Uncategorized Archives – Koetter Woodworking

Introducing Masonite Bayshore!

November 26, 2024

We’re excited to unveil the latest addition to Masonite’s Heritage Series: Introducing Bayshore!

Designed in response to the growing demand for shaker-style recessed panel doors, the 5-panel Bayshore is a perfect complement to the existing Heritage series designs, including Lincoln Park, Logan, and Winslow.

The Bayshore collection is now available by special order in all common widths, heights, and core types—including hollow core, solid core, and 20-minute fire-rated options.

Protecting Your Investment: The Essential Guide to Maintaining Exterior Wood Doors

November 11, 2024

As a significant investment in your home’s exterior, wood doors provide both beauty and durability. From ensuring an ideal installation setup to regularly maintaining the finish, taking a few extra steps will help keep your door looking great and performing well for years to come. Let’s dive into some essential tips for maintaining wood exterior doors to preserve their longevity and beauty.

Installation: The Foundation of Door Longevity

Proper installation is crucial to getting the most out of your exterior door, and one of the most important aspects of that is an adequate overhang. Just like you’d pull out an umbrella in a rainstorm, a well-placed overhang shields your door from environmental elements. The overhang prevents direct exposure to rain, snow, and harsh sunlight, which can quickly deteriorate the finish.

Overhang Requirements: For adequate protection, an overhang depth that’s at least equal to or greater than the distance from the bottom of the sill to the base of the overhang is needed. The width of the overhang should extend half of this distance from each edge of the door unit. This provides a significant barrier against exposure to the elements.

Positioning Tips: In addition to the overhang, consider the door’s location. Doors facing south or west, where sun exposure is more intense, may require even more protection.

An adequate overhang is crucial in protecting your wood door from the elements.

Maintaining the Finish: Your Door’s First Defense

The finish on a wood door serves as its first line of defense against moisture, UV rays, and temperature extremes. Left untreated or inadequately maintained, the finish will deteriorate, allowing water and sunlight to reach the wood.

Why Regular Finish Maintenance Matters: Think of the finish as a shield for the wood underneath. Without a well-maintained finish, the door’s natural beauty fades, and its durability declines. Over time, the sun’s UV rays will break down the finish, allowing moisture to penetrate, leading to warping, cracking, and fading—problems that can significantly compromise the door’s integrity and appearance. Regularly maintaining the finish helps prevent these issues from taking hold.

Maintenance Tips: Keep an eye out for signs of wear, such as cracks, peeling, or discoloration in the finish. If you see these signs, it’s time for a fresh coat. Most finishes need a touch-up every two to three years, though doors subjected to intense sun or heavy rainfall may require more frequent applications.

Sealing Around Glass Openings: Protecting Against Hidden Vulnerabilities

For wood doors with glass panes, sealing around the glass is crucial for long-term durability. Over time, moisture can find its way into small gaps between the glass and the wood, which may lead to rot, mold, and even condensation between glass panes. These issues not only impact the appearance of the door but can also weaken the structural integrity of the wood.

Why Sealing Matters: Just like the finish on the wood, a strong, water-tight seal around glass openings is necessary to prevent moisture infiltration. When left unchecked, moisture that seeps in through these gaps can warp or swell the wood, cause fogging in glass inserts, and may even lead to costly repairs or replacements down the line.

Maintenance Tips:

Regular Inspections: Check the sealant around glass openings at least once a year. Look for any signs of cracks, gaps, or discoloration that might indicate moisture has seeped in.
Reapplying Sealant: If you notice any weaknesses, re-apply a quality exterior-grade sealant around the perimeter of the glass.

Moisture intrusion can occur through improperly sealed glass openings, damaging the seal and allowing water to enter the interior.

Real-Life Example: A Tale of Two Doors

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. To illustrate the difference maintenance can make, let’s look at two photos: one of a door that has seen several years of neglect and another of its freshly installed replacement. In the first door, you can see how exposure to the elements and an unmaintained finish has caused this entry unit to deteriorate. In contrast, the new door, with a fresh, high-quality finish, highlights the difference proper care can make!

Key Takeaways: Proper installation and regular finish maintenance are the two most important factors in protecting your wood exterior door from the elements. Not only will these steps save you time and money on repairs, but they will also keep your doors looking stunning and functional year after year. When it comes to finishing or refinishing your exterior door, consult a qualified finisher who can recommend the right products and techniques to give your door maximum protection against the elements.

By following these guidelines, you can enjoy the natural beauty and durability of your wood exterior door for years, enhancing your home’s curb appeal and safeguarding your investment!

Modern Groove Series – Doors That Create A Statement

July 27, 2024

Koetter Woodworking’s Modern Groove Series transcends today’s modern and contemporary interiors by transforming functional doors into stunning design elements.

By integrating solid wood, stave core stiles & rails with premium MDF, the Modern Groove Series delivers a well-defined tongue and groove appearance with pronounced definition and shadow lines.

Find inspiration in our existing collection or design something one-of-a-kind – send us a sketch and we’ll bring it to life!

Contact your Koetter Woodworking sales representative for more details!

White Oak: Unveiling the Beauty Within

July 2, 2024

White Oak’s natural beauty is undeniable, but did you know the way it’s sliced can transform the entire look? Today, we’ll dive into the world of plain sawn, quarter sawn, and rift sawn White Oak. We’ll explore how each type is cut from the log, how it affects the grain pattern and stability, and which might be the perfect choice for your next project!

Slicing the Pie: Understanding the Cuts

Imagine a log as a round pie. Plain sawn lumber, also referred to as flat sawn, cuts slices parallel to the pie’s crust, yielding wider pieces than its rift and quartered counterparts.

In contrast, quarter sawing or rift sawing involves cutting the pie into quarters first, and then slicing those quarters. This method of sawing produces boards that are inherently narrower because they follow the pie’s radius, not its diameter.

The price of each of these cuts is directly related to the amount of waste involved in cutting them.

PLAIN SAWN: Anything but plain! Plain sawn boards are sliced straight through the log, revealing the familiar curved “cathedral” growth rings. The character makes plain sawn White Oak a perfect choice for those who love the inherent artistry of wood and want to incorporate its natural beauty into their space. This method of sawing provides the greatest yield from the log.

QUARTER SAWN: Quarter sawing prioritizes the visual appeal of the straight grain along with prominent medullary rays. When lumber is quarter sawn, these rays get sliced on an angle, creating a stunning visual effect known as “ray fleck” – a beautiful, wavy pattern within the wood. This method produces a more stable product, limiting movement across the width of the board and further enhancing stability. Note that quarter sawn can include 20% – 25% of rift sawn material, which is why you will often hear it referred to as “rift and quartered”.

RIFT SAWN: Similar to quarter sawn, but with an extra step! The quarters are sliced at an angle, resulting in a straight, linear grain throughout the board. Rift sawn offers the same dimensional stability as quarter sawn, making it perfect for hardwood flooring, high-end furniture and applications requiring increased dimensional stability. It is also the most costly and incredibly difficult to procure in widths or lengths that are conducive to architectural millwork. As with its quarter sawn counterpart, rift sawn can contain up to 25% quartered material.

Koetter Woodworking offers a wide selection of White Oak S4S in both plain sawn and quarter sawn. Additionally, we manufacture made-to-order products, including architectural moldings, doors, stair components, and more.

We hope that this has provided you with a better understanding of how White Oak’s transformation unfolds with each cut! When choosing White Oak for your next project, consider the balance between visual appeal, stability, and of course, your budget!

Modern Wall Coverings

June 27, 2024

Farewell Flat Walls, Hello Drama!

Craft captivating accent walls, ceilings, and more with Koetter Woodworking’s all-new collection of modern mouldings!

Incorporate contemporary elements with our new cove designs to create depth and shadow lines.

Embrace a modern twist on a mid-century classic with slat wall moulding, perfect for adding visual interest and texture.

Achieve the timeless look of tambour with easy-to-install, reeded profiles featuring a shiplap edge.

All mouldings are available by special order in our complete selection of wood species, with a quick turnaround of just 10 production days!

New Glass Options!

March 15, 2024

Check out the newest glass options, now available for your Koetter Woodworking interior and exterior doors!

Say hello to the Arctic and Contora designs, bringing style and texture along with medium to high privacy levels. Let color and light shine through with these striking new options!

Arctic Glass

Contora Glass

New Product Alert – Engineered White Oak S4S!

November 22, 2023

The ability to keep up with White Oak demand continues to be an ongoing challenge, particularly when it comes to the wider widths & longer lengths. For several years, millwork manufacturers have competed with stave & veneer mills as well as the bourbon industry, (ie: barrel manufacturing), which utilize tens of millions of board-feet of premium White Oak lumber per year. To put it in perspective, bourbon production in the state of Kentucky has increased 475% since 1999!

Instead of continuing to fight this uphill battle, we knew it was time to build a better mousetrap.

After several months of research and development, we are excited to launch an all-new line of engineered S4S White Oak in widths of 7-1/4”, 9-1/4” & 11-1/4 with lengths up to 16’ long. (Yes, you read that correctly, up to 16’ long!)

Want to learn more? Feel free to contact your Koetter Woodworking dealer for more information!

Check out the link below for some frequently asked questions!

Torrefied Poplar & Red Oak

June 30, 2023

WHAT IS TORREFIED WOOD?

Torrefacation is a process in which kiln dried wood is super heated to approximately 400 degrees in the absence of oxygen, which prevents combustion. This process ultimately changes the molecular structure of the wood from open to closed cell, reducing the moisture content to near 0%. The wood is then conditioned by by moisture being re-introduced through steam injection.

This process results in a rich, dark hue with color ranging from golden to dark brown in addition to enhancing the natural grain.

FEATURES & BENEFITS

Torrefied Poplar and Red Oak are both suitable for many exterior applications, offering benefits not obtainable with traditional kiln dried products.

Significantly increased dimensional stability
Less likely to shrink, swell, warp, or twist
Rot/mold resistant
Insect resistant
Enhanced grain and rich color, similar to Walnut
Color is consistent throughout each piece – from face to center!

WHAT PRODUCTS ARE OFFERED?

Currently, the following products are stocked in torrefied Red Oak and Poplar:

3/4″ thick S4S in standard widths from 3-1/2″ through 11-1/4″, in 8′, 10′ & 12′ lengths
1″ x 5-1/2″ S4S in 8′, 10′ & 12′ lengths
3/4″ x 5″ (face) QRK/TVG wall and ceiling covering

Additional items, including exterior doors are available by special order!

Koetter Simplicity Series Doors

May 31, 2023

AUTHENTIC STILE & RAIL CONSTRUCTION

There is no need to sacrifice quality when choosing your paint grade interior doors. Koetter Woodworking’s all-new Simplicity Door is manufactured using authentic stile and rail construction with solid hardwood, stave core stiles.

This competitively priced collection includes six popular door styles, making it an ideal choice for your paint grade applications.

SIMPLICITY SERIES FEATURES & BENEFITS –

1-3/8” thick, square sticking with 7/16” flat MDF panel
Available in 6’8″ and 8’0″ heights, standard widths from 1’0″ to 3’0″
20-minute fire rated doors available in 2’8″ & 3’0″ widths (6’8″ & 8’0″)
Stiles are manufactured with solid, hardwood cores and robust, 1/4″ MDF faces
Solid wood dowels are used for added strength and durability
Intermediate rails are recessed 3/16” from face of stiles and rails, and glued & pinned to the face of the panel
Each door is factory primed with a high-solid content primer
Available for prompt shipment in just 10 production days!

KOETTER SIMPLICITY SERIES - AVAILABLE DOOR STYLES

Lock Miter Beams & Columns

February 9, 2023

BEAMS & COLUMNS SIMPLIFIED!

Ideal for beams, column wraps and pilasters, these precision milled lock miter components provide a superior fit and clean appearance.

The interlocking feature increases the mechanical strength of the joint, while simplifying assembly and field installation

FEATURES & BENEFITS

Lock miter components are available in a variety of configurations, with 2, 3 or 4-sided being the most common
Available unassembled of factory assembled
Unassembled components are packaged with a disposable filler block to protect the edges and help mitigate potential damage during shipping and handling
Widths up to 11-1/4″ and up to 16′ in length
Available in all standard species