Your Front Door with Simpson Door

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[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: Uhhuh . Well, I split the door right at the stop in. No kidding. The whole thing came down in Oh, really? And

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[00:00:38] Eric Goranson: they didn't actually know because they were off at the store for an hour and a half, and that was my first DIY project I did by myself.

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[00:00:51] Eric Goranson: lead got you covered.

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[00:00:54] Eric Goranson: around the house. Welcome to Around the House with Eric G. This is where we talk home improvement every [00:01:00] single week. Thanks for joining us today. We are at the International.

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[00:01:22] Eric Goranson: You could actually hear me cuz we're actually quiet in here now. We took over the Simpson booth before. Brad, welcome to Around the House, my friend. Hey, thanks

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[00:01:31] Eric Goranson: here. This is great, man. And, uh, you know, I'm a, I'm a fan of your doors and heck, we're gonna be putting one on in my house

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[00:01:39] Brad Loveless: Awesome. Can't wait for that. It'll be fun project. Let's talk about

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[00:01:59] Eric Goranson: There's pins that [00:02:00] come down, you know, like. Eight inches in and they grab the door and it pivots on that. So these are the ones you see where you're the, when the door opens up, there's that gap between them that looks all sexy. You guys have come up with a great way to manufacture these that's gonna actually make 'em so much easier to deal with and lock correctly too, because it's not your typical door lock that goes

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[00:02:23] Brad Loveless: You know, because we are at the builders show and we're talking to builders custom guys every day, and I think there's this mental. Some of them have had for good reason for a lot of years of, you know what, tell me what doors you have and what sizes you have, and I'll work with that . And so it's not, it's not the same anymore.

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[00:03:05] Brad Loveless: That you're talking about. So all of a sudden, uh, in fancy entryway in a home used to be maybe a double door, right? That was a door with seventies sidelight. Like, Ooh, look at that. Yeah, well think of that same footprint, but it's just one. What a statement. Yeah. And so because that door's so big and beautiful and heavy, it, you may not be able to put it on typical side hinges like we're all used to.

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[00:03:50] Eric Goranson: Cuz gravity is always fighting you every step

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[00:04:08] Brad Loveless: Yeah. But they just move at the touch of a finger. So you have this thing that does weigh 350 pounds, but any person in the home, your kids, your grandmother, right, with the touch of a finger, easily move that pivot door. It is

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[00:04:27] Eric Goranson: I'm scared about this because you've got all this mask coming to shut. This is safer than your three oh door you have in your house right now, as far as I'm concerned. Cuz you don't have to put the effort in to close it. Right. It's, you're shutting it. This shuts easier than a cabinet door does in my house, let's be honest.

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[00:05:07] Brad Loveless: No.

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[00:05:27] Eric Goranson: That man, that thing is like butter as far as

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[00:05:47] Brad Loveless: Um, it's not going anywhere. And uh, uh, multi-point lock is really a key element to keeping that door secure, keeping it, uh, in terms of not allowing weather in. [00:06:00] A lot of, lot of good. I'm glad you brought that up so

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[00:06:08] Eric Goranson: But really having that security in that it's is something that you can just forget it and it's not something you're gonna be fighting. It's gonna, you know, you, it's like a vault door. You're got. Planes going in multiple locations, right? Yes. Yes. You know, and so that just makes it that much harder to get into for people that you don't want getting in.

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[00:06:44] Brad Loveless: This is

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[00:07:01] Eric Goranson: That gives you some street appeal, but really when someone enters into your house till you go, Hey, come on. You have just made this bold statement and something that you're really gonna be proud of.

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[00:07:25] Brad Loveless: They may visually see the garage door or your landscape or whatever, but as the first thing they interact with will be your front door and it's front and center. And so why not make just a kick ass statement with it? Right?

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[00:07:48] Eric Goranson: Yeah. You know, they say, oh, you put a pool in, that's awesome. Well, in most places that's like 40 cents on the dollar you get back. Right? Where with this you can get anywhere. 80 cents to more if you've [00:08:00] got this kind of boring entryway. Right. You know, and the more you do with that, it's a great investment to your house.

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[00:08:16] Brad Loveless: right? Love that. Another thing builders have been asking when they're in the booth, Hey, I love how it operates, love how it locks.

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[00:08:43] Brad Loveless: It'll even say, what is your style? Yeah. Is your style modern farmhouse? Is your style colonial? Is your style contemporary? It doesn't matter. We'll help guide you. Um, the components on our website also draw the door so you get a realistic, you can also, once [00:09:00] you've created it, you can place it on a picture of your home so you can interact.

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[00:09:09] Eric Goranson: does. It does. And that's the fun part is, is Julie and I were, we were sitting there, sitting there looking through it. It was like, that's. Oh, but wait, that's cool. And it usually, for me in the past when I'm selecting stuff, it's like, oh, that's it.

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[00:09:24] Brad Loveless: choices there, right. To come from, we, we all, uh, get into this design in different ways. For some of us it is in our wheelhouse. We can pick it and go through ourselves. For some it's overwhelming. Yeah. And I get that when you say you can have anything.

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[00:09:56] Brad Loveless: I don't know what type of wood to pick or what time to [00:10:00] glass to pick. Just know you have options and you have help to guide you along the way. Absolutely.

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[00:10:12] Eric Goranson: Right. But it's really not

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[00:10:32] Brad Loveless: And so that process is no different than installing a door. Yeah. Um, the. . Biggest difference is the weight of the door. . Yeah. Right. So when you're bringing this big old door into space, um, you do need a couple pairs of hands. Yeah. So it's gonna be a three man operation. Yep. And uh, what's nice is when you get a Simpson Pivot door mm-hmm.

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[00:11:17] Eric Goranson: gonna test those details, which is awesome.

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[00:11:32] Eric Goranson: We're talking about these doors, but you guys have some stunning stuff. Even this arch top one that's sitting right here. Yeah. That I got my hands on. I mean, you guys do so many different doors around the house, lots of different applications

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[00:11:53] Brad Loveless: That's typically how people think. Um, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can, you can mix it up. So, [00:12:00] In terms of a typical mix up, we're seeing big, we call monster doors, but these gigantic doors that someone might put on a barn track Yep. To separate a living space, but then you open it up to. So now with everyone at home and looking at their home in different ways, that might be an idea.

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[00:12:22] Eric Goranson: now. I need a wine cellar for this is what I need. Yeah. I mean,

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[00:12:25] Brad Loveless: love it. This style is a little more traditional. Classic ash. Yep. Wood. It's beautiful. So shapes are not scary. Yeah. So we're manufacturing these doors outta wood.

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[00:12:48] Eric Goranson: So yeah, I mean the one I'm describing here that's sitting next to it is a beautiful archtop door and it has a circular raised panel in the middle of it, right?

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[00:13:12] Brad Loveless: I like that. You appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. It's cool.

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[00:13:20] Eric Goranson: do you, what do you recommend for people with front doors and, you know, there's, there's so many ways that people go about this. You know, there's people out there saying, oh, you gotta have composite, you gotta stay away from wood, you gotta do this.

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[00:13:35] Brad Loveless: Yeah, I love that you asked that question. Whether it's doors or it's siding or decking, people are making that decision every day. Do I choose, uh, a wood or some sort of component that tries to look like wood, but it's something else?

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[00:14:16] Brad Loveless: Okay. So same with decking, siding, any other wood exterior product? Is it going to, uh, have the elements? So, mm-hmm. , what sort of overhang or protection do you have? So we have some instructions, really easy to follow. Rules of thumb? Mm-hmm. , how much of an overhang or a port you need for a product? Now if the porch or overhang, it doesn't meet those requirements, that's okay.

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[00:14:59] Brad Loveless: [00:15:00] Use these specific pro products. Mm-hmm. , and that's gonna last in that. See, it's just

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[00:15:16] Eric Goranson: Yeah. That was the big deal. And, and ironically, that look is starting to come back, it looks like. Yeah. But. Back then they had these wood doors and the, the exposure, they had like a three foot overhang and they went just south in the, in the desert heat of the Tri-Cities, Washington. Oh, nice. And so those things caught sun all the time.

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[00:15:52] Eric Goranson: Right. But he ended up eventually after doing three warranty replacements, went back

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[00:16:08] Brad Loveless: right. Those UV rays are constantly breaking. Whatever that component is. Yeah. In the door world, it's all about finish. Mm-hmm. . So ultraviolet rays are breaking down a door's finish. Sure. So it doesn't matter if the door is wood, if it's aluminum, steel, fiberglass. And your experience, um, that finish is gonna, that UV is working on it 24 7.

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[00:16:54] Brad Loveless: Yeah. Right. So you really have to pay attention to the finish. Obviously finishes [00:17:00] get better, uh, over time the improvements. Absolutely. So make sure you choose the right finish. Yep. Um, for your exposure. Not only overhang, but know what direction you face. Look at it, you know, is, does sun hit that? Mm-hmm.

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[00:17:30] Eric Goranson: but, and I also think wood species is a little bit of a choice as well.

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[00:17:54] Eric Goranson: Those are very susceptible to light. They like to change, and so I always think that, picking the [00:18:00] right door. Wood species as well. If you've got no protection on that door, can make a big

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[00:18:12] Brad Loveless: Mm-hmm. , oh, I like the graining, or I like the color and that should be the main reason. But also know some woods, uh, are better performers in an exterior environment. Yeah. So we have this history of certain types of woods used as fence posts or as deck. Or other ground contact applications. Yeah. That there's a reason those woods were chosen for that.

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[00:18:39] Eric Goranson: absolutely. No, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. What else do you have here for the show that's new in here? I mean, You got some other sexy big doors in here

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[00:18:50] Brad Loveless: Let's go with that. Right? Okay. Yeah. . Uh, let's see. So one thing that's catching folks eye is, uh, the new dog door line we've

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[00:19:02] Brad Loveless: okay. This is the real deal. Yeah. So it's, it maybe seems funny, but, uh, you know, oftentimes if someone has a pet, and we, most of us do, yep.

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[00:19:18] Eric Goranson: Oh yeah. Cut the hole out and it's got the plastic flap

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[00:19:21] Brad Loveless: you deal with it. Yeah. And so you're just, ah, so alright. Just cuz you have a pet, do you need to sacrifice design, right. Or functionality?

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[00:19:48] Brad Loveless: Mm-hmm. . And we also have a really high quality dog. That's gonna perform and we'll do the work for you. We're gonna cut a hole in the door. We're gonna seal all the [00:20:00] wood inside those components. We're gonna install the door, so let's take the hassle out of it. Okay. So people are really reacting well to that.

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[00:20:19] Eric Goranson: put in your slider. Oh, ugly. Ugly. Yeah. Now you've made the door opening like 22 inches wide when you slide it open, so Right.

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[00:20:43] Eric Goranson: Yes. So we have a little area there. I don't need a door going through there, but the stuff you run into, you've got electrical, you've got all these things in the wall when you open. You don't know till you get there. Yeah. You could have framing. This can get to be a snowball into a bigger

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[00:20:57] Brad Loveless: I'm glad I didn't try it. Just you [00:21:00] describing it at your place. Yeah, and oh man, and it was a

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[00:21:16] Eric Goranson: Right? Then wonder why this thing's swelling up and doing weird stuff in the weather. Right. You guys get the opportunity to do it and do it right and put it in. We're

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[00:21:31] Brad Loveless: Sticking the head through the door. Still peche. Yeah. Stuck his head through the door. So it's a, let's just let everyone know it's a different dog door nowadays, where it does lock, it has a key. You lock it from the inside. If you're gone from your home for an extended period of time, it comes with a security plate.

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[00:22:08] Eric Goranson: Pesky sticking his head in. Yeah.

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[00:22:23] Brad Loveless: Yes, absolutely.

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[00:22:29] Eric Goranson: And need to use the dog excuse. Yeah. You're kind of eliminating that outta Yeah, I love that. Keep that in your back pocket. Yeah. Just treat the dog well, but don't use that one if you're trying to bail out a dinner where people are talking way too much. I like that.

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[00:22:41] Eric Goranson: But really, that's a, that's a smart way to go for people.

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[00:22:55] Brad Loveless: this way? We Sure. We've talked about a few trends, and I'll just repeat Yeah. Door [00:23:00] size, right. Don't be afraid, uh, to go with a big door mm-hmm.

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[00:23:27] Brad Loveless: Mm-hmm. and Mr. Ed. And I'm an old guy, so sorry about that reference. Oh, Mr. I'm Ed too. Yep. Okay. So you swing open just the top half of that door. You saw Mr. Ed. The horse looked through that, but the bottom of the door stayed securely closed. That is a really hot trend. So think of why, um, if it's maybe on the back of the home mm-hmm.

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[00:24:00] Eric Goranson: Especially if you have kids pets and you want to control them inside of the house. Yes, you can keep that locked.

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[00:24:14] Brad Loveless: Right. So really virtu, since we're talking about a wood door, almost any door, as long as it has wood across the middle mm-hmm. , we can turn that into a Dutch door.

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[00:24:47] Brad Loveless: It's not just the back of the home or the front. Oh. So think of like an office or some sort of family room where you have this need to some. Open up what you're doing to connect the [00:25:00] home. Mm-hmm. . And sometimes you want to close the top so you have the privacy you need when you're on a Zoom call when you're doing work.

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[00:25:13] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And the cool thing is too, is if you want to keep the cat of the dog outta the zoom meeting, yeah. You can keep the bottom half. Yeah, and you can keep the open up just so you get the airflow and everything else. Cuz as we know, sometimes these offices or bedrooms Yeah.

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[00:25:37] Brad Loveless: this whole theme. We're talking not only doors but pets.

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[00:25:46] Eric Goranson: How many, how many Zoom meetings have you been on or Oh boy. Teams or whatever. Yeah. And somebody's cat, dog, or is doing

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[00:25:59] Brad Loveless: Put [00:26:00] the Dutch door in. I like this. See what else? We should create some other pet friendly door related product. Okay, so

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[00:26:18] Eric Goranson: Okay. I like that. We can debate a Dutch door just about everywhere, right? You could. You could, but no, it's cool. And that's, I noticed too that you know, as you go out and see. Taller doors are a theme as well. That six, it is. Foot eight is just not the normal

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[00:26:38] Brad Loveless: And for those listening, yeah, you, you're like, it's six foot eight. Yes. That's probably the height. Of the doors in your home? Yeah. Another popular height is eight foot. Mm-hmm. . Um, but no, there's no restriction there. 10 feet tall. Um, and we're showing, we're talking about real round numbers in terms of sizes.

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[00:27:18] Brad Loveless: It's more standard sizes. Yeah. , don't be afraid to mix and match, whether it's size or wood types.

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[00:27:26] Eric Goranson: Speaking of wood types, let's talk about some of the wood species you guys do, cuz I couldn't sit here and and spell 'em all off. But you guys have a lot of different choices there, depending on the style of your

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[00:27:35] Brad Loveless: Yes. So we've made doors from over a hundred types of wood. I say that and there's no way I can name a hundred. Exactly right. There's just, but it's whatever someone wants. So as long as we. Procure the wood from a responsible resource right. Then, uh, we can make a door out of it. And so a lot of times with wood, people are making choices.

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[00:28:28] Brad Loveless: Warp split stability

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[00:28:56] Eric Goranson: Okay? Maybe 66. Yep. Only cuz they're three, three quarter inch [00:29:00] thick. Okay. But when you get into these big doors like that one, you've got the stability. But two, you guys know how to build. Yes. So you get the right pieces in the right way to give that stability and that strength. Hmm.

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[00:29:14] Brad Loveless: I think cabinets and doors we're just making a bigger version. Mm-hmm. . But yeah, still same principles apply. Um, one thing just about wood, as people are looking at, in our website, we'll show tons of different pictures. So when we say something like black walnut, we have a visual representation. Uh, what that means when we say Sepi mahogany, we're gonna have lots of examples of what that looks like.

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[00:29:54] Eric Goranson: Yeah. So you can take a wood that maybe has, uh, like some of the mahogany that have a little bit more red orange in it.

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[00:30:18] Eric Goranson: Right. And you can really do some subtle things design-wise to make that work.

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[00:30:40] Brad Loveless: Yeah. But it's truly common. So, um, make sure, uh, even if you want to paint your door, a lot of times trim in a home now is painted. Mm-hmm. . And, uh, so think if you have that painted trim, no problem painting your wood doors to match or picking a wood. So it can really [00:31:00] pop when it's next to that white trim.

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[00:31:04] Eric Goranson: And you can do that really cool wood door and have the painted trim and the jam and stuff around it. There's a lot of combinations you can do. Yeah. Just to have fun on the design side of things.

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[00:31:18] Brad Loveless: So use the resources available, simpson door.com and uh uh, see visuals. Any type of wood. Yeah, any type of design. Let's talk

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[00:31:37] Eric Goranson: Sure, yeah. But if I had a fire safety expert on here recently, and he's like, if you put solid core doors, You can extend your life in a house fire. Wow. Yes, because of. You know, they're trying to get you to sleep with your door closed. And he said, the better door you put on that, that is one of the best things you can do in your house for fire safety.

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[00:32:14] Eric Goranson: They say that'll get you at 10 or 15 minutes, but all of a sudden, You know, think about what a 90 minute door does that goes between your garage. That's just a big thick door, right? Absolutely. And so if you've got the right door in there, that can be a really huge fire safety issue. Versus maybe that door you grabbed off the home center

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[00:32:33] Brad Loveless: So yeah, safety is important. Obviously interesting that you brought that up. I think most folks may not know, but it is a building code require. To have a fire rated door from the, the house or the door that goes from the house to the garage. Yeah, so I, I guess that's from, if a fire's gonna start the garage is where it typically happens.

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[00:33:15] Brad Loveless: Yeah. And so with a solid wood door, that's no problem. Like you said, some requirements, especially in more commercial buildings. Correct. You may have a higher requirement. Mm-hmm. up to 90 minute, exactly where that door's gotta last. If there's a fire on the other side of the door, it won't come through.

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[00:33:50] Eric Goranson: Yeah, I think I've made my parents, I have three brothers, so I think I made my parents mad in the seventies there. You kicked the hole through those hollow. Yeah, we, I mean, funny story, I mean this [00:34:00] was, this was my first, I'll get a no geeky here on me. My first big DIY project when I was like 10, you know, I'm the oldest of four boys.

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[00:34:29] Brad Loveless: Oh, really? And dropped it into the room. Solely smoked. That's a scene. Yes. I'm sure your folks love that. Well, they

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[00:34:39] Brad Loveless: Under It was tight deadline. Tight deadline.

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[00:34:43] Eric Goranson: That's great. Got it. Good enough. And then when they'd go shopping, I'd work on it a little more and get it. Yeah. And when my parents moved outta that house like 15 or 20 years later, we told the story. No kidding. Giving. My dad goes, I wondered why the drywall around there cuz it tore [00:35:00] drywall and everything when it came out.

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[00:35:04] Brad Loveless: You were a door geek at a young age. You knew how to. Yeah, work with that. That's perfect. And I

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[00:35:13] Brad Loveless: that, but, well, I don't know the alternative, if you would've had a solid wood door at that component, obviously you're not knocking it through the door jam.

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[00:35:22] Eric Goranson: would've been a skull fracture. Yeah. Or a broken collar bone or something. Concussion protocol. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That'd been good. What have we not talked about here today with what you guys have? I mean, yeah, you got a lot of beautiful doors in here and.

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[00:35:37] Brad Loveless: So finish, uh, you know, people love that. Hey, you can stain a wood door any color. You want, um, you can paint it any color you want. So we're kind of showing that flexibility throughout the booth. Another thing we're really highlighting is doors on a Barn track.

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[00:36:16] Eric Goranson: week.

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[00:36:29] Eric Goranson: You want to get something a lot heavier duty. That way it's safe for everybody else as well. Great

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[00:36:46] Brad Loveless: Cool

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[00:37:06] Eric Goranson: You came back and went, Hey man, uh, this has a multi-point. Can't do edge glass with that. And I'm like, right. All right. They don't make clear metal . Understood. Right. That doesn't work. But you guys have some statement pieces for contemporary stuff Yeah. Where that glass goes all the way to the edge of the door.

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[00:37:28] Brad Loveless: anybody else do that. Right. And so I always, it's the infinity pool effect, but for doors, right? So we, uh, it would be cool to have an infinity pool, first of all. I gotta figure that out. Sure. But just think if you need glass, usually the glass, it's whatever design you want, but it's encased in a wood frame.

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[00:38:05] Brad Loveless: You mult the one, uh, holdback of a multi-point lock. You do need wood to put that on the side. So that was our design restriction for your Well, of course entry. Yeah.

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[00:38:19] Brad Loveless: course. Yes. Another thing you just, you mentioned glass, when we talk to homeowners about glass, so, uh, a couple things I think of is one I call the bathrobe test.

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[00:38:50] Brad Loveless: Mm-hmm. . So a lot of folks, I think they'd be, some might be surprised to hear that most of the exterior doors we make now have glass. Yeah. They're like, wait, [00:39:00] what? How, you know, we can make that glass private. Mm-hmm. and just because it has glass does not make the door any less secure. Yeah. That's a total misconception.

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[00:39:20] Eric Goranson: Great man. Yeah. Anything

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[00:39:24] Eric Goranson: it. Thanks for being on. Thanks. Uh, thanks for having me in here. This is great. And uh, hopefully you guys learned a lot about our door 1 0 1 and 2 0 1 class

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[00:39:32] Brad Loveless: Yeah. I love it. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Thanks,

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[00:39:42] Brad Loveless: doors? Yeah, let's go to simpson door.com and check out all our beautiful designs

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[00:39:50] Eric Goranson: For you guys out there shopping. Hi Eric G and you've been listening to Around The House