vintagegaragedoor.com Blog

Services at a minimum should include the following major areas:

• Custom & Quality
• Design
• Build
• Finish
• Install

Let us start first with Custom & Quality -

Eash door should be built one at a time to your requirements and not limited to a couple of selections for door element dimensions, materials, build techniques, or finishes.  Your door should be dimensionally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing for your door opening size and your home choosing your dimensions for all door elements; including kickboard height, stile width, rail width, muntins, window size, and arch radius. Look for a craftsman to provide you with a hand-made custom garage door, or, carriage house door of the highest quality, customized for just for you!

www.vintagegaragedoor.com builds this type of customization and quality into every door they build.  Check them out!

Finish methods and processes should seal all six sides of your door with top-of-the-line finishes to prevent weather and water damage.  The highest retail grades or commercial grades are what you are looking for.  Under NO circumstances should you allow any contractor graded materials into the finish of your door.  Contractor graded products are manufactured around two major requirements; low cost and speed.  Quality rarely enters into the equation.  You want your door protected from the elements; sun, rain, humidity, hot, cold, snow, sleet, and wind for years to come.  A professional painted finish should last for between 10 and 25 years without any “nuisance” painting, or, additional coats of paint. Also, you want your door to look as beautiful on the inside as the outside.  It is also important to note that finishing the inside of the door with the same finish quality as the outside creates a balanced finish that contributes to a longer life.  The craftsman at www.vintagegaragedoor.com provides finishes that meet and exceed these standards.  Craig’s work is unparalleled in the custom garage door, carriage house door, and carriage garage door industries.

v     Affordable – hand-crafted products from a small shop typically yield large savings without huge overheads and expenses 

v     Strong – Solid, non-finger jointed, rails and stiles with Mortise & Tenon joinery from Douglas Fir versus inferior woods 

v     Warm – Fully Insulated with Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) yielding R values of 7.7 ~ 10.0 

v     Built to Last for 25+ Years - Superior materials, hand craftsmanship, and exacting attention to detail 

v     Premium Quality Products – Hand selected premium graded woods, waterproof adhesives, stainless steel fasteners, precision engineered commercial operating hardware, and top-of-the-line finishes

Combine design elements from different doors to create a work of art for your home.  Something spectacular and exciting.  Choose from the many proven historical carriage house door designs that have been developed by www.vintagegaragedoor.com.

Perhaps you would like to mix and match different custom garage door designs for a one-of-a-kind creation.  Or, create a completely new design to match your requirements for a unique vintage garage door.  Vintage Garage Door, www.vintagegaragedoor.com specializes in creating truely unique and proprietary designs for your custom carriage house door.

Combine design elements from different doors to create a work of art for your home.  Something spectacular and exciting.  Choose from the many proven historical carriage house door designs that have been developed by www.vintagegaragedoor.com.

Perhaps you would like to mix and match different custom garage door designs for a one-of-a-kind creation.  Or, create a completely new design to match your requirements for a unique vintage garage door.  Vintage Garage Door, www.vintagegaragedoor.com specializes in creating unique, proprietary designs for your custom carriage house door.

Choose from unlimited: Styles, Designs, Design Elements, Construction materials, Build techniques, Glass, Artistic door hardware and Finishes to make your dreams a reality!

The craftsman you select for a hand-made custom seattle garage door, ie. carriage house door, should be focused on your requirements, expectations, environmental considerations, and the usage criteria for your hand-made custom Seattle garage door, or carriage house door.  www.vintagegaragedoor.com provides a complete turn-key solution for this type of door; a hand-made custom garage door; including Design, Build, Finish, and, Install services.  Craig is a true craftsman with over 33 years of woodworking experience.  His hand-made custom Seattle garage doors, or carriage house doors are truely a work of art.  You will have the comfort and security of a single point of contact and responsibility.  The vintage garage doors built by www.vintagegaragedoor.com are all  built from scratch.  The Seattle garage doors built by Craig are not subcontracted for all part as he does all the work  to provide you with the highest level of quality, craftsmanship, and attention to detail at every step of the project for your Seattle garage door; or carriage house door.

Each door should be built one at a time to your requirements.  Your choices and selections should not limited to a couple of selections for door element dimensions, materials, build techniques, or finishes.  Your door should be built to be dimensionally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing for your door opening size and your home.

You may also want to choose your dimensions for all door elements; including Kickboard height, Stile width, Rail width, Muntins, Window size, and Arch Radius if appropriate.  Your goal is to find a craftsman, not an installer working with a manufactuer to provide you with a hand-made custom garage door, or, carriage house door of the highest quality customized for your requirements; environmental, asthetics, finish, usage, and longevity.

www.vintagegaragedoor.com specializes in this type of hand-made custom carriage house door.  They may be contacted directly  craig@vintagegaragedoor.com

At a minimum, look for the following:

• Custom solid vertical grain Douglas Fir jamb with airtight replaceable weatherstripping
• Four heavy-duty, 4 ball bearing, non-ferrous, non-removable pin, mortised hinges per door that allow the 150+ lb door to open and close with one finger for YEARS
• Custom threshold consisting of both custom concrete work & a custom threshold to seal the bottom of the door
• Fully mortised Flush Bolts on inactive door located at the top and bottom of the door for impenetrable access
• Custom Astragals; inside or outside mounting

Your new carriage house door will be strong, warm, quiet, and weatherproof with the addition of these quality standards.

Craig Erwin, Owner & Craftsman, at www.vintagegaragedoor.com builds hand-made custom carriage house doors from scratch using the highest quality materials and craftsmanship.  His doors are built to last, not to fail!  And, he is the only craftsman providing true value and quality based product including Design, Build, FINISH, and Install services.  Contact him via email,  craig@vintagegaragedoor.com  for additional information.

Real carriage house doors were also historically built without a jamb around the doors because the structure was nothing more than a barn or a large shed with a non-square opening.  The structure provided roof and wall protection only.  The doors were also trimmed to the size of the non-square opening so you ended up with cock-eyed doors!  The result – wind blew in from all edges of the door, and, there was nothing to stop water from entering also even if the installer could create a uniform gap all around the door; very unlikely.