[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. He here on me. My first big DIY project when I was like 10, you know, I'm the oldest of four boys. Okay? My brothers are chasing me around that same seventies house and I'm running after my brother, he runs into my room. And as I'm half a step away, the door latch clicks as he slows the door, and I hit that door at full run speed.

[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

[00:00:34] Brad Loveless: dropped it into the room. Fully smoked. That's a scene. Yeah. I'm sure your folks love that. Well,

[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.

[00:00:43] Brad Loveless: Wow. Under a tight deadline. Tight deadline. . When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a. Alone. The

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

[00:00:53] Brad Loveless: This is

[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.

[00:01:05] Eric Goranson: This, let's see, this is the biggest show in the world for construction and you know, they call it Design and Construction Week. So we have the International Building Show, we have the Kitchen of Bath industry show, even the hardware show jam packed in. A millions of square feet. We're hanging out in the Simpson booth.

[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

[00:01:30] Brad Loveless: for having us. Appreciate you being

[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

[00:01:38] Brad Loveless: this year.

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

[00:01:42] Eric Goranson: that door a little bit. Okay. Because, What you guys are doing is so different than a lot of people because these center pivot doors that don't have hinges to try to describe 'em. For you people out there that haven't seen them think about a front entry door, but there's not door hinges on it.

[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

[00:02:20] Brad Loveless: on these, Hey, you described it perfectly, but I'll even back up a little bit.

[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.

[00:02:43] Brad Loveless: It's not, don't have to have three feet wide, yeah, a six feet, eight inches tall. It's whatever your customer, the builder, the homeowner can dream up. And so where do our dreams go? We want things that are be. Things that are big, um, things [00:03:00] that operate in a cool way. Right? And so all of that comes together to this pivot door system Yeah.

[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.

[00:03:30] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Well, cuz you could have a 350 pound door swing, you had hinges, and now you're dealing with a vault door. On hinges and you're just putting so much stress on that jam because everything's trying to work with gravity and trying to pull it down. And so the bigger the door with hinges, the more you fight it, the more adjustment issues you have.

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

[00:03:52] Brad Loveless: of the way, right? So the, the pivot hinge just completely takes that stress outta that door. So [00:04:00] that, uh, we're standing in front and I know it's, uh, we're doing audio, but we're standing in front of two big, beautiful pivot doors, so I can't help but keep pointing at 'em.

[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

[00:04:22] Eric Goranson: so amazing and. You think of big doors and you think of, okay, I've got children.

[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.

[00:04:43] Brad Loveless: Right. And that's, that's really nice. That's all built into the hinge itself. Yeah, it's really high tech. So, We've probably all slammed our fingers in our doors at home before. Yeah. This has controls on it that just does not allow that to happen. So it controls the [00:05:00] speed, it controls how it closes, it controls how much it opens, and so the technology is built into it that you just don't have with typical hinges.

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

[00:05:08] Eric Goranson: And then of course you got the latching system because Yep. For everybody's security is a big deal. It's huge. And to have a door like this, this big, just a single little. You're kind of putting a lot of challenge on that just because of what it is. If somebody wants to get in there, you guys went with this absolutely stunning multi-point latch system on it.

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

[00:05:30] Brad Loveless: how it works. Nah, I like that butter. I haven't heard that . Um, multi-point lock is, uh, Just a fancy way to say it is locking at multiple spots. Yeah. Into that jam. So there's three different, uh, components that lock it in. So it's a big old door, it's gonna be secure.

[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

[00:06:03] Eric Goranson: Well, it's just one of those things, to me, it's a big deal and, and I love locks. I love hardware.

[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.

[00:06:24] Brad Loveless: You bet. And another thing, let's not forget the, which we're talking about security, weatherization, how it moves, but what people want it just cuz it's beautiful. Oh right. So you can get real contemporary pull hardware on it. Um, it's just, it's gonna, it's gonna be the envy when someone comes to your front door at your house.

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

[00:06:44] Eric Goranson: like mounting the Ferrari to the front of your house and having to walk through it to get in, right, right, right. Absolutely. And what not. Uh, I mean, that is the most important part of that house when you walk up to it, that is the land of first impression that you're walking through. Yeah. As someone comes over to your house for the [00:07:00] first time, the garage door is cool.

[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.

[00:07:12] Brad Loveless: Yep. So all the, all the cliches that we know about, whether it's Right curb appeal. Or first impressions? Uh, it is the first thing when a visitor comes to your home that they touch.

[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?

[00:07:37] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And that's the thing too is, is science shows us doing studies that that front door is one of the best things you could do to invest in your home because you get that back for that very reason.

[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.

[00:08:05] Eric Goranson: More so than almost everything else, I think other than insulation. Really. Hmm. It's really that cool. So that's one of those things that you can put the money into it, do it right, and you don't lose,

[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.

[00:08:21] Brad Loveless: Love how it's weathertight. But you know what? I see the door you have here, and that's not quite my style and I have to describe. We can do any design you can think of. It's not just the few examples you see in front of you today. But whatever you can think of, we have tools, uh, on our website, which is is wonderful, that help guide a person.

[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.

[00:09:04] Brad Loveless: So a lot of tools to work with that just makes that selection really. It

[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.

[00:09:21] Eric Goranson: We had to spend some time. Cuz there were multiple great

[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.

[00:09:39] Brad Loveless: Yeah. You know, what does that mean? So, um, if you are a person that it's overwhelming. Uh, go visit one of our authorized dealers. Absolutely. So there is one in your market, no matter where you're located, there's multiple. Yeah. And they can help guide you if it really is overwhelming. I don't know where to start.

[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.

[00:10:05] Eric Goranson: Next question. How does installation go on this? Okay. Because I know that's something that's scary for a lot of people. Oh, there's no, no hinges. What do we.

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

[00:10:13] Brad Loveless: that hard. It's not that hard. It is just new. Yeah. And so a, a builder may have installed, uh, doors their whole career and it's just a different type. Yeah. But the principles are the same, where the first thing you have to do is get the jam in place mm-hmm. and get it, uh, square and get it plumb.

[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.

[00:10:56] Brad Loveless: it comes, uh, completely protected, created. [00:11:00] And then also within that, a step by step, uh, installation instructions, including video. Including the carrying straps you need. Nice. So we've, we've thought of all the details here and uh, I'm excited to, uh, get your door in and we can test all those details. We are

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

[00:11:19] Eric Goranson: That's the cool part of that I love about this is that I'm gonna get to my hands dirty on this too as well. I like it. Sure. Like it. I have a lot of video doing it, so that's gonna be a fun project. Let's talk a little more about before we go back to that Yeah. Some of the other new stuff you have here. I.

[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

[00:11:45] Brad Loveless: for doors, right? So we are typically, when someone's picking doors in their house, they all, uh, generally go together and that's fine.

[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.

[00:12:18] Brad Loveless: Yeah. A really big door. You talked about a door that has a shape that we're looking at right

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

[00:12:25] I

[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.

[00:12:34] Brad Loveless: So any shape you want. Yeah. So even if you have, have a door under the stairs, you know that has, we call it a clipped corner. Yep. But it kinda has an angle. Um, that's no problem. So any shape doesn't have to be your standard rectangle.

[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?

[00:12:57] Eric Goranson: And what would traditionally be the styles and rails are [00:13:00] also radius around the outside of that. And, uh, absolutely stunning just showing what you can do with wood. And as a woodworker, I look at that and. There's a lot of thought that goes into that. Okay.

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

[00:13:14] Brad Loveless: Very talented woodworker, certainly just to do whatever you can dream up. So what

[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.

[00:13:31] Eric Goranson: What are some of your thoughts on that? When people are out shopping for a front door?

[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?

[00:13:50] Brad Loveless: Yeah. And that's what people love wood for the beauty. Mm-hmm. , no doubt. Even, uh, uh, building products that build stuff out of a composite or a [00:14:00] plastic, we know they're trying to make it look like wood. Right? Right. So, so we already start with a wood door at a. Everyone agrees it's unmatched beauty. Yeah. Um, so if we're talking about, uh, where to put a wood door, let's talk about what sort of exposure.

[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.

[00:14:41] Brad Loveless: Yep. Then we point you to a couple very specific products that are engineered and made for that full exposure to the elements. So we keep it easy. So if there's, if there is enough overhang, the world's your oyster. Yeah. Build whatever door you want. If there's not, then we're gonna point you. No problem.

[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

[00:15:05] Eric Goranson: that planning, right? That you have to do. Yes. I mean, my first, when I was a kid, I remember my parents had this seventies home, you know, with the big six Oh, front doors with the one walk. Oh, sweet. And that, you know, that kind of thing.

[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.

[00:15:37] Eric Goranson: Well then we started out, my dad's like, I'm gonna do something composite. So he started out with one of the very early fiberglass doors in the nineties. Uh, That didn't go so well. Yeah. The sun started delaminating it, you know, just like so many other pieces out there. When, when things are new, they don't work as well.

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

[00:15:56] Brad Loveless: to wood. There we go. So I, I don't know how detailed we [00:16:00] want to get real door geeky here. Yeah. Let's get door geeky for a minute. Okay. But when it comes to, uh, the sun, the sun is brutal on any building product. Mm-hmm.

[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.

[00:16:34] Brad Loveless: So if you're, if you're we're, we're in North America. Yep. If your door is facing, happens to be facing. You'll probably never worry about it. Yep. You're not even gonna know, like, what, what are you talking about? Yeah. Because the sun's not gonna hit that door. If you get two door geeky, stop me here. But if you, if you're facing south, you're gonna get it cooked.

[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.

[00:17:13] Brad Loveless: how much, um, if it's gonna hit it all day, it's probably not recommended to paint it a dark color. Right. Right. That's just another way that the sun will, if a darker the color, it cooks the component, whether it's doors or siding or windows. Doesn't matter. Yeah, it doesn't,

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

[00:17:33] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Because you can depend on the u. of the coating that's on there, you still have sometimes a wood behind it that can act with sun too. I don't like to depend so much on that because Right. You know, if you pick like in full sun all day long and you put up a black walnut or, or clear vertical grain, fur door, something like that, right?

[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

[00:18:05] Brad Loveless: difference as well. Absolutely. So wood type, that'll be part when most folks are deciding what type of wood it's about the beauty.

[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.

[00:18:34] Brad Loveless: Yeah. Because they're gonna last longer than maybe some that aren't suitable for that. Mm-hmm. . So,

[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

[00:18:46] Brad Loveless: too. Nah. Sexy. Yeah. I don't know that anyone used that term, but I'll go with it.

[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

[00:18:59] Eric Goranson: [00:19:00] introduced. Oh, yes, I saw this. We gotta talk about this because,

[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.

[00:19:11] Brad Loveless: And you try to get a dog door, you're left. Maybe just a cheap version you saw at the local hardware store.

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

[00:19:21] and

[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?

[00:19:29] Brad Loveless: Absolutely not. Yeah. So also cutting a hole into your home mm-hmm. or into your door is a scary proposition. Yeah. For any di wire, it would scare me. And uh, so what we're doing is just take the hassle out of it for people. We're saying, you can have a beautiful high quality wood door that's gonna look great.

[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.

[00:20:08] Brad Loveless: You mean I don't have to figure this out on my own? I don't have to settle for a cheap solution. You know I have to put something weird on my back door. Slider? No. Oh my gosh. Those ones you

[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.

[00:20:26] Eric Goranson: Okay. I got the door dog place there, but now I'm squeezing through if I'm taking drinks out for the barbecue, whatever. Right. I'm now going through this little tiny, almost smaller than a closet door to get outside. Right. It's not a good way to go. And then I put a dog door through the, in my house, through the side of the house going out.

[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

[00:20:56] Brad Loveless: project. Oh, scary.

[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

[00:21:02] Eric Goranson: lot of work. Yeah. But having a door that you're like, okay, I gotta replace this door anyway. And now I'm gonna put it in here. I've got just. And you're protecting the door cuz you guys are building it. I'm not taking this beautiful door, cutting it out, forgetting to seal it upright.

[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

[00:21:23] Brad Loveless: gonna turn key it for you. When I think of a dog door, I don't know why my mind goes here. Remember home alone, I'm there. Exactly. Okay. You know what I'm talking.

[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.

[00:21:47] Brad Loveless: Nice. And so it is fully secure. Um, really weathertight. It's got saloon style doors. Wow. Use those terminology to describe that. And so, uh, [00:22:00] Fido's just gonna go through that door. No problem. Uh, and only he or she will be able to go in and out. No more Joe Pesci. No more Joe

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

[00:22:10] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Now here's the thing too, and this is where, you know, as a dog owner myself, yeah. It's so great for your dogs to give them that freedom to go in and out when they need to. You're not out there going, oh my gosh, uh, we're out to dinner. We need to get home and let the dog out. Right?

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

[00:22:25] Eric Goranson: But maybe don't tell your friends that you have this door, because if you're trying to bail out of that dinner Right.

[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.

[00:22:39] Brad Loveless: I like that .

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

[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And I really appreciate that. Style-wise, what are you seeing in, in 2023? Yeah. For doors, what are people. Looking at what are they trying to get into? What do you see the, the style heading down

[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.

[00:23:04] Brad Loveless: so I can be in the home, be on the front of the home. So we're, and I'm not just saying that as a, uh, a sales pitch. This is what we see in our plant. Yeah. We're manufacturing big doors more and more every. Another trend we've seen a lot is Dutch doors. So when I use that term, sometimes called, uh, maybe like, uh, think of an old barn.

[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.

[00:23:47] Brad Loveless: you want, maybe it's just purely, uh, aesthetics. It looks cool. Yeah. Maybe it has more of a function about letting air flow into the home. Mm-hmm. . Right. Keep the top open, but keep the bottom [00:24:00] closed.

[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.

[00:24:05] Eric Goranson: Still have a great view like you're outside cuz it's just wide open to the. Right. And get that airflow without having to worry about things moving out down below.

[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.

[00:24:23] Brad Loveless: So you're not limited, uh, in terms of design. It's whatever you want. If you want a shelf put onto that door, I always think of my grandma putting the pie on the shelf out baths to cool out. Yeah. Yeah. And that, that still happens. No joke. That is awesome. Um, another thing about Dutch stores that just, especially now everyone coming back to the home, working from home, it is now a solution for the inside of the home too.

[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.

[00:25:07] Brad Loveless: Uh, so it creates a real flexible tool to open and close spaces. Yeah.

[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.

[00:25:25] Eric Goranson: Might not be in the best location or be, not have the best airflow in there. So you shut the door off and maybe the sun's sitting out the outside and you're like, all right, I got a 45 minute meeting. It's gonna be 82 degrees here because I shut the door trying to be quiet. I like

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

[00:25:41] Brad Loveless: I think we, we have a Doors and Pets podcast, you know? Well, we do.

[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

[00:25:52] Brad Loveless: something Yeah. My own usually. Yeah. Right, right. So yeah, let's get the, put the dog door in. Yep. The dog can come and go as he pleases.

[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

[00:26:06] Eric Goranson: actually let's do the bathroom then. Okay. Do a Dutch door in the bathroom. You can have the door shut there. There we go. You could have the door open. Keeps the dogs and the pets outta the bathroom, but you're still keeping an eye on when you're getting ready on the rest of the house.

[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

[00:26:32] Brad Loveless: anymore, right? So door size is a big deal, so don't feel constrained by six foot eight.

[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.

[00:26:55] Brad Loveless: Yeah. If you want nine foot three, no problem. , right. If you [00:27:00] want seven, six, and threequarter, no problem. So when you're talking about a wood door that's made to order, size is just not a restriction. Yeah. So if you have a special, um, it's maybe common to see on the first floor of a home mm-hmm. , you see taller doors and maybe upstairs where it's bedrooms and things.

[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.

[00:27:25] Yeah.

[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

[00:27:35] Brad Loveless: home.

[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.

[00:27:56] Brad Loveless: Do I want my door to match [00:28:00] something else in the home? Maybe the cabinets, maybe the flooring. Mm-hmm. or maybe the design choices. We want it to pop, we want it to be opposite Yeah. Of what those other wood components are in the home. It really is up to that homeowner and it is our passion. Yeah. No one knows more about wood than we do, how to work with it, um, how to store it in our facility so it, it works as a door component so things don't twist.

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

[00:28:30] Eric Goranson: is a huge deal. And when you, I've made cabinet, you know, in the world of cabinet door, since I've got 30 years of cabinet experience, oh boy. We would run into problems. Three quarter inch for door. You don't have a lot to work with when you start getting into big doors. Right? Mother nature is gonna do what it wants to do with doors when, and so that's why if you're out there looking at like kitchen cabinets, you don't see single doors usually wider than 24 inches and higher than like 60.

[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.

[00:29:11] Brad Loveless: The cabinet, uh, references are very similar.

[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.

[00:29:40] Brad Loveless: Of course, any type of wood can be stained a different. Color so you can take, while you can't change the grain of a piece of wood, you can change the color. So there's a lot of directions you can go. It's really, really flexible.

[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.

[00:29:59] Eric Goranson: Mm-hmm. . [00:30:00] And if you throw some grays into it, you can mute that and take it a different direction. Absolutely. Yeah. And that way you've got something that's different. Mm-hmm. . But I also like it too, like when you walk into somebody's home and you've got maybe that black walnut fr front door and then. , the entryway flooring is maybe black walnut, where you kind of make that just transition into a space.

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

[00:30:22] Brad Loveless: Absolutely. So whether it's, uh, consistency or you're going for a pop, there's a couple ways to go. One thing to mention, just since we've been talking about stain mm-hmm. and. Wood doors get painted all the time. Mm-hmm. maybe for, uh, a purist like you and I were like, oh, how could you do that?

[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.

[00:31:02] Brad Loveless: Yeah. You can do, yeah.

[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.

[00:31:12] Brad Loveless: Absolutely. But yeah, whatever, whatever, uh, you want to choose. And I know it's hard to choose.

[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

[00:31:27] Eric Goranson: to interior doors a little bit. We didn't talk so much about those. Sure. Just in choices, you know, for safety. I like, uh, we've got 'em, my house, I've got hollow core doors cuz that's what they did in the seventies, right?

[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.

[00:31:59] Eric Goranson: Okay. Is of [00:32:00] course, you know, not do dumb things that catch the house on fire, but really having that door shut and having a solid core door. Hmm. You think about it, you know, if you've got a, a hollow core door that's made out of, you know, geez, it's press board and, and some, it's, there's not a lot there.

[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

[00:32:31] Brad Loveless: as well, right?

[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.

[00:32:54] Brad Loveless: Um, so that is a requirement. So, uh, in most locations it [00:33:00] requires getting door geeky on you. Oh wait, 20, that's what we're here for, a 20 minute fire rated door. And that means that door construction and how it's built has passed a test that. It will at least for 20 minutes. The goal is to get you safely out of the house.

[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.

[00:33:30] Brad Loveless: Yeah. So your house to garage is already. But your, uh, point about putting a solid door throughout the home Absolutely. Will, that we all know. I bet a lot of folks do have that hollow door, or they did when they were kids and, uh, put a solid door, you're gonna. Guaranteed. Make it more safe for your family.

[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.

[00:34:08] Eric Goranson: Okay. My brothers are chasing me around that same seventies house, and I'm running after my. He runs into my room, and as I'm half a step away, the door latch clicks as he slows the door, and I hit that door at full run speed. Uhhuh . Well, I split the door right at the stop and no kidding. The whole thing came down in.

[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

[00:34:33] Eric Goranson: 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. Wow.

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

[00:34:42] Eric Goranson: got it all put back together.

[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.

[00:35:01] Eric Goranson: Wow. Because it'd been there for, already been there for 20 years. Wow.

[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

[00:35:09] Eric Goranson: didn't even have the internet. It's not like I could go on YouTube and do this. Right. It was just

[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.

[00:35:20] Brad Loveless: It would've just been more painful for it. That

[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.

[00:35:34] Eric Goranson: Some great finishes on 'em as well. Absolutely.

[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.

[00:35:55] Brad Loveless: Yes. Is, uh, a cool feature. Yeah. So we have a couple doors, [00:36:00] uh, eight feet wide, eight feet tall. I mean, it's basically a wall. Yeah. But it, it, it's a cool design like a door and you can put that on a barn track and it easily moves in your home. So that's just another. You know, wow showpiece that builders are really reacting well to here this

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

[00:36:17] Eric Goranson: And when you get dealing with that hardware, make sure guys you get the right hardware for that. Yeah, you don't want to get that really inexpensive cuz when you're putting an eight by eight door on it, there's a lot of mass on that and you want to have the, you don't wanna go down to the home center and grab that kit.

[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

[00:36:33] Brad Loveless: recommendation. Make sure the hardware, the hardware will say, What weights it can, uh, handle. So just make sure you're getting the right hardware. Of course, first of all, that it looks really good, of course, but make sure it works for your door.

[00:36:46] Brad Loveless: Cool

[00:36:47] Eric Goranson: man. Thanks for coming on today. One other thing I wanted to talk about with my door too that's gonna be great is we've got glass in mind and I wanted to talk about this real quick about some of the glass options because we've got a contemporary door [00:37:00] going into my place, but there's a lot of different, first off I went, oh, let's do this door, and it was.

[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.

[00:37:23] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Right. Where. that style would be, and I don't see

[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.

[00:37:45] Brad Loveless: I'll just use that terminology. Yeah. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can take glass all the way to the edge of the. We figured out a way to do that. We call that our clear edge doors. Yeah. Um, so you can do that even on the exterior of a home. We figured out still how [00:38:00] to weather strip that. And so a lot of options and that is clear edge.

[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.

[00:38:14] Eric Goranson: As soon as you said that, I'm like, okay, that was a dumb move by my part. Yeah. Yeah, that's gotta come up through that. Of

[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.

[00:38:29] Brad Loveless: Yep. Right. So if you're going to be walking around your home in your bathrobe and you live on a busy street, there's people walking by, that's something to account for, but it doesn't mean you can't have glass. Yeah. Okay. So there are lots of glasses, glass types now mm-hmm. that allow complete privacy. But at the same time allow natural light to come in.

[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.

[00:39:10] Brad Loveless: Right. Um, so, um, don't be afraid of glass in your design if you truly have. Privacy issue, then just get a glass type that allows that privacy.

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

[00:39:22] Brad Loveless: else we missed today? Man, we covered it. I love it. I love

[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

[00:39:32] Brad Loveless: today, right?

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

[00:39:35] Eric Goranson: man. All right, everybody. More information will be found over at our website as well, and on the show notes here. And of course, Brad, where do we go to see your

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

[00:39:47] Eric Goranson: and the dealer locator is on there as well.

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