Last year for Design and Construction week we sat down and talked with Brad Loveless from Simpson doors. While I am out at Design and Construction week 2024 I thought it would be great to revist last year and some of the best information for people to check out.

We talk everything from exterior doors to interior doors and their pivot door system that has been super hot as far as trends and styles.

We are back next week with new interviews and new products! For more information check out: https://www.simpsondoor.com/

To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.

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Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

Mentioned in this episode:

Baldwin Hardware

Baldwin Hardware

A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard

For more information about the latest in decking and cladding head to https://www.millboard.com/

A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard

For more information about the latest in decking and cladding head to https://www.millboard.com/

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

[00:00:38] 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

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

[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.

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

[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

[00:02:00] 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.

[00:02:32] 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,

[00:02:47] 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.

[00:03:30] 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.

[00:03:56] 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: 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?

[00:04:40] 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.

[00:05:01] 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.

[00:05:26] 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.

[00:05:49] 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.

[00:06:21] 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?

[00:06:41] 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.

[00:07:01] 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.

[00:07:30] 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.

[00:07:55] 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.

[00:08:24] 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

[00:08:41] 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.

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

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

[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.

[00:10:53] 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.

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

[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.

[00:12:17] 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.

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

[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

[00:13:25] 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.

[00:13:48] 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.

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

[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.

[00:14:34] 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?

[00:15:16] 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.

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

[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.

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

[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.

[00:17:58] 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.

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

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

[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.

[00:19:52] 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.

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

[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.

[00:20:50] 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.

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

[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.

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

[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.

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

[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

[00:23:15] 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.

[00:23:55] 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.

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

[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?

[00:24:43] 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.

[00:25:19] 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.

[00:25:47] 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.

[00:26:01] 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.

[00:26:35] 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.

[00:27:00] 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.

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

[00:27:39] 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] 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?

[00:28:20] 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.

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

[00:29:00] Brad Loveless: Welcome

[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.

[00:29:26] 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.

[00:29:54] 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.

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

[00:30:44] 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

[00:31:00] 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.

[00:31:46] 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

[00:32:05] 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.

[00:32:48] 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.

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

[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.

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

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

[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.

[00:34:42] 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.

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

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

[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

[00:35:53] 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

[00:36:05] 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.

[00:36:35] 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?

[00:37:01] 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.

[00:37:37] 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

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

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

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

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

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

[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