The District
Carpentry repairs in Washington, DC
DC is rowhouses, and rowhouse doors are a trade of their own. Nothing is plumb, the jambs were built in place a hundred years ago, the transoms stick, the front doors are heavy and worth every bit of repair, and the stairs are steep with turned balusters that go missing one at a time. The crew already has a run of finished DC jobs on the books this year and is in the District most weeks.
Or call or text (240) 616-4788. Hours 8 to 6, Monday through Saturday.
Rowhouse doors, historic districts and condo entries
Petworth, Columbia Heights and Brookland have the 1920s stock with original doors and trim. Capitol Hill and Georgetown add historic district rules on anything visible from the street. Navy Yard and Shaw condo conversions have fire rated entry doors and building rules. Anacostia has the older frame houses with porches that need posts and rails.
A front door or a storm door on a Capitol Hill, Georgetown or Shaw house in a historic district is reviewed by the Historic Preservation Office before it changes. Repairs in kind are fine. A new storm door or a different door style needs a clearance first, and we tell you that at the estimate rather than after the door is on the truck.
What we do in DC
- Interior door installationPrehung or slab, one door or the whole floor. Hung plumb, latched clean, trimmed and ready for paint.
- Door frame and jamb repairSplit jambs, kicked in frames, strike plates torn out, rotted exterior jambs. Repaired or rebuilt so the door closes like it should.
- Door repairSticking, sagging, swollen or dragging doors. Knobs, latches, hinges and weatherstrip. Fixed in one visit most of the time.
- Storm and screen doorsNew storm doors hung square on brickmould, closers that stop slamming, screens restrung, retractable screens that stick.
- Wood rot and trim repairRotted window sills, door trim, fascia, corner boards and porch posts. Cut out, replaced with rot resistant stock, sealed and painted.
- Stair railingsLoose newel posts, wobbly handrails, missing balusters, new wall rails for a basement stair. Solid, at the height the code asks for.
- Closet doorsBifolds off the track, bypass doors that jump the rail, new shaker bifolds, barn style doors. Hung level, rolling quiet.
- Baseboard and crown moldingBaseboard replaced after a flood or a floor, crown in one room or the whole floor, gaps caulked, corners tight, painted.
Work in DC and Virginia goes to a contractor licensed in that jurisdiction. The license number is on your estimate.
DC neighborhoods the crew covers
- Capitol Hill
- Petworth
- Columbia Heights
- Brookland
- Navy Yard
- Georgetown
- Shaw
- Anacostia
- Tenleytown
ZIP codes 20002, 20003, 20010, 20011, 20017, 20007, 20001, 20020, 20016.
DC door and stair questions
- Can you replace a storm door on a historic district rowhouse?
- Yes, with the Historic Preservation Office cleared first if the house is in a district. A full view door in a color that matches the trim usually passes. We give you the model sheet for the application and hang the door once it is cleared.
- Can you match the balusters on my 1910 stair?
- Turned balusters get matched by a turner from a sample, two to three weeks. Plain square ones are stock. Either way the newel gets rebolted and the rail checked for the height the code asks for while we are there.
- Do you do condo entry doors in Navy Yard and Shaw buildings?
- Yes. Entry doors in those buildings are fire rated and have to stay that way, so we repair in place or replace with a labeled unit, and we send the building the insurance certificate it asks for.