[00:00:05] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. My first big DIY project when I was like 10. You know, I'm the oldest of four boys. My brothers are chasing me around that same 70s house. And I'm running after my brother. He runs into my room. As I'm a half a step away The door latch clicks as he slows the door and I hit that door at full run speed Uh huh.

[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: Well, I split the door right at the stop and the whole thing came down in oh really and

[00:00:34] Brad Loveless: dropped into the room Holy smoke. That's a scene. Yeah sure your folks love that Well, they didn't

[00:00:38] Eric Goranson: actually know because they're off at the store for an hour and a half And that was my first DIY project I did by

[00:00:43] Brad Loveless: myself under was tight deadline tight deadline

[00:00:50] Brad Loveless: We've got you covered is around the house. Hey guys, Eric G with

[00:00:56] Eric Goranson: around the house. I am out in Las Vegas for design and construction week, [00:01:00] 2024. Grabbing you some of the best interviews for this year's show. So let's go back out to last year's show with Simpson doors in this week's best of episode. Don't worry.

[00:01:09] Eric Goranson: We'll be back next week with some brand new stuff. Can't wait to show you. Welcome to around the house with Eric G. This is where we talk home improvement every single week. Thanks for joining us today. We are at the international, this, let's say this is the biggest show in the world for construction and you know, they call it design and construction week.

[00:01:30] Eric Goranson: So we have the international building show of the kitchen about the industry show, even the hardware show jam packed in here and millions of square feet. We're hanging out in the Simpson booth. You can actually hear me because we're actually quiet in here. Now, we took over the Simpson booth before. Brad, welcome to around the house.

[00:01:47] Eric Goranson: My friend. Hey, thanks

[00:01:48] Brad Loveless: for having us. Appreciate you being here. This

[00:01:50] Eric Goranson: is great, man. And, uh, you know, I'm a, I'm a fan of your doors and heck we're going to be putting one on in my house

[00:01:56] Brad Loveless: this year. Awesome. Can't wait for that [00:02:00] project.

[00:02:00] Eric Goranson: Let's talk about that door a little bit because What you guys are doing is so different than a lot of people because the center pivot doors that don't have hinges to try to describe them for you people out there that haven't seen them.

[00:02:13] Eric Goranson: Think about a front entry door, but there's not door hinges on it. There's pins that 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 that 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.

[00:02:32] Eric Goranson: That's going to actually make them so much easier to deal with and lock correctly too, because it's not your typical door lock that goes on. Hey,

[00:02:39] Brad Loveless: you described it perfectly, but I'll even back up a little bit, you know, because we are at the builder show and we're talking to builders, custom guys every day.

[00:02:47] Brad Loveless: And I think there's this mentality. 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 [00:03:00] not, it's not the same anymore. It's not, you don't have to have three feet wide, six feet, eight inches tall.

[00:03:06] Brad Loveless: It's whatever your customer, the builder, the homeowner can dream up. And so where do our dreams go? We want things that are beautiful. Things that are big, um, things that operate in a cool way, right? And so all of that comes together to this pivot door system that you're talking about. So all of a sudden, uh, in a fancy entryway in a home used to be maybe a double door, right?

[00:03:30] Brad Loveless: Or a door with a side light, like, Ooh, look at that. Well, think of that same footprint, but it's just one door. What a statement. Yeah. And so because that door is so big and beautiful and heavy, you may not be able to put it on typical side hinges. Like we're all used to. Yeah.

[00:03:49] Eric Goranson: Well, cause you could have a 350 pound door swinging on hinges and now you're dealing with a vault door.

[00:03:56] Eric Goranson: On hinges and you're just putting so much stress on that jam [00:04:00] 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 because gravity is always fighting you every

[00:04:11] Brad Loveless: step of the way.

[00:04:11] Brad Loveless: Right? So the pivot hinge just completely takes that stress out of that door jam. So that, uh, we're standing in front. 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 them. 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?

[00:04:37] Brad Loveless: With the touch of a finger, easily move that pivot door. It

[00:04:40] Eric Goranson: is so amazing. And it's, you think of big doors and you think of, okay, I've got children. I'm scared about this because you got all this mass coming to shut. This is safer than your three Oh door you have in your house right now, as far as I'm concerned, because you don't have to put the effort in to close it.

[00:04:57] Eric Goranson: Right. You're shutting it. This shuts easier than a [00:05:00] cabinet door does in my house. Let's be

[00:05:01] Brad Loveless: honest. 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.

[00:05:17] Brad Loveless: So it controls the 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 now. And

[00:05:26] Eric Goranson: then of course you got the latching system because for everybody, security is a big deal. It's huge. And to have a door like this, this big, just a single little latch, you're kind of putting a lot of challenge on that just because of what it is.

[00:05:40] Eric Goranson: If somebody wants to get in there, you guys went with this absolutely stunning multi point latch system on it. That's it. Man, that thing is like butter as far as how it works.

[00:05:49] Brad Loveless: 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 into that jam.

[00:05:59] Brad Loveless: [00:06:00] So there's three different, uh, components that lock it in. So it's a big old door. It's going to be secure. 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. A lot of, a lot of good. I'm glad you brought that up.

[00:06:21] Eric Goranson: So, well, it's just one of those things to me. It's a big deal. And I love locks. I love hardware, but really having that security in that it's something that you can just forget it and it's not something you're going to be fighting. It's like a vault door. You got. It's going in multiple locations, right?

[00:06:36] Eric Goranson: Yes. You know? And so that just makes it that much harder to get into for people that you don't want getting in.

[00:06:41] Brad Loveless: You bet. And another thing, let's not forget, we're talking about security, weatherization, how it moves, but what people want it just because it's beautiful. Oh. Right? So you can get real contemporary pull hardware on it.

[00:06:55] Brad Loveless: Um, it's just, it's gonna, it's going to be the envy when [00:07:00] someone comes to your front door at your house. This

[00:07:01] Eric Goranson: is like mounting the Ferrari to the front of your house and having to walk through it to get in. Right? Right. Absolutely. And whatnot. 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 as someone comes over to your house for the first time, the garage door is cool.

[00:07:19] Eric Goranson: That gives you some street appeal. But really when someone enters into your house to you go, Hey, come on in. You have just made this bold statement and something that you're really going to be proud of. Yep. So

[00:07:30] Brad Loveless: all the, all the cliches that we know about, whether it's curb appeal or first impressions, uh, it is the first thing when a visitor comes to your home that they touch.

[00:07:42] 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? Yeah. And that's the

[00:07:55] Eric Goranson: thing too, is, is science shows us doing studies that that front door is [00:08:00] one of the best things you could do to invest in your home, because you get that back for that very reason.

[00:08:05] Eric Goranson: 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 where with this, you can get anywhere from 80 cents to more. If you've got this kind of boring entryway, you know, and the more you do with that, it's a great investment to your house more so than almost everything else.

[00:08:24] Eric Goranson: I think other than insulation, really, 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

[00:08:32] Brad Loveless: lose, 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. Love how it's weather tight.

[00:08:41] Brad Loveless: 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 wonderful. That helped guide a [00:09:00] person.

[00:09:00] Brad Loveless: Um, It'll even say, what is your style? 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 you've created, you can place it on a picture of your home so you can interact.

[00:09:21] Brad Loveless: So, a lot of tools to work with that just makes that selection really easy. It does. It

[00:09:27] Eric Goranson: does. And that's the fun part is, is Julie and I were sitting there looking through it. It was like, that's cool. Oh, but wait, that's cool. And usually for me in the past, when I'm selecting stuff, it's like, oh, that's it. We had to spend some time because there were multiple great choices for more information around the house, head over to around the house.

[00:09:45] Eric Goranson: Online. com. We'll be right back after these important messages.[00:10:00]

[00:10:14] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show. You know, we're running our best of design and construction week, 2023 this week, as I'm out at the new show. Now let's get back to chatting with Simpson doors about the latest in door

[00:10:25] Brad Loveless: tech. Right. We, we all get into this design in different ways. For some of us, it is in our wheelhouse.

[00:10:32] Brad Loveless: We can pick it and go through ourselves for some. It's overwhelming. And I get that when you say you can have anything, 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 and they can help guide you.

[00:10:53] Brad Loveless: If it really is overwhelming, I don't know where to start. I don't know what type of wood to pick or what type of [00:11:00] glass to pick. Just know you have options and you have help to guide you along the way. Absolutely.

[00:11:05] Eric Goranson: Next question. How does installation go on this? Because I know that's something that's scary for a lot of people.

[00:11:10] Eric Goranson: Oh, there's no, no hinges. What do we do? But it's really not that hard. It's

[00:11:14] Brad Loveless: not that hard. It is just new. Yeah. And so a builder may have installed 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 and get it square and get it plumb and so that process is no different than installing a door.

[00:11:36] Brad Loveless: Yeah. Um. The, uh. Biggest difference is the weight of the door, right? So when you're bringing this big ol door into space, um, you do need a couple pairs of hands. So, it's gonna be a three man operation. And, uh, what's nice is when you get a Simpson Pivot Door, it comes, uh, completely protected, [00:12:00] crated, and then also within that, a step by step, uh, installation instructions, including video.

[00:12:07] Brad Loveless: Including the carrying straps you need. So we've thought of all the details here and I'm excited to uh, Get your door in and we can test all those details.

[00:12:17] Eric Goranson: We are gonna test those details, which is awesome That's the cool part that I love about this is that i'm gonna get my hands dirty on this too as well I like it shoot a lot of video doing it.

[00:12:25] Eric Goranson: So that's gonna be a fun project Let's talk a little more about before we go back to that some of the other new stuff you have here. I mean We're talking about these doors, but you guys have some stunning stuff. Even this arch top one that's sitting right here that I got my hands on. I mean, you guys do so many different doors around the house, lots of different applications for doors,

[00:12:46] Brad Loveless: right?

[00:12:46] Brad Loveless: So you're typically when someone's picking doors in their house, they all, uh, generally go together and that's fine. That's typically how people think. Um, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can, you can mix it up. [00:13:00] So, uh, I think. 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 to separate a living space, but then you open it up to uh, So, now with everyone at home and looking at their home in different ways, that might be an idea.

[00:13:18] Brad Loveless: A really big door. You talked about a door that has a shape that we're looking at right now. I need a

[00:13:23] Eric Goranson: wine cellar for this is what I need. I mean, I

[00:13:25] Brad Loveless: love it. Yeah, the style is a little more traditional, classic ash wood. It's beautiful. So, shapes are not scary. Yeah. So, we're manufacturing these doors out of wood, so any shape you want.

[00:13:36] Brad Loveless: Yeah. So, even if you have a door under the stairs, you know, that has, we call it a clipped corner, but it kind of has an angle. Um, that's no problem. So any shape doesn't have to be your standard rectangle.

[00:13:48] Eric Goranson: Yeah, I mean, the one I'm describing here that's sitting next to it is a beautiful arch top door, and it has a circular raised panel in the middle of it.

[00:13:57] Eric Goranson: And what would traditionally be the styles and rails [00:14:00] are also radiused 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 go. There's a lot of thoughts that goes into that. Okay.

[00:14:12] Brad Loveless: I like that. You appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:14:14] Brad Loveless: It's cool. Very talented woodworkers. Certainly just to do whatever you can dream up.

[00:14:19] Eric Goranson: So what 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 got to have composite. You got to stay away from wood.

[00:14:30] Eric Goranson: You got to do this. What are some of your thoughts on that? When people are out shopping for a

[00:14:34] Brad Loveless: front door? Yeah. I love that. You asked that question. There's, 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?

[00:14:50] Brad Loveless: Yeah. And that's what people love wood for, the beauty. No doubt. Even, uh, uh, building products that build stuff out of a composite or a [00:15:00] 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 place. Everyone agrees it's unmatched beauty. Um, so if we're talking about, uh, where to put a wood door, let's talk about what sort of exposure.

[00:15:16] Brad Loveless: Okay, so same with decking, siding, any other wood exterior product. Is it going to, uh, have the elements? So, what sort of overhang or protection do you have? So we have some instructions, really easy to follow, rules of thumb, how much of an overhang or porch you need for a product. Now, if the porch Or overhang.

[00:15:39] Brad Loveless: It doesn't meet those requirements. That's okay. 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. Build whatever door you want. If there's not, then we're going to point you.

[00:15:59] Brad Loveless: No [00:16:00] problem. Use these specific products. And that's going to last in that opening.

[00:16:04] Eric Goranson: See, it's just that planning, right? That you have to do. 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 locked in that, you know, that kind of thing.

[00:16:17] Eric Goranson: That was the big deal. And ironically, that look is starting to come back. It looks like, but. Back then they had these wood doors and 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.

[00:16:37] 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 90s. Uh oh. That didn't go so well. Yeah, the sun started delaminating it, you know, just like so many other pieces out there when things are new They don't work as well, right, but he ended up eventually after doing three warranty replacements went back

[00:16:56] Brad Loveless: to wood.

[00:16:57] Brad Loveless: There we go So I don't know how detailed [00:17:00] we want to get real door geeky here Let's get door geeky for a minute But when it comes to the Sun the Sun is brutal on any building product, right? Those UV rays are constantly breaking down Whatever that component is, in the door world, it's all about finish.

[00:17:17] Brad Loveless: So ultraviolet rays are breaking down a door's finish. So it doesn't matter if the door is wood, if it's aluminum, steel, fiberglass. In your experience, um, that finish is gonna, that UV is working on it 24 7. So if you're, if you're, we're, we're in North America, if your door is facing, happens to be facing north.

[00:17:41] Brad Loveless: You'll probably never worry about it. You're not even gonna know, like, what? What are you talking about? Yeah. Cause the sun's not gonna hit that door. If you get too door geeky, stop me here. But if you're facing south, you're gonna get it cooked. Yeah. Right? So, you really have to pay attention to the finish.

[00:17:58] Brad Loveless: Obviously finishes [00:18:00] get better, uh, over time. They're improvements. So make sure you choose the right finish. Yep. Um, for your exposure. So. Not only overhang, but know what direction you face, look at it, you know, is, does sun hit that? How much? Um, if it's gonna hit it all day, it's probably not recommended to paint it a dark color.

[00:18:20] Brad Loveless: Right. Right, that's just another way that the sun will If it's darker, the color, it cooks the component, whether it's doors or siding or windows doesn't matter. Around

[00:18:30] Eric Goranson: the house. We'll be right back after these important messages. Don't change

[00:18:33] Brad Loveless: that time.

[00:18:52] Brad Loveless: Welcome[00:19:00]

[00:19:05] Eric Goranson: back to the round the house show. You know, we're running our best of design and construction week 2023 this week as I'm out at the new show. Now let's get back to chatting with Simpson doors about the latest in door tech. Yeah, it doesn't. But, and I also think which species is a little bit of a choice as well because You can depend on the UV of the coating that's on there.

[00:19:26] Eric Goranson: 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, you know, if you pick like in full sun all day long and you put up a black walnut door or clear vertical green fir door or something like that. Right. Those are very susceptible to light.

[00:19:43] Eric Goranson: They like to change. And so I always think that, man. Picking the right door, wood species as well, if you've got no protection on that door can make a big

[00:19:52] 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. [00:20:00] 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.

[00:20:09] Brad Loveless: So we have this history of certain types of woods used as fence posts, or as decking. Or other ground contact applications that there's a reason those woods were chosen for that because they're going to last longer than maybe some that aren't suitable for that.

[00:20:26] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. No, it's a big deal. It's a big deal.

[00:20:29] Eric Goranson: What else do you have here for the show that's new in here? I mean, you got some other sexy big doors

[00:20:34] Brad Loveless: in here too. Nah, sexy. I don't know that anyone used that term, but I'll go with it. Let's go with it, right? Okay, yeah. Uh, let's see. So, one thing that's catching folks eye is, uh The new dog door line we've introduced.

[00:20:47] Eric Goranson: Oh yes, I saw this. We gotta talk about this.

[00:20:50] Brad Loveless: Okay. Because this is the real deal. Yeah, so it maybe seems funny but, uh, you know, oftentimes if someone has a pet, and most of us do, Yep. and you try to get a [00:21:00] dog door, you're left with Maybe just a cheap version you saw at the local hardware store.

[00:21:06] Eric Goranson: Oh yeah, cut the hole out and it's got the plastic flap

[00:21:08] Brad Loveless: and you deal with it.

[00:21:08] Brad Loveless: Yeah, and so you're just, ah, so, alright, just because you have a pet do you need to sacrifice design or functionality? Absolutely not. So, also, cutting a hole into your home. Or into your door is a scary proposition for any DIYer. It would scare me. And, uh, so what we're doing is just take the hassle out of it for people.

[00:21:30] Brad Loveless: We're saying you can have a beautiful, high quality wood door that's gonna look great. And we also have a really high quality dog door. That's going to perform and we'll do the work for you. We're going to cut a hole in the door. We're going to seal all the wood inside those components. We're going to install the door.

[00:21:50] Brad Loveless: So let's take the hassle out of it. Okay, so people are really reacting well to that. You mean I don't have to figure this out on my own? I don't have to settle for a [00:22:00] cheap solution? You don't have to put something weird on my back door slider? No, absolutely.

[00:22:06] Eric Goranson: Oh my gosh, those ones you put in your slider?

[00:22:07] Eric Goranson: Oh, ugly. Yeah. And Now you've made the door opening like 22 inches wide when you slide it open so I got the door dog place there But now I'm squeezing through if I'm taking drinks out for the barbecue or whatever, right? I'm now going through this little tiny almost smaller than a closet door to get outside, right?

[00:22:25] Eric Goranson: It's not a good way to go And then I put a dog door through in my house through the side of the house going 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 got all these things in the wall when you open it up You don't know till you get there.

[00:22:40] Eric Goranson: You could have framing, this can get to be a snowball into a bigger project. Oh,

[00:22:44] Brad Loveless: scary. I'm glad I didn't try it. Just you describing it at your place. Yeah, and

[00:22:49] Eric Goranson: it was a lot of work. 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 because you guys are building it.

[00:22:59] Eric Goranson: I'm [00:23:00] not taking this beautiful door. Cutting it out, forgetting to seal it upright, 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

[00:23:10] Brad Loveless: in. We're gonna turn key it for you. When I think of a dog door, I don't know why my mind goes here.

[00:23:15] Brad Loveless: Remember Home Alone? I'm there, exactly. Okay, you know what I'm talking about? So Sticking the head through the door. Joe Pesci, 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.

[00:23:35] Brad Loveless: And so, it is fully secure, um, really weather tight. It's got saloon style doors, if I use those terminology to describe that. And so, uh, Fido is 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

[00:23:55] Eric Goranson: Joe Pesci sticking his head in. Now, here's the thing too, and this is where, [00:24:00] you know, as a dog owner myself, it's so great for your dogs to give them that freedom to go in and out when they need to.

[00:24:06] Eric Goranson: 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?

[00:24:11] Brad Loveless: Right. Yes, absolutely.

[00:24:12] Eric Goranson: But maybe don't tell your friends you have this door because if you're trying to bail out of that dinner and need to use the dog excuse, you're kind of eliminating that I love that, keep that in your back pocket.

[00:24:21] Eric Goranson: Yeah, 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, I like that. But really, that's a, that's a smart way to go for people and I really appreciate that. Style wise, what are you seeing in, in 2023 for doors? What are people looking at?

[00:24:39] Eric Goranson: What are they trying to get into? What do you see the, um, The style heading down this way. Sure,

[00:24:43] Brad Loveless: we've talked about a few trends and I'll just repeat. Door size, right? Don't be afraid, uh, to go with a big door. 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.

[00:24:58] Brad Loveless: This is what we [00:25:00] see in our plant. We're manufacturing big doors more and more every day. 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. Mm hmm. And Mr. Ed, and I'm an old guy, so sorry about that reference, Mr. Ed. I'm too, yep.

[00:25:19] Brad Loveless: Okay, so you swing open just the top half of that door. You saw Mr. Ed, the horse, look 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, you want, maybe it's just purely, uh, aesthetics. It looks cool. Yeah.

[00:25:40] Brad Loveless: Maybe it has more of a function about letting air flow into the home, right? Keep the top open, but keep the bottom closed.

[00:25:47] Eric Goranson: Especially if you have kids, pets, and you want to control them inside of the house. Yes. You can keep that locked. Still have a great view like you're outside because it's just wide open to the world.

[00:25:57] Eric Goranson: and get that air flow without having to worry about [00:26:00] things moving out down below. Right.

[00:26:01] Brad Loveless: So, really, virtually, since we're talking about a wood door, almost any door, as long as it has wood across the middle, we can turn that into a Dutch door. So you're not limited, uh, in terms of design. It's whatever you want.

[00:26:14] Brad Loveless: If you want a shelf put on that door, I always think of my grandma putting the pie on the shelf out back. To cool out, yeah. Yeah, and that, that still happens. No joke. That is awesome. Um, another thing about Dutch doors 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.

[00:26:35] Brad Loveless: It's not just the back of the home or the front. So, think of like an office, or some sort of family room where you have this need to sometime open up what you're doing to connect the home, 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.

[00:26:54] Brad Loveless: Uh, so it creates a real flexible. tool to open and close spaces. [00:27:00]

[00:27:00] Eric Goranson: And the cool thing is too, is if you want to keep the cat or the dog out of the zoom meeting, you can keep the bottom half closed. Yeah. And you can keep the open up just so you get the air flow and everything else because as we know, sometimes these offices or bedrooms might not be in the best location or have the best air flow in there.

[00:27:16] Eric Goranson: So you shut the door off and maybe the sun's setting out the outside and you're like, all right, I got a 45 minute meeting. It's going to be 82 degrees here because I shut the door trying to be quiet. I

[00:27:24] Brad Loveless: like this whole theme. We're talking on only doors, but pets. I think we have a doors and pets podcast.

[00:27:31] Eric Goranson: We do. How many, how many zoom meetings have you been on or teams or whatever and somebody's cat dog or is doing

[00:27:39] Brad Loveless: something on my own? Usually? Yeah. Right. So yeah, let's get the Put the dog door in. The dog can come and go as he pleases. Put the Dutch door in. I like this. What else? We should create some other pet friendly door related products.

[00:27:53] Brad Loveless: Okay, so

[00:27:53] Eric Goranson: 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 can [00:28:00] have the door open. Keeps the dogs and the pets out of the bathroom. But you're still keeping an eye on when you're getting ready on the rest of the house. Okay, I like that. We can debate a Dutch door just about everywhere, right?

[00:28:08] Eric Goranson: You could. You could. But no, it's cool. I noticed too that, you know, as you go out and see homes, taller doors are a theme as well. That's six foot eight is just not the normal anymore, right?

[00:28:20] Brad Loveless: So door size is a big deal. So don't feel constrained by six foot eight for those listening. Yeah. You're like six foot eight.

[00:28:28] Brad Loveless: Yes. That's probably the height. of the doors in your home. Another popular height is 8 foot. 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. If you want 9 foot 3, no problem. Don't go anywhere,

[00:28:47] Eric Goranson: Around the House will be right

[00:28:48] Brad Loveless: back.[00:29:00]

[00:29:00] Brad Loveless: Welcome

[00:29:01] Eric Goranson: back to the Around the House show where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Now let's wrap this up. With Brad Loveless, Simpson

[00:29:08] Brad Loveless: Door Company. We're going to have lots of examples of what that looks like. Of course, any type of wood can be stained a different.

[00:29:16] Brad Loveless: 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.

[00:29:26] Eric Goranson: Yeah. So you could take a wood that maybe has a, like some of the mahogany's that have a little bit more red, orange in it. And if you throw some grays into it, you can mute that and take it a different direction.

[00:29:35] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. Yeah. That way you've got something that's different, but I also like it too. Like when you walk into somebody's home and you've got maybe that black walnut front door and then. The entryway flooring is maybe black walnut, where you kind of make that just transition into a space. Right. And you can really do some subtle things design wise to make that work.

[00:29:54] Brad Loveless: Absolutely. So whether it's, uh, consistency or you're going for a pop. There's a [00:30:00] couple of ways to go. One thing to mention, just since we've been talking about stain and woods, wood doors get painted all the time. Maybe for, uh, a purist like you and I were like, Oh, how could you do that? But it's truly common.

[00:30:15] Brad Loveless: So, um, make sure, uh, even if you want to paint your door, a lot of times trim in a home now is painted. And, uh, so think if you have that painted trim, no problem painting your wood doors to match. Or picking a wood type So it can really pop when it's next to that white trim. Yeah, you can do

[00:30:36] Eric Goranson: and you can do that really cool wood door and have the painted trim and the jam and stuff around it.

[00:30:41] Eric Goranson: There's a lot of combinations you can do. Yeah, just to have fun on the design

[00:30:44] Brad Loveless: side of things. Absolutely. We have whatever, whatever you want to choose. And I know it's hard to choose. So use the resources available simpsondoor. com and, uh, uh, see visuals, any type of wood, any type of design. Let's

[00:30:59] Eric Goranson: talk [00:31:00] to interior doors a little bit.

[00:31:00] Eric Goranson: We didn't talk so much about those just in choices, you know, for safety. I like, uh, we've got in my house, I've got hollow core doors. Cause that's what they did in the seventies. Right. 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.

[00:31:20] Eric Goranson: 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, of course, you know, not do dumb things that gets the house on fire, but really having that door shut and having a solid core door, you think about it, you know, if you've got a hollow core door that's made out of, you know, geez, it's a press board and there's not a lot there.

[00:31:46] Eric Goranson: They say that'll get you 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. You've got the right door in there. That can be a really huge [00:32:00] fire safety issue versus maybe that door you grabbed off the home

[00:32:03] Brad Loveless: center as well, right?

[00:32:05] 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 requirement. To have a fire rated door from 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.

[00:32:26] Brad Loveless: Um, so that is a requirement. So, uh, in most locations, it requires getting door geeky on ya. Oh, that's what we're here for. A 20, a 20 minute fire rated door. And that means that door construction and how it's built has passed a test. That, um, It will, at least for 20 minutes, the goal is to get you safely out of the house.

[00:32:48] Brad Loveless: And so, with a solid wood door, that's no problem. Like you said, some requirements, especially more commercial buildings, they may have a higher requirement, up to 90 minutes, where that door's gotta last. [00:33:00] If there's a fire on the other side of the door, it won't come through. So your house to garage is already set.

[00:33:05] Brad Loveless: 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. Yeah, I think I

[00:33:23] Eric Goranson: made my parents, I have three brothers, so I think I made my parents mad in the seventies there.

[00:33:28] Brad Loveless: Yeah,

[00:33:29] Eric Goranson: we, we, I mean, funny story, I mean, this was, this was my first. I'll get into geeky here on me. My first big DIY project when I was like 10, you know, I'm the oldest of four boys. My brothers are chasing me around that same 70s 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 Uh huh.

[00:33:56] Eric Goranson: Well, I split the door right at the stop and the whole [00:34:00] thing came down in

[00:34:01] Brad Loveless: oh really and dropped into the room Holy smoke. That's a scene. Yeah sure your folks love that

[00:34:05] Eric Goranson: Well, they didn't actually know because they're off at the store for an hour and a half and that was my first DIY project I did by myself under

[00:34:11] Brad Loveless: was tight deadline tight deadline

[00:34:14] Eric Goranson: Got it all put back together That's got it good enough.

[00:34:17] Eric Goranson: And then when they'd go shopping I'd work on it a little more and get it Yeah. And when my parents moved out of that house, like 15 or 20 years later, we told the story at Thanksgiving, my dad goes, I wondered why the drywall around there because it tore drywall and everything when it came out because it'd been there for already been there for 20 years.

[00:34:36] Brad Loveless: Wow. You were a door geek at a young age. You knew how to. Work with that. That's perfect.

[00:34:42] Eric Goranson: And I didn't even have the internet. It's not like I could go on YouTube and do this, right? It was just that.

[00:34:45] Brad Loveless: Well, I don't know the alternative. If you would have had a solid wood door at that component, obviously you're not knocking it through the door.

[00:34:52] Brad Loveless: Jam mood had just been more painful for a skull fracture

[00:34:56] Eric Goranson: or a broken collarbone or something. Yeah, [00:35:00] exactly. That'd have been good. What have we not talked about here today with what you guys have? I mean, you've got a lot of beautiful doors in here and. Some great finishes on them as

[00:35:08] Brad Loveless: well. Absolutely. So, finish, uh, you know, people love that.

[00:35:12] Brad Loveless: 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 is, uh, a cool feature. So we have a couple doors, uh, 8 feet wide, 8 feet tall. I mean, it's basically a wall.

[00:35:36] Brad Loveless: Yeah. But 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 week. And when you're

[00:35:50] Eric Goranson: dealing with that hardware, make sure, guys, you get the right hardware for that.

[00:35:53] Eric Goranson: You don't want to get that really inexpensive. Because when you're putting an 8x8 door on it, there's a lot of mass on that. And you want to have the, [00:36:00] you don't want to go down to the home center and grab that kit. You want to get something a lot heavier duty. That way it's safe for everybody

[00:36:04] Brad Loveless: else as well.

[00:36:05] Brad Loveless: Great recommendation. Make sure the hardware, the hardware will say what, 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.

[00:36:19] Eric Goranson: Cool, man. Thanks for coming on today. One other thing I want to talk about with my door too that's going to be great is we've got glass in mine and I wanted to talk about this real quick about some of the glass options because we've got a contemporary door going into my place, but there's a lot of different.

[00:36:35] Eric Goranson: First off, I went, Oh, let's do this door. And it was like, you came back on. Hey man, uh, this has a multipoint can't do edge glass with that. And I'm like, all right, they don't make clear metal understood. Right. That doesn't work, but you guys have some, yeah. Statement pieces for contemporary stuff where that glass goes all the way to the edge of the door Yeah, right where?

[00:36:58] Eric Goranson: That style would be, and [00:37:00] I don't see anybody else do that.

[00:37:01] Brad Loveless: Right, so I always, it's the infinity pool effect, but for doors. Right. So we'd, uh, it would be cool to have an infinity pool first of all. I gotta figure that out. But just think, if you need glass. Usually the glass, it's whatever design you want, but it's encased in a wood frame.

[00:37:17] Brad Loveless: I'll just use that terminology, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can take glass all the way to the edge of the door. We figured out a way to do that. We call that our clear edge doors. Um, so you can do that even on the exterior of a home. We figured out still how to weatherstrip that. And so a lot of options and that is clear edge.

[00:37:37] Brad Loveless: The one, uh, hold back of a multi point lock, you do need wood to put that on the side. So that was our design restriction for your entry. Well, of course. As

[00:37:46] Eric Goranson: soon as you said that, I'm like, okay, that was a dumb move by my part. Because, yeah, that's got to come up through that, of course.

[00:37:52] Brad Loveless: Yes. Another thing, you just, you mentioned glass.

[00:37:54] Brad Loveless: When we talk to homeowners about glass, a couple things they think of is, one, I [00:38:00] call the bathrobe test. 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.

[00:38:13] Brad Loveless: Yeah. Okay, so there are lots of glasses, glass types now, that allow complete privacy, but at the same time allow natural light to come in. So, a lot of folks, I think, they'd be, some might be surprised to hear that most of the exteriors we make now, Have glass they're like wait what how you know we can make that glass private and just because it has glass Does not make the door any less secure.

[00:38:40] Brad Loveless: That's a total misconception, right? so don't be afraid of glass in your design if you truly have a Privacy issue then just get a glass type that allows that privacy Great, man.

[00:38:54] Eric Goranson: Yeah. Anything else we missed today?

[00:38:55] Brad Loveless: Man, we covered it. I love it. I love it. Thanks for being on.

[00:38:58] Eric Goranson: Thanks, uh, thanks for having me in here.

[00:38:59] Eric Goranson: This [00:39:00] is great. And, uh, hopefully you guys learned a lot about our door 101 and 201 class

[00:39:04] Brad Loveless: today, right? Yeah, I love it. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Thanks, man.

[00:39:08] Eric Goranson: 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 doors?

[00:39:15] Eric Goranson: Yeah,

[00:39:15] Brad Loveless: well, let's go to Simpson door dot com. Thanks. And check out all our beautiful designs. And

[00:39:20] Eric Goranson: the dealer locator is on there as well for you guys out there shopping. I'm Eric G and you've been listening to around

[00:39:26] Brad Loveless: the house.