Houston Door Refinishing Interview

Door refinishing in Houston is almost a necessity. With all the humidity that hits the city, it's tough to keep your door in a good condition unless you (a) know how to take care of your doors, or (b) have a professional to help you keep it in shape.

I was talking recently with Don Price of The Door Refinishing Company in Houston (Ph# 713-515-9132) and asked him to explain a little bit about the services his company provides.

Houston Door Refinishing

What exactly is door refinishing?

Door refinishing is the process of removing old polyurethane, varnishes, stains, and residues off the surface of wooden doors and replacing them.

Tell me about your The Door Refinishing Co. How long have you served Houston?

The Door Refinishing Co. Inc. is a family owned and operated business. We have been happily servicing the greater Houston area since 1995, and are dedicated to being on time, honest, and up front about our services.

Our company provides two basic services to care for a wooden door. We remove the old finish off the face of a door. And we maintain the finish over the long haul.

Our goal is to not only to keep your door looking great, but also to educate your customer on how to take care of their investment.

Can you give me a brief Example of each of these services?

The complete refinish is the process of removing the old finish from the door. The next step in this process is the through sanding and cleaning of the door. The following setup is to apply stain to color the door. Afterward we apply three coats of exterior gloss finish to seal the door from the weather.

A maintenance coat is used to protect a door that is in good condition. This consists of a light sanding, cleaning, and a clear coat of an exterior gloss finish. This process takes anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour. We do this while the door is on the hinge. When we are done with the door, it may need to remain ajar for up to 4 hours.

I saw on your website a few things I'd like you to elaborate on. One day service. Available 7 days a week. Tell me about those.

We refinish a door in one day-to be more straight forward. We start at 8 am and finish by around 1 pm with the door being closed and locked by 9 pm.

One of the best aspects of providing a one-day service is that you get to keep your door. You are not left with a plywood door while someone has your expensive investment somewhere else.

Secondly, a wonderful advantage to providing a one-day service is that our customers get almost instant results. Time is precious to our customers. So we do all that we can to be efficient, timely, and of high quality.

We have done a number of last minute refinishing for customers who were hosting late events or trying to sell their homes. We do not, however, recommend waiting until the last minute to schedule a refinish since we have so many pre-bookings.

We also like to be available seven days a week for our customers. People live busy lives, and we want to accommodate as many people's scheduling as possible.

Exterior Face Stripped of Old Finish. Why is this necessary?

To ensure a beautiful long-lasting finish it is a necessity that the old finish is properly removed from the face of the door. Otherwise, the door will look very blotchy, uneven, discolored, and down right unpleasant to the eye.

New Stain Applied (your color choice). Any color? Even mauve?

We provide a variety of natural wood stain colors (including natural), with the exception of some ebony to black finishes. So yes, even mauve.

Tell me the wildest color you've ever had requested?

The oddest color that we have been requested to use is "pickled oak", not a good color for a door. But the majority of our customers use red mahogany.

3 Coats of Exterior Gloss Finish. Why is this necessary.

Three main reasons are
1. industry standard,
2. to get the ultra violet protection,
3. for the beauty.

90 Day Warranty. Has anyone ever taken you up on this offer? What all does the warranty include?

Yes, we have had customers take us up on this offer. There have been a few occasions when small mishaps occur that needed to be repaired.

For instance, after completing the maintenance of a door, one of the young neighborhood kids thought it was neat to draw pictures with his fingers on the door. The end result was unique and artistic, but definitely needed fixing.

Annual Maintenance Available. What does this include?

Depending on the exposure of the door to the climate. The maintenance will be anywhere form 3 months to 1 1/2 years between visits. We offer on demand maintenance where the customer asks us to come out. We also offer automatic maintenance where we just show up and do the job. The door does not always need to be open for us to do the work.

Do you follow up with your customers?

We send our customers notices to remind them to look at their door, and to take care of it. Doors in Houston need to be maintained anywhere between 3 to 18 months. This varies with the exposure to the sun, rain, heat, water sprinkles, etc.

What other fees might be included?

There are additional fees for doing more than one door, carved door or has a large number of panels. If there is a rame, sidelights, transoms, and thresholds to be taken care of, there may be a few extra charges. We will give a quote from the start.

Any last words?

A home owner's lawn is the first impression an individual has on the home, but the front door is the first reflection on how a person takes care of the things they own.

The Door Refinishing Company, Inc.
Don Price
Office: 713-515-9132
Houston, Texas

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