Behind Door Number One

This cautionary tale is drawn from personal experience. As a part of my quest to upgrade and bring energy efficiency to my 106 year old house, 3 exterior doors have been replaced. Doors are easy to order, but seemingly impossible to get the order right. In this house, we are 3 for 3 in door order screw-ups. The screw-ups usually leave us with a large piece of plywood over the opening for weeks on end, to the confusion of an 11 year old cocker spaniel and 2 cats.

When replacing a door, use the following checklist:
• Don’t assume that pointing at the exact sample of the door that you want means you will get the door you want. There is a big difference between a 10-light colonial door, and a 15 light French door. Pointing at the door on display and saying, “This is what we want,” doesn’t necessarily make it so.
• If ordering a 32 inch door, make sure that 32 inches means 32 inches. Our most recent adventure brought us a lovely 30 inch door with a 32 inch frame. There is a particular brand that needs a conversion table for their measurements – it’s the algebraic equation of: If door = 32 then frame = X.
• Make sure your contractor measures the new door BEFORE taking the old door out. Then, if there’s a problem you won’t be left with the lovely sheet of plywood mentioned earlier.
• Make sure the door that you saw and loved on HGTV is an appropriate door for the part of the country in which you live. A wood, single paned door is fine for San Diego or Houston, but not so for a north facing door in Colorado. When the wrong door is used, the next thing you know, you’ll be putting up a large piece of canvas to save your utility bills over the winter.
• If you plan to paint a metal clad door, be sure to mention it to the person placing the order – there is a different surface on the standard white door than there is on a “primed to paint” door.
• If you order your door, and leave feeling apprehensive about what just took place, listen to yourself and call the department manager to double-check the order.

If you do all of these things, and still end up with the wrong door, take heart. Usually the big box home improvement centers will work with you to get it right. Expect to spend a lot of time on the phone, and expect to negotiate. The silver lining of our door fiascos has been that we didn’t have to pay for 2 of the doors. However, what we didn’t pay in money was made up for in time and energy. We are in the middle of a door drama now, but it is on the way to resolution.

Thanks…and keep the door closed! You’re letting all of the heat out!