AMN Construction · Finish carpentry · Door installation

Door installation, hung to swing and latch right.

We hang interior and exterior doors: single, double, French, pocket and sliding barn doors. Each one is set plumb in its opening so it swings freely, stays where you leave it, and latches with a light push.

Email photographs and measurements 805 886 0988

In short

A door that sticks, drifts or will not latch is hung wrong. The door itself is rarely the problem.
Prehung doors come with a new frame. A slab is the door alone, fitted to your existing frame.
Exterior doors also have to keep out water, wind and salt air.

DoorHung so the gap is even all round, it swings freely and it latches without a push.
Latch and hingesSet at one height through the house. Near the ocean, the finish has to stand up to salt air.
Door casingThe trim around the opening. It hides the gap between the door frame and the wall.

A room in elevation: a door, its latch and hinges, and the casing around it.

Step by step

How a door is hung, frame by frame.

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How a door is hung

Set the frameThe door frame goes into the rough opening with shims behind the hinges and the latch.
Plumb and squareThe frame is checked with a level and adjusted until it is plumb, level and square.
Hang the doorThe door is hung and the gap around it read: even at the top and both sides.
Case and latchCasing covers the joint to the wall. The door swings free and latches without a push.

Built by Tom. Fifty years of custom cabinets and finish carpentry, from Oregon and Hawaii to Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Westlake Village, and now from Goleta to Carpinteria. Meet the carpenter

What we do

What is included.

Prehung doors: a door already hinged in a new frame, set plumb and shimmed in the opening.
Slab doors: a new door cut, planed and fitted with hinges and a lock to suit an existing frame.
Pocket doors that slide into the wall, and barn doors that slide along a track on its face.
French and double doors, aligned so the two meet evenly down the middle.
Exterior doors with a sealed threshold, weatherstripping and flashing below the sill.
Locks, latches and hinges fitted, and casing installed or reinstalled around the frame.

How it goes

Step 1
You email photographs of the openings, rough sizes, and which doors stick, drag or will not latch.
Step 2
We check the openings on site for plumb and square, and confirm sizes and swing before anything is ordered.
Step 3
Doors are delivered and left in the house to adjust to its air before fitting.
Step 4
Each door is hung, shimmed and adjusted until the gaps are even and it latches cleanly.
Step 5
Hardware and casing go on, and exterior doors get their threshold, weatherstripping and sealant.

Yours to decide

Decide these first.

Prehung or slab. Prehung is the usual choice for a new opening or a tired frame. A slab keeps a sound old frame and its casing, and takes more fitting.
Solid core or hollow core. Solid doors are heavier, quieter and feel better in the hand. Hollow doors cost less and suit closets.
Which way it swings. Handing means which side the hinges are on and whether the door opens in or out. It has to be settled before ordering.
Swinging, pocket or barn. A pocket door saves floor space but needs a clear wall to slide into. A barn door needs clear wall beside it and does not seal for sound.
For exterior doors, the material. Wood looks best and needs upkeep near the ocean. Fiberglass and steel ask for less.

How to tell good work

The gap around the door is even at the top and down both sides.
The door stays put when left half open, and does not drift open or closed by itself.
It latches with a light push and does not rattle in the frame once shut.
Hinges sit flush in their recesses, with screws driven straight and none stripped.
On an exterior door, no daylight shows around the edges and the threshold seals along its full width.

What moves the price

The number of doors and the door itself: hollow, solid, glass-paneled or custom-made.
Prehung or slab. Fitting a slab to an old frame takes more time on site than setting a prehung unit.
The type. Pocket doors mean opening the wall. Double and French doors take longer to align than a single door.
The opening. A frame that is out of square, a sloping floor or rot at an exterior sill adds repair work first.

Prices vary with the materials and the hours a job takes. Each job is custom and unique, so we price it once we have seen the room.

Our work

Door installation, built and fitted.

Santa Barbara South Coast

Woodwork through a Spanish-style house

Tom built the woodwork through this house above the ocean: beams and plank ceilings, arched doors and windows, the kitchen cabinets, the mantels and the bath vanity. One hand in every room, which is why it reads as one house.

Ceiling beams and coffered ceilings · Door installation · Custom cabinetry

A living room with exposed wood beams, a plank ceiling, a wood mantel and arched wood-framed glass doors open to an ocean terrace — Beams, plank ceiling and arched doors to the terrace

A kitchen with stained wood frame-and-panel cabinets, wood-cased windows and a marble island — The kitchen

Tall wood-framed glass doors standing open between a beamed living room and a tiled terrace — Doors open to the terrace

A dining room with exposed beams, a wood mantel shelf and wood-framed glass doors facing the ocean — The dining room: beams, mantel and doors

Exposed wood beams and a plank ceiling above white plaster walls with arched openings — The beamed ceiling

A wood vanity with drawers and doors under a tiled counter with two basins, and wood-framed mirrors above — The bath vanity

Santa Barbara South Coast

Oak cabinetry through a new Spanish-style house

Cabinetry for a whole new house: a pale oak kitchen with a paneled hood, floor-to-ceiling storage in the hall and laundry, a dark wood bar with glass doors, a painted console cabinet, painted cubbies, and paneled wood doors.

Custom cabinetry · Built-ins · Door installation

A kitchen with pale oak frame-and-panel cabinets, a paneled hood, glass-fronted wall cabinets and a white stone island — The kitchen

A floor-to-ceiling pale oak cabinet with four tall doors and four upper doors, fitted into a hall alcove — Hall storage, floor to ceiling

Tall pale oak cabinet doors with long pulls, built to the ceiling — Tall cabinets in the laundry

Pale oak laundry cabinets around a stacked washer and dryer — The laundry

A dark wood bar cabinet with glass-fronted upper doors and drawers below, beside a stone fireplace — The bar: dark wood and glass doors

A low dark green painted cabinet with four paneled doors fitted into an alcove — A painted console cabinet

Santa Barbara South Coast

A paneled oak entry door

A six-panel oak entry door with paneled sidelights and leaded glass above.

Door installation · Exterior trim

A stained six-panel oak front door with paneled sidelights and leaded glass — The entry

Santa Barbara South Coast

A white kitchen and a sliding barn door

Built by Tom: white Shaker cabinets with a dark island, and a pantry of fitted shelves behind a sliding barn door.

Custom cabinetry · Door installation · Custom shelving

A kitchen with white Shaker cabinets and a dark island, beside a wood barn door on a track open to pantry shelves — The kitchen, and the pantry behind its barn door

All finish carpentry projects

Questions

Door installation: what owners ask.

What is the difference between a prehung door and a slab door?

A prehung door arrives already hinged in its own frame, ready to set into an opening. A slab is just the door, with no frame, hinges or holes for the lock. Prehung suits new openings and worn frames. A slab suits a sound frame you want to keep.

Why does my door not latch or stay closed?

Usually the frame has moved, so the latch no longer lines up with the hole in the strike plate. Houses settle and hinges loosen. Often the fix is tightening or shimming a hinge, or moving the strike slightly. A door that swings by itself is hanging out of plumb.

Can a pocket door be added to an existing wall?

Often, yes, if the wall beside the opening is clear. The door slides into a cavity as wide as itself, so that stretch of wall cannot hold plumbing, wiring or a structural post. The wall surface comes off on one side, the frame goes in, and the wall is patched.

What kind of exterior door holds up near the ocean in Carpinteria?

Fiberglass holds up with the least upkeep, because it does not rust or swell. Wood doors do well if every edge is sealed, including the top and bottom, and the finish is kept up. Whatever the door, hinges and locks should be rated for coastal air, because salt pits ordinary plated hardware.

Where we do this

Built in our small boutique shop in Carpinteria where the piece is custom, and fitted on site in:

Carpinteria Summerland Montecito Santa Barbara Hope Ranch Goleta

All finish carpentry · see the projects

Inquiries

Have a room in mind? Send us the photographs.

Email photographs of the room and rough measurements to purchasing@amnbuild.com. Matt reads it himself. No forms.

Email Matt the photographs Or call Matt · 805 886 0988