Restoration Sash & Door

WHO WE ARE

About Restoration Sash & Door

We are a custom woodworking shop located in Harbor City (Los Angeles's South Bay). We maintain a full service shop, and are able to make just about any type of wooden door or window. We are especially well suited to building traditional, unusually shaped, or historic period items.

That being said, there are doors and windows for which we are better and worse suited than our competition. For example, if you: 1) need a local shop to discuss lumber types and species, or alternative construction methods, 2) are working with large or unusual dimensions that other factories won't support, 3) need to replicate an existing, uniquely shaped or historic feature, or 4) just want to come in and meet the owner, then we are the place for you.

On the other hand, if you need two dozen, stock-sized, hollow-core, low-cost, interior doors, we will help you find your way to one of the larger, off-the-shelf manufacturers. The bottom line is that we pay 'in the city' rent, and rarely ever establish economies of scale, so it is best to think of us as 'specialty', or 'boutique', rather than 'discount'.

Why Choose Us

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WE ARE LOCAL

If you are working anywhere on LA's Westside or in the South Bay, we may very well be the only full service sash and door shop accessible to you. We welcome drop ins... so come on over. Just don't wear anything that can't get dusty.

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REAL WOOD

Typically, we use only high quality, solid, natural lumber in a variety of species, in stain and paint grades as specified by your project. Looking at the job board now, as I write this, I see orders in: White Oak (plain and rift sawn), Red Oak, African Mahogany, Douglas Fir, Alder (superior and knotty), and Maple. However, if you require something more engineered, including thermally modified, acetylated (Accoya), or veneered lumber, we would be happy to talk to you about that too.

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TRADITIONAL METHODS

Many of the methods we use to assemble a door or sash have remained unchanged for many decades. Most of the time that is a good thing. But then again, the things we can do on even a little CNC are pretty impressive. So, I'll leave this item to you.

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HISTORIC MACHINERY

We use a few of the finest, American made, industrial woodworking machines ever built over the last century. But to be fair, we also use quite a bit of modern equipment which we like too. We recently retired a leather belt driven tennoner, made by Greenlee, that had been in regular operation since 1926. We were sad to see it go, but made sure it was on its way to a museum and being restored.

Why Avoid Us

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TITLE 24!

If your project requires a Title 24 sticker, then you will need to find another manufacturer, because we are not certified. For those that don't know, Title 24 is California's regulatory tool for calculating the energy efficiency of buildings as a whole. Within that are requirements for the efficiency/performance of windows and doors. Becoming a certified Title 24 manufacturer involves regular inspections of the manufacturing facility and a submission to a performance testing lab of each variety of product seeking a cert. This makes sense for large manufacturers with a comparatively limited catalog of standardized items, but sadly does not make sense for a small custom shop where variety is the norm.