Distinctive Doors Built to your Creative Design



         *    Barlow's Creative Doors specializes in custom one-of-a-kind
        solid wood entry systems and interior doors.  We welcome
        your design and the challenge of creating a distinctive
        door just for you.  Remember, doors can be further
        customized with a unique finish, distress and glass choice.

        *    We work directly with the homeowner, contractor, designer
        or architect to help expedite the quote and design process.

WHAT GOES INTO PRICING A DOOR?

        *    Is it interior or exterior
        *    Door style
        *    Wood species
        *    Door size or rough opening
        *    Glass choice if applicable
        *    Finish
        *    Distress if any
        *    Jamb width

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF?
                      

If you are considering an exterior door,

What is your exposure? 

Will this door be protected from sun exposure and weather? 

Will your sprinklers spray this door?  

Remember, moisture will be the death of a wood door.

AS A REMINDER

        *    Quality is always our focus.
        *    We can order your base & case needs through our
                sister company and finish it to match your door order.
        *    Special pricing is available on full house packages.

NEED IDEAS?

       Be sure to visit our panel layout pages for ideas and more information about our company.


READY FOR A QUOTE?

IF YOU DECIDE TO ORDER A DOOR OR DOOR PACKAGE, WE WILL NEED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION


    *    Exact measurement
    *    Wood species
    *    Glass choice if applicable
    *    Finish color sample
    *    Hinge color
    *    Bore information
    *    Site address



WHAT PUTS MY ORDER INTO PRODUCTION?

    *    A signed confirmation When we have the above information, we can get a confirmation ready.  We would ask you to review              this information carefully and if it is correct, we will ask you to sign it.

    *    A deposit of 50% of your order.  Balance due C.O.D.
          We deliver curbside and will need someone scheduled to help unload.

AVAILABLE WOOD SPECIES

The wood species listed below are some of the more common and are readily available.  Other woods are also available and less common and not as readily available. There are also some woods that do not qualify for door material due to available size of the lumber or it is not suited for other reasons such as stability.

Red Oak
White Oak
Ash
Maple
Cherry
Mahogany
Walnut
Mesquite
Poplar
Alder
Fir
Pine

Red Oak

 
This is possibly the most traditional and most stable wood species.  It is very hard and durable.   The color ranges from pink to a light straw color.  Color variations from board to board are significant but not extreme and can be easily muted with stain.Doors made of this wood are very stable.  The grain is open and closed and it takes stain very well.  Typically the open grain will take the stain much darker than the closed  grain and it is this characteristic that gives Red Oak its easily identifiable appearance.The most common of the cuts is plain sliced, but oak is also easily obtainable in Rift.  This cut will reduce the big open grain "feathers" and is quite straight grained.  In the Rift cut   there are areas of "flakes" which are characteristic of quarter sawn oak.The quarter sawn oak is very unique and interesting.  This cut will typically yield only area of the characteristic "flake" since door components   are much to large to expect vast areas of this look.

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White Oak

 
This is a very hard and durable lumber.  It is very different from its cousin in color, density and appearance.  The grain patterns are similar to Red Oak but have an appearance all its own.  The color is a very light gray. The durability of White oak is as good as Red Oak and doors made of this species are very heavy and stable. 
This species is also available in quarter sawn and rift cuts. These cuts yield a straight grain with the characteristic "flakes" typical of Oak.

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Ash

 
While easily available this species is rarely used for entry or passage doors.  It is similar in appearance to Red Oak and is often confused with Red Oak by the untrained eye.Ash is fairly hard and dense though softer and less dense than oak.  Grain pattern yields "feathering" of the open grain.  Stability is fairly good.  The popularity of this wood species has diminished over the years and
does not seem to "fit" the fashion styles currently employed.

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Maple

 
Maple has a look of its own and comes in a variety of grades each of which has its own characteristics.  Maple is one of the hardest of the hardwoods and is also very dense and heavy.Hard White Maple is typically used for more contemporary styles.  It will yellow somewhat with time.  The grain is closed and the grain pattern is quiet and smooth.  Due to grain characteristics stain with any color depth will appear blotchy and uneven.  Soft Maple has a great deal more color.  The grain patterns are similar to Hard White Maple but the clean white color is absent. 

This variety is typically used for a paint grade application although this wood has a character that is unique enough to be used in other applications. Wormy Maple is another variety that has a very unique characteristic.  This has the white color with long streaks of black and brown surrounding small worm holes.  For a rustic application there is nothing like it.

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Cherry

 
Cherry has always been considered to be one of the elegant wood species.  It is quite hard and dense with a tight closed grain that has soft patterns.  It takes stain well and is often used in applications where a deep furniture type finish is desired.  This is one of the most expensive woods but its beauty and elegance is unequalled.
More recently Knotty Cherry has become popular.  It is much less expensive and has a character all its own for the more rustic applications.

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Mahogany

 
This is a tropical wood that has been traditionally used in more elegant applications.  It is a tight closed grained wood which varies enormously in color from deep maroon through red and orange to a very light red or pink.  Because of this fact it is highly recommended that a stain be used to mute the vast color variations.  Typically dark stains have been used with Mahogany with great success.There are three major varieties of Mahogany, Honduras, African, and Philippine (Luan), With the flap about rain forest trees this species is becoming more difficult to get and more expensive. 

The Philippine variety is used mostly for veneers and is less dense and less stable.  Of the three it is the least attractive aesthetically and therefore not used for door construction.  

Honduras Mahogany is considered to be Genuine Mahogany.  It is also by far the most expensive of the Mahoganies and is becoming more and more difficult to get.   Most wood workers cannot distinguish between African and Honduras Mahogany.  It has been our experience that the African variety is more stable, and more consistent in color and therefore the variety most used and most recommended.

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Walnut

 
This is a very attractive and interesting lumber.  It is chocolate in color with white streaks.  It is quite dense and heavy.  It is more expensive than Oak and less expensive than Maple.  Doors built of Walnut and finished natural without stain are very interesting due to the grain patterns and color variations.  Walnut is considered to be quite stable and would be a good choice for door manufacture.

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Mesquite

 
This is a very expensive lumber.  It has characteristics that are very unique which make this lumber a great choice for a rustic application where the unusual is required.  Due to the cost of this material it is seldom used and therefore not often seen.  It has a craggy surface consistent with the desert environment in which it grows.  Adding to the cost of the already expensive lumber is the huge waste factor due to the small nature of the boards which come from a very small tree.

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Poplar

 
Poplar is a very tight grained and smooth surfaced lumber used primarily for paint grade applications.  It paints very well without telegraphing grain and is quite stable.  It has huge color variations, from almost black to green to almost Maple white.  This is occasionally used as a stain grade material where the stain is dark enough to mute the vast color variations.  It accepts stain very well and is a fairly hard hardwood.

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Alder

 
This is one of the most unusual hardwood species.  There are generally between nine and thirteen grades of Alder depending upon the mill that does the sorting.  This species has become so popular and the demand has increased so much that the finer grades have almost disappeared from availability. 

Superior Alder is the highest grade and is more and more difficult to obtain.  While this grade used to be almost knot free, it comes most commonly with some small knots in nearly every board.  In days gone by it was not uncommon to use Superior Alder as a substitute for Cherry but with the increased knots and decreased availability that is less and less an option.  

Alder has a similar appearance to Cherry.  The grain is tight with soft patterns.  There is a significant difference from Cherry in color and density, however.  Alder is softer and lighter than Cherry and stains more blotchy.  In the past it was the blotchy way it accepts stain that made it unacceptable but now with the style and fashion changes it is that blotchiness that designers have come to like about it.  The knottier grades of Alder are the most common grades used now for the rustic look.  The larger knots in combination with the blotchy stain color give doors a  huge amount of character and make them so desirable. 

A house full of Knotty Alder doors creates either a rustic feel or a more elegant feel depending upon color, distress, etc.One of Alders most annoying features is its unusual ability to accept or give off moisture to the air.  This makes it very unstable for use as a material for doors.  It has been our experience that completely sealing a door after manufacture by  finishing it here at the factory all but eliminated that issue.  We therefore do not offer a warranty on Alder doors unless we finish them here.

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Fir

 
Fir is one of the Softwoods that has been used for decades for doors and moldings.  Due to logging limitations this and other softwoods have risen in price dramatically over the past decade. 
Since Fir is typically a building material it is not usually kiln dried dry enough to use for doors. 

There is a grade that is cut more carefully and kiln dried dry enough for door production.  It is call Clear Vertical Grain Fir or CVG Fir.  It is cut from the log in a special way that allows for it to be more stable and by doing so, much of the character of the wood is eliminated.  This also makes CVG Fir quite expensive.  It was just a few years ago that this was not only one of the most expensive soft woods but one of the most expensive woods period. 

Thanks to the escalation of Cherry and some of the other hardwoods, that is no longer that case.  CVG Fir is a very straight grained lumber without much personality.  It has been used for years as a veneer for paint grade doors.  Consequently there are many who are under the impression that it is a cheap wood.  We seldom recommend CVG Fir because it is not one of the most attractive species, it is quite expensive, and it is a soft wood. 
One would choose this species solely upon ones taste for its look, economy and durability would not be considered.

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Pine

 
There are many varieties of Pine available, and though each has a slightly different appearance they are very similar not only in appearance but in characteristic. Pine is a soft wood and therefore the kiln drying process is not complete enough to use this wood for doors with any reliability.  It is done frequently and successfully so using veneers over a stable material.  We at BCD do not build veneer doors but have successfully built solid pine doors.  We insist, however, that pine doors receive a factory finish before shipping in order to provide a warranty.  

Pine is a very soft wood and generally retains significant quantities of sap or pitch.  When the wood is dried the pitch becomes brittle and also causes stain to be accepted with a great deal of irregularity.  Knotty Pine and Clear Pine are the two options available.  They each have a completely different look and application but they are both very unstable and not ideally suited for door building.

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