Bungalow Exterior Door
As we've recently recounted, we've been working on restoring our bungalow's entryway. We've been looking at replacement doors for awhile now and think we've finally figured it out.
We combed through the salvage places in Chicago, examined our old door more closely, and found:
a) Our door is a quirky size. It is 7' high. While 7' is great for Aaron, there seem to be a LOT of 6'7" salvage doors out there.
b) The cost of a new door is closer to a salvage door than we thought. We are in a big city gripped with salvage fever.
c) The previous owners cut out new places in the old jamb to accomodate our 60's door. The jamb is in bad shape.
To be honest, if we had our way in the world we'd probably take a screwdriver down the street and grab one of the many gorgeous doors on our block. Many homes still have the original doors and they were very nice. Here are a few...
We're planning to stay in the community for a long time and stealing front doors doesn't make for good neighborly relationships, unfortunately. So, we're left to consider other options.
What we've found is a craftsman-style exterior door made by the Simpson company. Called the Craftsman Three Lite II, it comes in either Oak or Fir/Hemlock. We prefer the three pane version because that's a design theme in our own craftsman bungalow, but they offer one and two-lite versions. It comes with the new jamb which will be key to a quality fit.
They also offer a variety of glass types. We're opting for the simple beveled glass design, but their stained glass designs do look attractive.
We're going to order ours through Lee Lumber here in Chicago. After J worked the phones, they had the best price on this specific model . Guess price shopping still does pay! They also had superior service and knowledge about putting a new door in an old house.
The Christmas Fairy had left the means to get this door sooner than later in our stockings. "TFC" was very clear that these "means" should be used to get a door, and that aforementioned "means" also covers two birthdays and an anniversary. The Christmas Fairy rocks. (Thanks Christmas Fairy. We love you.)
The typical lead time for delivery is six weeks, which would mean it would arrive in February if we ordered today. Brrrrr! We're thinking we'll wait a few weeks so the door can be installed some time in March or April.
In any case, by spring, we should enjoy coming home a whole lot more! :-)
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Comments
Sweet - I'm anxious to hear how it goes! We're in the midst of fixing up our stairway in the front foyeur, and as it looks nicer and nicer, the 60's-decor front door is looking uglier and uglier. I found two brand-new craftsman-style doors at 2nd-Use (our local salvage yard) and they've been calling to me in my dreams at night...
Posted by: Nick Hodapp | February 2, 2005 9:46 AM
Great door! Thank you, Christmas Fairy and Lee Lumber! Those Lee Lumber folks keep coming through for you time and time again. That's the way I feel about Cabiness Paint, a family-owned paint store in our town. Such service!
Posted by: Kristin | February 2, 2005 10:18 AM
Living in Chicago, as you do, make sure the glass is far enough from the inside lock so the lock can't be reached from the out side through a broken glass. I learned that the hard way in my Chicago bungalow. If it can be reached I suggest a dead bolt lock with a key lock inside & outside...POPS"30"
Posted by: POPS | February 2, 2005 12:27 PM
Popss idea is a one that I like very much, with two caveats: Half the people who've got the keyed lock inside just end up leaving the key in all the time... boneheads. The second is that many areas do not allow this practice by code. It's an easy enough code to get around (no permit needed to change your lockset), but the reason for it is worth noting: in case of a fire, do you want to have to find your keys? What if they're in your pants pocket in the bedroom or laundry room that's now ablaze?
That said, It's a good idea if you've got sidelights or glazed door.
Was post that two-faced enough?
Posted by: Nathan | February 2, 2005 12:49 PM
Not too far away from me, someone is redoing their bungalow. It pained me not long ago to see that they'd replaced the original door with one of those fancy, leaded glass, modern suburban doors that doesn't match the house or the sidelights.
When we first looked at our Victorian house, I was immediately thrilled by the front door with all sorts of trim and stuff, even though it was painted plain, boring white. I was less thrilled after we bought the house and started noticing that it looked like the door had been shattered and repaired around the knob and deadbolt. I was even less thrilled when our dog wanted to get in and scratched a deep gouge into it. So last summer, we spent several weekends stripping, repairing, filling and finally painting our door. After took two colors of primer and five colors of paint and a new lockset to emphasize all of the neat trim work I loved from the beginning, we finally have a front door that I love.
Posted by: Jordana | February 2, 2005 1:21 PM
If you have an inside deadbolt, you should have an extra key close to the door. This key is never to be removed. DO NOT leave it in the lock!!..POPS"30"
Posted by: POPS | February 3, 2005 12:03 PM
Can't wait to see how the front door will look. Over on the southside I see people throwing out old doors and windows all the time. I always cringe and wonder why. If I could stop and pick them up I would.
Posted by: irasali | February 6, 2005 1:20 PM
Hey Jeanne,
Did you see the door the House Made gals got? Its craftman-o-rama nice. They got it on Ebay.
Posted by: SD | February 8, 2005 11:08 PM
Hi A and J,
Sunny greetings from Santa Cruz Calif.
I stumbled across your site and lost over an hour enjoying the latest of your trials!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also enjoy your triumphs!!!!!!!!!!
We are also remodeling and just got a GREAT door through Home Depot. It is made by Jeld Wen. VERY accurate bungalow style VERY affordable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Under $400.00, solid wood, double glass, 6 pane, NO router edges, two panel and it is SO much better than I had hoped.
Cheers and PLEASE keep writing, Sharon
Posted by: Sharon | February 9, 2005 10:12 PM
If it's not too late, you may want to give Todd at Craftsman Doors.com a call (www.craftsmandoors.com) I purchased my exterior door from Todd, ( you can see it here, along witha a window he made to complement the door) The price was great, the service was better, and it ended up being less—by hundreds of dollars—than anything I could find locally.
Oh, hey... any chance of adding my blog to your list? (Yeah, I know... cheesy self promotion.) Thanks!
Posted by: Jeff Battersby | February 10, 2005 7:09 AM