Entry Design

   Each Emerald Doors' entry is built to the client's personal specifications. Every entry door and entryway is designed especially for that client.   The entry design becomes uniquely yours as each individual detail is added.

   The details and options you choose for their new entry including: entryway configuration, standard or custom sizes, custom shapes, wood type, door and entryway trims, glass designs and glass textures makes it uniquely yours.  Emerald Doors believe that as each client has their own individual style and their home's entry should reflect their unique sense of style and taste welcoming them home.

     Emerald Doors prides itself in proven old world handcrafted construction methods, but when it comes to design they use state of the art  technology.  All of their front entry doors and entryways are designed using AutoCAD.

   A production drawing featuring all of the client's unique choices is prepared for their approval.  After the client approves the scaled production drawing all of their entry items and particular specifications are rechecked by purchasing and again by the production manager .  Each piece of  the entryway is dimensioned to it's particular specifications and full size patterns are prepared for any unusual, customized or intricate designs.

      A production specifications plan book for the client's project is then compiled. A production meeting is held with the production manager to review the entry door or complete entryway's details and any special elements. All door, sidelight, transom and beveled or stained glass specifications, designs, sizes and individual details are reviewed along with any custom and unique items.

AutoCAD

 Custom Designs & Sizes

Quality Construction and Craftsmanship

Quality Construction

   Craftsmanship and quality construction methods seamlessly come together in Emerald Doors' entry doors and entryways.  Timeless proven construction methods are employed throughout the solid wood production of doors, sidelights and transoms.  Beveled glass and stained glass are made onsite by Emerald Doors' craftsmen in their glass studio.  The standards of the highest quality hand selected hardwoods, solid wood stiles and rails, mortise and tenon joinery, double floating panels, hand sanding, panel staining and sealing prior to assembly, in house production of trims, solid wood jambs, applied standard trim door frames and hand finishing make for beautiful entrances.

    Beveled glass and stained glass door, sidelight and transom panels are made onsite by Emerald Doors' skilled craftsmen in their glass studio.  Each piece of glass is hand cut and fitted to the client's design. 

    The quality of Emerald Doors entry doors and entryways is apparent in homes throughout the United States creating beautiful interior foyers and exterior focal points.  Handcrafting by skilled craftsmen produces stunning curb appeal and beautiful foyers that is not present in mass produced entry doors, sidelights and transoms.  It is all in the details!

Quality Woods

   Only the highest quality hardwoods are used in the crafting of Emerald Doors' entryways.  The top grades of rough lumber containing the largest amount of clear beautiful wood are hand selected for each piece.  The highest quality boards are selected from Emerald Doors' wood inventory.

  Genuine mahogany rather than the cheaper lesser quality African mahogany or Philippine mahogany (actually not mahogany at all.) are used.  Genuine mahogany has been used throughout the ages in fine handcrafted doors and furniture.

  Clients also have the choice of  cherry, red oak, white oak, alder and walnut wood.  Other custom hardwoods are available upon request.  Even Emerald Doors' paint grade doors, sidelights, transoms and jambs are made from high quality hardwoods, never using finger jointed or other pieced together cheaper woods. 

   Woods have various grains and properties.  For more information visit Wood & Stain Colors. 

Genuine Mahogany

Cherry

Red Oak

White Oak

Alder

Walnut

Wood Samples are Shown in Various Stain Colors

2" Thick Genuine Mahogany Lumber

Solid Wood

Stiles, Rails & Panels

Lasting Quality

Solid Wood Stiles & Rails

      Solid wood stiles and rails insure strength, integrity and beauty of entry doors, sidelights and transoms. Stiles are the vertical pieces of wood on the outside edges of doors and sidelights.  Hinges and door knobs are located in door stiles.  Rails are the internal pieces of wood, horizontal or vertical that make up the total design.  Emerald Doors' does not use "engineered stiles" which use a thin wood veneer face skin over lower quality wood pieces, sold and advertised as "solid wood doors".  Entry doors with "engineered stiles and rails" are sold at most lumber and hardware stores. 

   No cores, veneers, skins or face laminated members which can delaminate or hide inferior grades of wood are used in construction of  Emerald Doors' entry doors, sidelights or transoms.  Doors and sidelights are designed for structural integrity using proportion and strength that endures over time as only solid wood can.

    Each piece of wood is hand selected by their experienced craftsmen.  Solid wood offers the natural variations in color and grain that gives your entry door or entryway enduring beauty.       

Double Floating Panels

     Double floating door and sidelight panels are important due to constant temperature variations between the interior and exterior of homes.  An individual panel is constructed for the interior and exterior of doors and sidelights.  This double free-floating panel construction method allows for independent movement of each panel to compensate for temperatures and moisture variations.  Allowing the double floating panels to react independently of each other during various interior and exterior temperature and humidity changes insures that panel stresses are minimized.

     Wood used in Emerald Doors' door or sidelight panels is hand selected and matched for uniform color and grain.  The panels are sealed and stained prior to door assembly if you choose Emerald Doors' finishing.  Sealing the backs of the double floating door and sidelight panels prevents moisture absorption.  Staining the panels prior to door and sidelight assembly assures that all panel edges are protected from the elements.  Emerald Doors' constructs their entryways as if they were being installed in their own homes with concern for each detail.

Double Floating Panels

Mortise & Tenon Joinery

Strongest Joint in Woodworking

Mortise & Tenon Joinery

     Emerald Doors uses the preferred woodworking joinery method of mortise and tenon.  The strongest joint in woodworking that has been used in door construction along with everything from ships to antique furniture for centuries.  Mortise and tenon construction is seven times stronger than the less desired doweled or stile and rail construction.  Quality doors demand the best joinery methods.  Hand joint fitting makes for the best and most precise door joinery. 

   The mortise and tenon joint provides a large gluing surface and once glued with exterior wood glue the joint becomes stronger than the wood itself.  Solid wood stiles and rails are joined using mortise and tenon joinery in doors, sidelights and transoms.

  Decorative trims and panels are assembled after the main door parts are joined.  Emerald Doors' makes all of their own decorative architecturally designed trims including: glass and panel stop, decorative applied door trims, rosettes, fluted trim, keystones, ledges, dentil molding, brick molding, and interior casings.  This allows for consistency and customization.  Attention to detail is evident in their decorative trim work.

     Surface applied decorative moldings are mitered and then made into "picture frames".  This ensures that the joints where trims meet will remain square and tight.  Nail holes are filled with matching wood filler and hand sanded smooth.  Entry door trim combinations are the details that make your entry doors truly unique.  Entry doors are available with no decorative trims for a more contemporary, modern or rustic style front entry door or entryway.

   Emerald Doors takes the time to apply glass and panel stop.  This assures that any part of their entry doors, sidelights and transoms can be repaired if required in the future.  An example would be a lawnmower throwing a stone that damages a wood or glass panel, that panel can be removed and replaced.  Unlike stile and rail doors that have the glass and panel stop made as part of the stiles and rails requiring a new door or sidelight purchase.  One of Emerald Doors' clients experienced a devastating flood that destroyed their home.  The only salvageable item was the entry door.  The door and glass was cleaned, sanded and refinished and installed in their new home as good as new.

Entry Door Assembly

Includes

Stained & Sealed Panels

Applied Glass & Panel Stop

Decorative Trims & Moldings

Solid Wood Jambs

Solid Wood Jambs / Frames

   Emerald Doors' entry door, sidelight and transom jambs (frames) are made as one piece for jambs ranging from 4 9/16" to 6 9/16".  The relief cut for doors and sidelights is cut into the solid wood,  providing a long lasting strong jamb (or frame). Solid wood jamb extenders are available for entries with jamb width requirements over 6 9/16".  Lower quality mass produced jambs and frames include applied stops which may separate over time and many consist of finger jointed wood.

    Radius and curved jambs are solid wood; cut to shape, joined, glued and nailed to make one continuous very strong curve.  No bendable plywood or laminated veneers are ever used by Emerald Doors' craftsmen.

Quality Control

   Quality control is an important factor in each Emerald Doors' projects.  At every stage of production from rough lumber selection and sizing to finishing touches, your entry is checked and rechecked for size, quality and craftsmanship. Each craftsman checks specifications of the individual pieces of your entry before it advances to the next step.  Before the next craftsman starts working on your project they recheck the specifications again.

    Emerald Doors' measures to 1/1000 of an inch with specifications as small as 5/1000 of an inch which is too small to be detected by the human eye.

Quality Control

Digital Measurement

 

Hand Finishing Enhances

the Radiance of Wood

 Bringing Out

 It's Natural Beauty

Door & Entryway Finishing

     The proper finishing of your front entry door or entryway is extremely vital to ensuring lasting beauty.  Each and every surface of your entryway is finished to protect it from the elements.  Every square inch of your entry door or complete entryway including doors, sidelights, and transoms is hand sanded with the wood's grain with at least three increasing grits of sandpaper in preparation for finishing. 

  Sanding with the grain is preferred to give a beautiful finish.  Some door companies sand only with large commercial sanders which leave scratches across the grain on horizontal rails.  Nail holes are double checked before and after staining.  All door hardware cuts such as those for door knobs, hinges and flush bolts are cut prior to finishing so these areas are also properly sealed.

     Emerald Doors' temperature and humidity controlled finishing area allows for uniform drying conditions.  Doors, sidelights, transoms and jambs are finished laying flat to allow for the best application of stain, paint and finish.  Emerald Doors uses only high quality stains which are hand applied, allowed time to penetrate the wood and hand wiped to give the best color consistency and  coverage.  Entryway pieces are double checked by the craftsmen and then quality control checked after staining for quality and even stain tones.

     Complete drying and absorption of the stain is allowed prior to application of the entryway's protective finish.  We offer either premium exterior satin polyurethane, exterior polyurethane finish along with prime and paint and prime only. Each piece of your exterior door or entryway is hand sanded between the multiple coats of sprayed finish.  Hands can feel what sometimes the human eye cannot see.

   The quality finish of your front entry door or entryway will give it the enduring handcrafted beauty you desire for your home or business.

 Beveled Glass - Stained Glass

     Emerald Doors' designs and produces all of their own decorative beveled glass or stained glass door, sidelight and transom panels in their onsite glass studio.  The strongest and highest quality glass construction methods are used throughout.  A complete full size drawing is produced from your production design as a full size pattern for the bevel glass and stained glass studio. 

   Every piece of stained or beveled glass is precision hand cut to insure uniform fit and attention to glass "grains" (texture direction).  All bevels and bevel cluster pieces are checked with the patterns for consistency in size and cut.  Each piece of glass is then hand cut and fitted.   Their craftsmen make your beveled glass or stained glass doors, sidelight and transom panels in the same long-lasting old world  manner that craftsman have used for centuries. The average life of a beveled or stained glass panel is 80-120 years and it can then be re-camed at that time.

   Emerald Doors provides you the option of pewter or black caming.  Caming is the metal that is between the pieces of beveled or stained glass.

  The beauty of the stained or beveled glass door, sidelight and transom panels shows off the craftsmen's attention to detail creating a work of art for your home or office.

Beveled Glass - Stained Glass

 Old World Craftsmanship

A Beautiful Art Form for Your Home