Evanston, Illinois
Commercial Door Repair & Installation in Evanston, IL
A commercial door takes more traffic in a week than a house door takes in a year. When one stops latching, staff prop it open, and that becomes a security problem the same day.
A back door hung, cased and trimmed out with a new threshold.
Commercial Door Repair & Installation · Evanston
Commercial Door Repair & Installation for Evanston, Illinois homes
A commercial door takes more traffic in a week than a house door takes in a year. When one stops latching, staff prop it open, and that becomes a security problem the same day.
Evanston's pre-war houses are full of original profiles that have to be matched rather than replaced, and that is most of what we do here. Whichever it turns out to be, the carpenter who prices your Evanston job is the one who shows up to do it.
The larger jobs are door and frame replacement in an existing opening, and rebuilding hollow-metal frames that have taken one hit too many. We schedule around your hours, and where an opening cannot be left open overnight the job is planned so it is closed and locking before we leave. Automatic operators, overhead and roll-up doors, aluminum storefront glass and fire-door recertification are specialist trades, and we say so rather than take them on.
All commercial Door Repair & Installation Carpentry in Evanston
What's included
Commercial Door Repair & Installation: what the job covers
- Wood and hollow metal doors rehung, adjusted and replaced
- Door closers fitted, adjusted and swapped out
- Worn hinges, strikes and latches replaced on high-traffic doors
- Frames straightened, reinforced or replaced in the existing opening
- Thresholds, sweeps and door bottoms renewed
Commercial Door Repair & Installation in Evanston
Other carpentry we do in Evanston
We are in Evanston regularly, so it is rarely a special trip. Pick another service or call.
Common questions
Commercial Door Repair & Installation in Evanston, answered
Do you do commercial Door Repair & Installation in Evanston?
Yes. Evanston is inside our regular service area and we work there every month. Call (224) 944-8652 and we'll set a time to look at the job and put a written price on it.
Do you work on commercial doors as well as houses?
Yes. Offices, shops, salons, churches, warehouses, rental buildings and tenant spaces. It is the same carpentry, the doors are just heavier and they get used far harder.
Do you do automatic doors, roll-up doors or storefront glass?
No. Automatic operators, overhead and roll-up doors, aluminum storefront glass and fire-door recertification are specialist work and should go to somebody who does it every day. Wood and hollow metal doors, frames, closers and hardware are ours.
How much does it cost?
Every job is priced after we see the actual space, so you get a real number rather than a range. The estimate is free, it's in writing, and the scope is spelled out before any work starts.
How soon can you start in Evanston?
Usually within a week or two for smaller work, longer for a full build. Evanston is on our regular route so we are not adding a trip charge to get there. Call and we will give you a real date rather than a maybe.
Do you give written estimates?
Always. Scope, materials and a firm number, in writing, before anything starts. If something turns up once we open a wall or pull trim off, you hear about it before we carry on rather than seeing it on the invoice.
Do I need to be home while you work?
No, as long as we have access. Most of our work runs with the homeowner out. We will agree how we get in and how we lock up before the first day.
Evanston houses
What we find behind the trim in Evanston
Much of Evanston predates the war, which means plaster over wood lath rather than drywall, original trim profiles milled a century ago that are on no shelf today, and openings that have moved with decades of settling. Matching matters more than replacing here, and almost nothing is a straight swap. We would rather look at the job than quote it from a photograph.
Interior finish carpentry generally does not need a permit. Trim, crown, baseboard, built-ins, shelving, drywall repair and interior doors hung in an existing opening are finish work, and in most Cook County municipalities that requires nothing pulled.
Structural changes do. Removing or altering a load-bearing wall, or creating or widening an opening, is permitted work almost everywhere. It should be pulled rather than skipped, because unpermitted structural work shows up at resale.
Check with Evanston rather than with us. Requirements differ between municipalities and they change. We will tell you when a job crosses that line and work to whatever Evanston requires, but the authority on Evanston rules is Evanston.
Timing
When to book in Evanston
Interior carpentry runs every month. Weather does not stop it, so winter is the most available time to book in Evanston and January through March gives the widest choice of dates.
Wood moves with humidity. Lake County summers are humid and winters, once the heat is on, are dry. Timber takes on moisture and gives it back, so joints are cut to allow for that rather than forced tight.
Material needs to acclimate. Trim and doors delivered off a cold truck into a heated house need days in the room before they are cut. Installing straight off the van is why joints open a season later.
Spring and autumn book fastest, because everyone decides at once. If your date is fixed, get on the calendar earlier than feels necessary.
Plain English
The words we use, explained
Carpentry has its own vocabulary and most of it never gets explained to the person paying. Here is what the terms on your estimate mean.
Cope. An inside corner where one piece is scribed to the profile of the other rather than both cut at 45 degrees. Coped joints stay closed as the house moves through the seasons; mitred inside corners open. It is the clearest tell of finish work versus trim installation.
Scribe. Cutting a piece to follow the actual shape of a wall, floor or ceiling instead of assuming it is straight. Nothing in a house is straight.
Reveal. The deliberate quarter-inch setback where casing meets a jamb. It gives the eye a line and hides the fact that the jamb edge is never perfectly flush.
Shim. A thin tapered wedge used to bring something to plumb in an opening that is not. Every door hung in an older house depends on them.
Blocking. Extra framing inside a wall so something can be anchored later. Cheap while the wall is open, expensive afterwards.
Ready when you are
Need commercial Door Repair & Installation in Evanston?
Free written estimate, an honest price, and a start date you can plan around.
Call (224) 944-8652