Dog ate the door
I have a Greenmeadow courtyard Eichler with the original doors. There is a door from the hall bath to the side yard. We put the dog run in the same side yard. Yesterday,my husband forgot to let them back in right away, and my 12 year old pointer decided she was not going to wait. She scratched her way through the entire outside panel....leaving a hole the width of the door and about 2 feet high. In about 15 minutes.
Turns out the door is 1/4 inch (or less) thin mahogany paneling, hollow core, with paper/cardboard bracing.
No way to repair it, it is trashed. Too big to use for the doggie door I was planning to install...
I plan to get a steel flat panel door and have it installed. (she can't rend steel) However, I'd like to keep the Eichler look. Should I just paint it brown? Find some paneling and put it on the inside of the door ? Try to find a solid wood door? Options or ideas appreciated.
You can post here or email me at sallyhatxilinxdotcom
Sally sorry to hear about your door. When we moved in the first thing we did was install a doggie door in that door. (either that one or the front door, only 2 wooden doors) the people before us had a sheet of metal covering the bottom 1/2 of the door. I decided to keep this, but it does add somestrength to the otherwide flimsy door. You could look at a solid wood door, just be a bit tougher to cut out the doggie door and also the dogs will be able to scratch it up as well. Good luck.
Seems to me you used to be able to buy phillipine mahogany veneer sheets that could be used to face (reface) a door. I recall seeing the advertisements within the last 5 years--as I live in San Jose, it was either Southern Lumber (likely) or Home Depot.
You might want to give either a call or visit to see if it is still available. If so, it should be possible to remove the outer skin of the current door and replace. If you're not handy yourself, a general handyman (or helpful neighbor) could do it for you.
Just a thought.
Jake
I've bought the Lauan sheets that Jake mentions within the last few months from Minton's in Mountain View. They also used to (but I haven't checked recently) carry hollow-core Lauan doors that are pretty exact duplicates of what's in our Eichler.
Solid Lauan and Honduran Mahogany doors are available from Sunnyvale lumber. When we redid our bathroom we replaced the badly beat up door with a solid Mahogany door from Sunnyvale Lumber and it's beautiful. They're more of a place for contractors, but they'll talk to regular folks as well.
-Andrew
The door material should depend on exposure to the sun. If you have "Major Exposure", the Metal door would be great. We have a West facing door with alot of sun and wood does not work. Metal is great and there are many options with nice clean lines. Works for us and is ver Eichler Friendly.
hi
Thanks for the great input. I go to Mintons alot, I will check with them and Sunnyvale lumber. Given this dog's propensity to escape, a solid door is a must. I'll also look at the steel. The exposure is eastern, heavily shaded by plum trees in the side yard. (ideal for a dog run, therefore).
Sally
Stanley brand steel doors are wonderful. I have used several of them beginning 15 years ago. They don't change shape in damp weather and are very easy to maintain.
I'm not in the Bay Area, but I replaced the side door with a solid core wood door with luan (philipine mahogany) on the inside and painted the outside to match the house. It was a custom door and a custom size, but still ran me no more than $130.00. I just called around a couple of places. The luan turned out to stain a bit darker than the walls, which is a small bummer, but it is hard to match new products to the old...
good luck
