?  Consider an Door Company Online

When a homeowner is ready to buy doors, an online door company should probably be considered.  As a builder, I typically sent my clients to a local door supplier, where they could sit down with the salesperson.  Once I started my website, offering information to the homeowner renovating a house or building a house new, I realized a whole online world relative to residential construction.  I’ve changed my approach and now think that online is just as viable an option as any other.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

An online door company usually has an extensive, color photo gallery where the homeowner can easily browse around to find the doors for your home.  These photo galleries make it so easy to look through the various options at your leisure.  I think this may be the biggest advantage that an online door company has.  When you go to a showroom, the salesperson usually points you to brochures, which may or may not be as extensive.

Without a showroom, there is reduced overhead so that an online door company might offer better pricing than a local company would.  The homeowner should make sure that there is an apples to apples comparison though and double check who the manufacturer is.  If it is the same door, then it is an honest comparison.  If not, do some due diligence about the manufacturer of the doors you are considering to make certain that the same level of quality exists.

I advise any homeowner to use their instincts about anyone they work with, from suppliers to contractors.  If you find doors that you like online, call the company.  Speak with a salesperson and express any concerns that you may have.  Ask them about the quality, where they get their doors, their warranties, etc.  Pay attention not only to their answers, but to your own instincts.  Do your gut instincts tell you that will work with a good door company with quality doors?

One advantage that some online companies have is their custom offerings.  Some of the online door companies offer truly unique doors, like all hardwood in a variety configurations and wood species.  An example of one such company is Homestead Doors.com.  They also offer custom, hardwood doors which they manufacture in addition to distribute.

Whether you buy from an online or local door company, it is your own preparation that will aid you the most.  Find all the door information that can so you can ask good questions and know what you are talking about.  Consider our Complete Guide to Buying Interior Doors to just flat out make easy on yourself.

On the doors for your home, the following are standard door sizes:

• The words common and standard will be used interchangeably.   It basically means that the manufacturers run these sizes all day long. The sizes listed are the standard door sizes.
• Standard means not ‘custom’ made.
• Stock doors are available ‘off the shelf’.  It simply means that you could walk out of the supplier’s store with that door in hand, because they have it in stock.  The stock sizes that any particular supplier might carry will vary by region and supplier.  Each market is a little different.
• In our market, stock sizes for interior doors are:

Passage doors:  1-6, 2-0, 2-4, 2-6, 2-8, and 3-0.

Bifold doors: 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0.

Measurement Lingo

There are several different ways that you will see and hear door measurements. The list below shows the various written measurements for an interior door that is 2′-6″ wide and is 6′-8″ tall with a right handing:

2-6 by 6-8. I will use this throughout because I find it easier to read.

2′-6″ x 6′-8″. Technically the most correct.

2668 RH. Written this way on most door quotes.

RH or LH. Stands for right hand or left hand (See below for a neat trick to determine handing)

32″ x 80″ x 1-3/8″. This is written on the package or sticker at home improvement stores only, geared to the homeowner. The 1-3/8″ indicates that it is an interior door.

Verbally, doors are referred to as ‘two six by six eight’ or just by the inches, depending on who’s talking.

Rough Openings

• First, this really is a decision for your builder or other building professional to make!  There are variables affecting this choice and mistakes in this regard could be costly.  Having said that, I will just give a quick overview of common practice.
• Rough openings are the size of the opening made during framing for each door unit.  They are bigger than the unit itself to allow for the jamb, shimming, installation and flooring.
• Generally, add 2″ to the width and 2-1/2″ to the height of the door.
• Bifold, bypass and pocket doors all require unique openings and/or hardware.  For your builder to decide.

Custom Sizes

• Custom sizes-when ordered thru a manufacturer- are achieved by trimming a standard size door.  This means that the stile (the flat panel along the edge) will be narrowed.  Sometimes, a standard size bore (hole) will not fit the narrower stile.  Pay attention here should you choose a custom size.
• Custom sizes cost more than standard.
• Custom doors can also be made by a mill shop.  A mill shop can make any door for your home, any size in any shape that you want.

Hope this helps you become familiar with the standard door sizes.  There’s a lot to know about doors and having the door information upfront really helps.

Consider the Complete Guide to Buying Interior Doors.

Options In Hardwood Floor Finishes On Pre-finished Floors

The finishes for hardwood flooring which are possible in factory flooring are considered by many to be not only attractive but practical as well. Hardwood from the factory is stained and then sealed with a protective finish. This flooring is then delivered in a state that is ready to be laid down. Conversely installations at a job site involve laying the flooring first and then finishing it later.

Using prefinished wood flooring has both advantages and disadvantages over unfinished materials that are laid down and later finished. On-site finishing can create a ultra modern, seamless look, can be customized by inlays and borders, and can be more forgiving of sub floor irregularities. It is generally a more time consuming and expensive option.

Factory finished hardwood is faster to install, as the sections of flooring are laid down over plywood or other sub flooring, including concrete. The finish is complete, so there is no need for the sanding required for on-site finishing. Finalizing the laying of a floor on site requires sanding between each coat, which must be done after the finish has dried. All dust must be removed before each step of the process, and care must be taken that the stain and the subsequent hard coating substances are compatible.

Using factory flooring eliminates all need for sanding, waiting for the coating to dry, and constant attention to dusting and stirring during the application process. It also means that no fumes will be released in the house, making it ready for occupation as soon as the floor is laid.

Factory finished wood is more durable than most on-site finished floors, since the professional grades of finish can be safely used under factory conditions. There is a wide choice of substances used by the manufacturers, which are not for do-it-yourself jobs. Urethane is considered safe for homeowners to apply in well ventilated areas, with proper use of fume masks and a sufficient airing out period before people move in.

The factories use urethanes as well, but have the option of using acid-based ones, which are more durable but have strong fumes. They also can use cure the wood and the finish with ultra violet light, inject the wood with acrylic monomers that make it resistant to abrasion, or add aluminum or ceramic particles to the urethane finish for the same reason. The final ‘wear layer’ is often polyurethane, for added toughness.

These methods and modifications mean that the hardwood manufactured flooring can carry long warranties against wear and damage, up to twenty-five years for premium floors. If damaged, the flooring must be relaid in sections; it cannot be pieced together or re-coated unless the original floor is sanded to bare wood. However, these durable synthetic resins stand up well to wear and spills. Oak and some of the exotic woods are very hard, and resist denting from dropped objects, for instance.

You will not get a completely custom look with prefinished hardwood, but there is such variety in woods, in colors, and in finishes – high gloss, semi gloss, and satin – that your floor can still be quite unique. You will be amazed at the woods used today, and the effects the manufacturers can achieve, from formal to country, from perfect to distressed.

Factory applied hardwood floor finishes are durable, beautiful, practical, and affordable. An online search will give homeowners the information they need to make an informed choice.

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By going to the website http://hardwoodfloortoronto.org you can learn all about what makes one type of hardwood flooring advantageous over another.

A Few Prehung Door Terms

Prehung doors are the most common doors for your home if you are house building.  If your are remodeling, you may use prehung doors or just slab doors (without the frame).

Before heading out to shop, however, it will help to familiarize yourself with some basic terms for a prehung door:
A prehung door unit includes a door on hinges, connected to a frame, with the casing around it. These are also call “door units”. With the door pre-assembled this way, it saves loads of time in the field. In new house building, doors are always delivered and installed as prehung door units. In remodeling, sometimes only the door itself is replaced and fit into an existing frame. In that instance, only a slab door is required.

Casing is the decorative molding that surrounds the door frame. If another casing is not specified, then doors come with a small default (standard) casing. If you want something different (and you probably do), be sure to discuss this with the salesperson as it can affect the type and style of door and needs to be ordered with the door units.
The door rests in a frame, which is essentially the same thing as the jamb (it can be referred to either way). The hinges connect the door to the frame. The jamb size measures the width of the frame to fit the wall exactly-taking into account the thickness of the wall framing and wall coverings. Remember to have your builder decide the jamb size!

Panels are the raised, individual sections on some doors. When the “panels” are glass, the separate panes are called “lites”.

Panel doors are also referred to as “stile and rail” doors. Vertical pieces on each side of the panel are known as stiles, while the horizontal sections are rails. The stiles and rails help create strength in the door and support the panels. Flush or slab doors do not have visible stiles and rails-often built within.

The threshold is a piece of wood or metal that runs across bottom of the door frame-the part that you step on when it is there. All exterior door units come standard with a threshold to prevent water intrusion.

Interior doors do not come with a threshold. If a threshold is needed on the inside of a house, it is to help with transitions of flooring materials or height. It is usually made from the flooring material. For example, in a house with wood flooring in all of the rooms, there is no need for a threshold. However, if the flooring changes from tile to wood as you pass through a doorway, then a threshold softens the transition. The floor installer is responsible for ordering materials.

The transom is a piece of glass located above the door-integrated into the entire door unit. It can be operable or not. Transoms allow for more light and, possibly, air flow.   Transoms add height to a door plus visual variety. If you want a transom, then a prehung door is definitely the way to go.  There is a lot of door, frame and glass going on with a unit like that and prehung will cheaper and easier to install.

Study ahead of time because the more you know, the easier it will be! Consider a Buying Guide for doors to minimize the amount of time at a the showroom.  If you are remodeling or house building, then you will do a lot of shopping, including the doors for your home.

Prehung Doors-When to Choose the Hardware

When prehung doors are ordered, the homeowner needs to choose which finish they want on the hardware.  Because (here’s a big tip), the salesperson may not ask you about the door and the hinges, which are usually a default color- brass. If you want a different color hinge, then tell the door supplier when you order. This applies only to prehung doors since only slabs do not come with a hinge installed. The door and knob hardware may be the last thing on your mind at this point, but it is good to know that a decision should be made when the doors are ordered.

The finishes commonly available for knobs and hinges are brass: (polished or dull), brushed chrome, nickel, bronze and antique brass. There are, however, all sorts of finishes available like black or glass.  These would be a special order.
The color of your doorknobs should be in the same tone as your hinges. However, you don’t need to necessarily have an exact match-in color and finish. For instance, polished brass doorknobs go well with dull brass hinges. This combination coordinates the color, but allows the hinges to appear less prominent than the knobs. For most doors, hinges should not be a focal point of the door and need to blend in, rather than stand out.  For a standard door height, then the standard hinges are typically simple.

Fancier and larger hinges are available to complement tall, stylish doors. Some doors are tall and heavy enough to require a bigger hinge and/or more of them.
Picture an 8 ft tall, heavy mahogany wood, like you might see in a lawyer’s office.  That type of door will have at least 3, maybe 4, hinges and big ones too!  Fancy, shiny hinges would look perfectly fitting on a door of this type.
Some tips about door and knob hardware:
•    Lever handles may be easier to use than knobs for people who have difficulty grasping or using their hands.
•    On double doors that are not passage (only open from one side), there is a nifty piece of hardware called a “ball or roller catch”. It is hidden at the top and keeps the door closed. This way, you can use any knob or pull since they do not have to actually function.
•    If you want the hinges to match the knobs perfectly, you will need to make this selection at the door supplier. If the knobs (with other hardware), are chosen later in your house building or remodeling process, then it may be a different manufacturer than the hinges. For prehung doors, the hinges come installed on the door.
•     When the doors are ordered, most homeowners have not even considered the hardware for their house yet. You may not be at that point in the construction process.

Give some thought to the finish of the other fixtures in your house:  plumbing faucets and lighting.  You probably want them to match with your doors.
If you do have to swap out the hinges on your prehung doors, it is not THAT big of a deal.  It all adds up in terms of cost, however, so think about hardware before you order your interior, prehung doors.

Standard Door Sizes of Stock Doors

Most door and door units for new house building or remodeling projects come from a local door company and all standard door sizes are either ordered or carried in stock.

In some cases, you can literally walk out of the store with your chosen door. These are called “stock” doors because they are kept, well, in stock (on-site).   Most suppliers have some type of warehouse attached to their showroom. But, as you can imagine, those warehouses are not big enough to house every selection of door and door units.

However, on occasion, you may need to pick up a door right away.  I have done that too.  I quickly decided that I wanted more light in a wall during my own home remodeling project.  The off-the-shelf patio door (an exterior one) worked great on an interior wall. It let in the light that I wanted. Being able to throw the patio door in the back of my truck certainly worked with my off-the-cuff planning.  And to think that I admonish my clients about the importance of planning ahead!

Hopefully, you WILL plan ahead.  The typical homeowner going thru a house building or remodeling project will meet with the salesperson at a door supplier.  They will guide you through all of the door and door options available.  This way, you get to choose just the right doors for your home. Then, the doors you select are ordered and delivered to the construction site once they arrive. This process can take several weeks.  The builder is the person who should be responsible to make sure that your selection is ordered in a timely manner.

If you do need to pick up a door in stock and carry it out or have it delivered the next day, then your selection is limited.  The big box stores, like Lowes or Home Depot, carry a few choices. The door suppliers will probably carry about the same door sizes and types as the home improvement stores do plus a few more.

In terms of style of want you may find it stock, you will be able to get flush, louvered or paneled doors (in limited panel configurations).  The sizes available as a stock door will vary by market and by the door supplier.

In our market, stock door sizes are:

Passage doors:  1-6, 2-0, 2-4, 2-6, 2-8, and 3-0.
Bifold doors: 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0.

Other door options, like pocket doors, unusual panel configurations, decorative glass, bypass doors, double doors and more will usually only be available by order.

Maximize your home décor by planning ahead (I know!).  This way, you at least have more options concerning style and your door and door sizes, which you will have to order from the door company and not just throw in the back of your truck. Door and

Door Models-Sorting it All Out

Door models vary from one door company to the next. One door company might call a certain panel door- Mission style- while the next door company may call it something flashy like N410. I know that a homeowner can get confused, in a way, by the verbiage used so I will attempt to sort it out here.  Heck, I sometimes still get turned around and I’ve written a book all about doors!

At the most basic level, keep in mind that function (how it works) and form (how it looks) are separate elements, no matter what they are called.  The type or style is a basic description.

I use the “type” of door mainly to refer to its structure or how they function. You may see it as “application” on some websites since it refers to how the door is used.

The five different types mainly refer to whether the doors are set in a double opening, single opening and how the doors operate: swing, fold or slide. The names of the types are very commonsense, like pocket, bifolding, single, double or bypass.

The door models are typically how they look (their style).  All door models achieve their look from several different factors: the material made from, paint or stain, panel configuration, panel profile, plus other elements.  Broadly, there are 4 styles:  flush, panel door, glass door and louvered.

One main thing to keep in mind, even with the varying descriptions, is that you can use any style of door to fit in any type of opening.  For instance, a glass door could be used as a pocket door.  You could install two panel door in a double opening.  Louvered doors could be used as bifolds.  Hopefully, you get the idea.

Consider function first when deciding which type or opening to use.  The function comes from the flow of the room, furniture placement, art on a wall, that sort of thing.  Next, the type can add variety to the overall look or style of a room.  Consider how different a closet with a 6 ft wide opening would look with bifold, bypass or double doors.  It changes it completely.

The other day, in my guest room, I wondered why it had such a good feel.  It felt almost like a tropical resort.  Ok, the rug is red with lots of details.  Then, it dawned on me that the two closets have louvered bifold doors on them.  Wow, what a difference that one detail made to the entire feel of the room.  The other room feels different because those closets have a panel door.

Consider the Complete Guide to Buying Interior Doors.

A Door and Terms about a Door

A door and its terminology can be a bit confusing once you starting shopping for interior doors for your home. A homeowner, just starting out on their house building or remodeling project, generally doesn’t have a clue about doors or, really, most of the other selections too.

Funny how, even though a door and frame are all around us, we may not know much about them.  I’m a builder and when I decided to write a book all about doors, I still had to do a lot of research!
As a builder, I use certain terms with the suppliers and subcontractors.  But, I realized that a homeowner may not know about a door and the terms used.  There’s a lingo all about doors that may limit you in some way once you go shopping, so here’s a start.

Some common door terms to get you started:

Passage doors refer to doors that you pass through from both sides.  Therefore, all types of doors-pocket, double, single-(except bifold) are designed to walk through.

Bifold doors are not generally used on doorways where you pass from one room to another since they only open from one side.  Sometimes there is an exception to this, however.   This doesn’t work very well, though.  Trust me, I know, because the house I bought had a set of bifold doors on the master bathroom.

Prehung Doors refer to doors hung on their hinges and installed in the frame. These are also called door units. They are ready to install in the house.  If you can, decide your casing upfront so that the prehung doors arrive in the frame, with the casing attached.  They are totally ready to go.  In some instances, however, the casing will be installed later and the doors are ordered without it.  The doors may still be ordered in the frame, though, for ease of installation.  This is often true in older homes where you might need to custom craft the casing to match something in the house.

Slab Door has two meanings.  The first relates to prehung doors.  You will hear suppliers talk about the ‘slab’.  That means just the door without the frame.  Sometimes, you may order just the slab.  That might be the case if you are replacing an existing door and will keep the current frame in the house. The other definition is that a flush door is also called a slab door.

Just some of the door and door information you will see and hear once you start shopping. For a good visual aid, see the illustration of a door and its parts.

Planning to Buy Doors? Ready to Shop for Your Interior Doors?

You could spend hours searching the Internet, looking for door information or buy the Complete Guide to Interior Doors and make it easy on yourself.

See Inside the book for a preview.

Download version-$11.95

Read and study it before you head out to shop for doors. The book is comprehensive and easy to read, plus it comes with a handy checklist to help you sort through your choices.  With this book, you will:

• Have an easier, less frustrating experience
• Save time with fewer trips to the showroom
• Make exactly the right choices for your home
• Work confidently with suppliers and contractors
• Save money-less mistakes and great tips

What is a “buying guide” and why do I need one? How can it help me?

Our buying guides are comprehensive with everything you need to know about the purchases for your home.

You have dozens of selections to make at (possibly) more than 20 different suppliers. See Working With Suppliers. You must select everything from flooring to roofing. For each selection, there is free buying guidance on our site, so please browse around.

If you are prepared ahead of time, then shopping is MUCH easier and you can save yourself lots of time and frustration. You can hone in on what you really want and focus on ways to meet the budget. Without advance preparation, well…shopping is not so easy.

How hard can it be?

I asked my door supplier how many trips, on average, an owner makes to their showroom to choose doors and windows. She said 4-5. And that’s just one supplier!

Can you picture the amount of time make this will take you? Can you imagine how overwhelming it can be? You will be hit with tons of questions. The overwhelming part is that you probably know very little about these things.

Take interior doors, for example. They are all around us and we use them all the time. How much could there be to know? There is A LOT.

At the showroom, here are a few of the questions you will be asked: paint or stain, height, jamb size, threshold, panel configuration and profile, handing, solid or hollow, type of door, style of door, bore, hardware, type of material, smooth or textured, etc?

It’s a long list. While homes are a familiar place, the construction of them is a whole new world. Remember, we are here to make Home Improvement Easy.

I’m Julie’s client who felt lost and stupid after going door shopping, as I discovered that I didn’t even know what a door jamb is. I thought I did, but I was wrong – which was painfully apparent when the salesperson asked me to make some selections and I didn’t know what all of the parts of a door are and how that would affect my choices.

Julie is very knowledgeable and an excellent teacher, but if I had had this book, it would have been a way to educate myself and given me a quick reference guide when I needed to refresh my memory, especially if I needed to make a decision when she couldn’t be there. Unless you just hand a contractor the keys and say “Remodel my house and make all of the decisions for me.” – which no sane contractor would agree to do – you need Julie’s guide books.

Lillie-Lakeview
New Orleans

Managing Your Money during Building or Remodeling

Allowances are a critical part of managing your money during a home building or remodeling project. Homeowners often get sort of hung up by allowances because they don’t really understand what they are and how they work.  I will attempt to clarify how allowances are used in home building.
When a builder bids a project, most of the cost can be determined from what is shown on the plans and specs.  From the measurements, the builder does a ‘take off’ to determine the material needed.  She knows how much lumber, roofing, tile, plumbing, electrical, etc. is needed to build the house.  Subcontractors also bid their portion of it from the plans.
However, there are some items that a builder has no way of knowing the cost. Those are what a homeowner will choose.  Those prices could be all over the map. Kitchen cabinets, for instance, could range anywhere from $2,000 to over $50,000.  Therefore, an Allowance Schedule is created for those items that an owner will select.  If the owner has shopped ahead of time and obtained price quotes, then real numbers are used.  If that is the case, the Allowance Schedule accurately reflects the final cost.  However, if the owner has not made their selections, then an estimated amount is used.  The builder or architect will guess at the cost of each item which is put on the Allowance Schedule-until the owner actually makes their selection.

An Allowance Schedule looks something like this:
Kitchen Cabinets———-$8,000 (cabinets only)
Plumbing Fixtures——–$3,500 (fixtures only)
Electrical Fixtures——–$3,000 (fixtures, bulbs and dimmers)
Countertops—————$4,000 (material and installation)
Doors———————–$5,000 (prehung door units)
Total———————–$23,500
There will be a line item amount for all choices that apply:  windows, hardware, wood flooring, closet shelving, vanities, bath accessories, medicine cabinets, fireplace, shower doors, shower enclosure, mirrors, appliances, tile, exterior covering, roofing, fencing, landscaping and more. The total dollar amount of the Allowance Schedule is included in the overall project cost in a fixed-price contract.
Once the project gets underway, the amounts are adjusted up or down as items are purchased.  If the cabinets cost $7,000, then the owner is given a credit of $1,000.  If the lighting cost $3,800, there is an additional $800 charge.  These show up on Change Orders.

I image that most people are a bit surprised that such an important and large part of a project’s cost is just guessed at.  Maybe owners think that more science is involved?  My clients usually tell me something like “we want mid-level fixtures”.  There is no real mid-level fixture amount.  What is mid-level to one person might be pricey to the next. If I set the allowances, then I look at their house, the type of project and make a guess at the costs to include on the Allowances.  However, I was never right. How could I be?  Clients always surprised me.

On one project, I set bathroom fixtures (tub excluded) at $3,000.  The owners spent $8,000!   The truth is that no one knows, not even the owners, until they shop.  Owners often surprise themselves.  The showrooms are full of absolutely beautiful offerings and owners constantly come back after shopping to say that, maybe, they splurged a bit.  After all, you are building your dream.
For homeowners who want to improve their building experience, they absolutely should make all of their selections ahead of time so that the Allowances reflect real numbers, based on actual quotes.  It is a great way for a homeowner to have a great renovation, home improvement or house building experience.