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June 23, 2016

Comments

Shige Abe

Can you point us to where we can buy 'plain' doors like these?

They're so simple but I can't seem to find them!

Thanks,
Shige

Hunter Wimmer

it's not buying the doors as much as fitting them correctly. you can buy them at the big box stores through the millworks desk (we purchased all of our interior luan doors through lowes, for instance). what happens after that is what matters. ;)

Shige Abe

I agree with what you say about the installation, but I'm still having trouble with finding exterior doors such as that at the big box stores.

I'd really appreciate tips on particular item items or what to ask for when ordering.

Could you give the specs for what you look for?

Thanks a bunch! You do such nice work.

Hunter Wimmer

the basic specs are: solid core // exterior // 1-3/4 // slab (plain - no panels) ... past that, if your door/window salesperson isn't helping you enough to get the order completed then you need to talk to a better salesperson. ;) ... it'd be like walking to a Honda dealership saying "i'd like a sedan with 4 doors" and the salesperson not being able to help you. (i know, it's hard to work with people wearing orange aprons, but there are a few good ones).

(you're in SJ, right? that's not too far...)

Shige Abe

Yes, I'm in San Jose.

This was extremely helpful. I had been doing the searches on-line and never actually asked anyone yet.

I don't have an Eichler (yet) but I really enjoy your blog and the care you take in your work and explanations of said work.

Thanks again!

Hunter Wimmer

"I had been doing the searches on-line and never actually asked anyone yet." ... wait, what!? well, yeah. the thing about DIY is there's actually a "D" to it. you'll have to get out of the chair, meet some people, get your hands dirty and make some mistakes... all before asking the third question. and you'll make a /lot/ of mistakes. you will definitely not have all of the answers lined up before you start and if you try you'll likely be spending a lot of time compiling non-applicable information. this is a "trust me" moment from the POV of someone with dirty hands.. and from the POV of a college design professor with a classroom full of students often looking for instruction on exactly /how/ do to something when the process involves taking that first step of self-exploration. you'll get there, but trying to monitor the battlestations from behind a high-speed connection isn't going to yield the results you're looking for... like your rogue trip to concord, you'll need to get out of the house and explore a bit and talk to a lot of different people -- generally in person (and often one tiny question at a time to various people... because, especially with salespeople, unless you have a credit card in hand, there's a three question limit). one of the ways i've been able to learn is a balance between doing/trying and diversifying my exploration (wide ranges of questions from tiny to a bit more complex and from various types of people: tradespeople, DIYers, salespeople, etc). this yields a few things, but namely it builds a bit of cred when asking that next question because you come to the engagement with a bit of knowledge that you can share back (that you picked up from the previous encounter)... but it starts with getting out of the chair. and with that, I'm in North Carolina visiting family and -- believe it or not (actually, probably no surprise) -- I'm headed to Home Depot before everyone wakes up to see what kind of stock they have in the gutter/downspout department as on the west coast, they've changed distributors and the merchandise is crap. And somewhere on aisle 14, I'll probably ask another random redneck a question. ;)

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