A very good question. the answer is simple. We are not a “shopping cart” outfit. We have a team of experienced door and hardware professionals that are here to walk you through every step so you get it right the first time.

A good portion of our business is from customers that ordered online shopping cart style. On several occations what was ordered has to be returned or trashed because it was the wrong product for the job.

We find that even door companies are not that familiar with sliding door hardware and they insist on talking to an expert before placing an order.

The easy way out for any company is to build a shopping cart site and process the orders without helping the customer.

If the customer makes a mistake, they are on their own; they eat it.

We want to walk you through, step-by-step, so every detail is covered.

Our team of professionals cover the phones from 7 AM to 7 PM Pacific. This is a costly expense vs a shopping cart. However, we still Guarantee The Lowest Price.

Our best advice is: Don’t take a chance on getting it wrong. Talk to an expert. Get it right the first time.

3063 Large Flat Strap Hanger

In reference to the problem she encountered with the bottom of the doors, we have a solution at the bottom of This page.

So how can you grow a room without increasing its size? Use a sliding door instead of a swing door. Some folks still call them barn doors.

When you think about it one standard 36” wide door takes up about 16 square feet just for clearance to swing it. So if you use the hotel example instead of saving inches, you’ve just saved several feet.

If you do that to enough swing doors you’ve just added a new room for the modest price of some barn door hardware. Sliding door hardware is cooler than ever and some folks even call it, “Jewelry for my doors.” I liked the idea so much I started barndoorhardware.com.

So go ahead… grow a little!

They also accomplished one very important feature: They saved the room or square footage used by a swinging door. A 3’ wide swing door takes up to 16 sq.ft.

Pella stopped producing this product many years ago because it was too expensive to make and the margins didn’t match the market place.

Today, retro is in and bigger than ever. Two great companies are now manufacturing accordion doors; Woodfold in the northwest and Panelfold in the southeast. These companies make custom sized folding doors that are extremely functional. Not only do they save floor space, but they also reduce heating and energy cost by a huge amount. In today’s economy we have seen folks taking on roommates by using accordion doors as room dividers.

The very latest is called the “Nuvo Designer Series®” by Panelfold. This modern accordion series includes translucent, full lites or transparent lites with white “frosted” squares. One of the coolest features of the Nuvo Series® is that it can allow light in while still providing visual privacy. Great for bathrooms!

So it’s true, old ideas resurface in time and become new again.

accordion-doors.com

On  June 6, 1996 my boss showed up at my job location. He told me I had one month until my division was shut down and I’d be let go.

I was in my 50’s.

Not cool.

Optimism?

When I called my girlfriend (now wife) she said, “That’s great – now you can start your own company.”

I had dozens of reasons why starting up a new company without capitol was a bad idea.

On the other hand, I had this cute, optimistic girlfriend that thought I could do anything. If she believed in me, I figured I’d better plow ahead and fake it if I had to.

New Start

With no money and a couple of friends, I started Specialty Doors & Automation in November of 1996 (it took 3 months to get a California contractor’s license).

It was a company that would repair or replace commercial doors. We rented an old, funky garage that leaked like a sieve when it rained and had no A/C or heat.

Our first job was to replace a bearing on a roll-up door. We were so excited when we got our first $250.00 job.

Then we realized that we didn’t even own a ladder.

The ladder was $300.00

It Worked!

Well, things got better over the years and after 12 years in business, I turned the company over to some key employees that helped us grow the business to $3 million in annual sales.

In 2004 we started an online division which is where I happily spend my time.

A friend of mine called it, “Selling shit you don’t have.”

We Won

Today, our company has 10 employees, 7 of which are sales and technical.

All of us share one common ingredient – we were all laid off, fired or replaced by companies outsourcing work to China.

We’re a bunch of losers that have all increased their previous income from 50 to 100%.

We have 4 websites and continue to “sell shit we don’t have” to the tune of $4-5 million a year.

Go losers!