In my mind I can hear the question Andy Rooney would have asked, had he been a passenger in our truck today: “Didja ever think about doors?”
Actually, not that much. Our house in El Cerrito had too many of them, so we took some out, but other than that I’ve never paid much attention. Now, though, we’re all about doors.
The Schoolhouse needs four interior doors – bathroom, two bedrooms, and closet in one bedroom (the other closet has sliders, which I learned recently are actually called “full bypass” doors). It also needs a new exterior door, from the main room out to the deck.
Doors are expensive, even interior doors, and we want old ones.
Restore, run by Habitat for Humanity, is our go-to source. On two different trips we find three five-panel and one single inset panel solid wood doors with jambs, only slightly damaged. The first time we go, there’s a door sale going on and we get two for $30 each. The second time, they recognize us and let us have the other two for the same price, even though the sale’s over. We also buy a gorgeous 8-foot exterior door with a big double-paned window in it.
Sign on Llano Road for Mick's Door Shop
We take the exterior door to Mick’s Door Shop, which is on Llano Road on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. The place is amazing – a big barn-like structure with small front office at the end of a long driveway in the middle of a vineyard. It really is Mick’s shop – he runs it with his wife Linda. They are clearly very knowledgeable and good at what they do and this is how we learn there’s a big difference between a jamb and a frame. We had called ahead to price jambs, because we weren’t sure if we’d find doors with jambs attached at Restore. Jambs for standard size interior doors are about $85 at Mick’s, but what we need is a full exterior frame, with hinges, weatherstripping, and a few other things that escape me. The price is $350 – extra because the door’s so tall.
Linda commiserates with us about the price of remodeling and drops the price a bit. I am guessing she needs it as much as we do, but can’t think of a graceful way to decline, so we thank her profusely.
We leave the tall door in Linda’s capable hands and take the other two out to the Schoolhouse.
Mick's Door Shop
