North Miami ยท 33161
In an older building the door is often fine. The opening around it has moved.
Much of the stock along Biscayne Boulevard and NE 125th Street has been extended, subdivided and patched by several hands over the decades. Frames that were square when they were hung have settled, and thresholds have been raised and lowered to suit whoever was trading at the time.
The door gets the blame. We usually find sound hardware on an opening that has shifted, and the fix is in the hinges, the strike and the threshold. Our own technicians do this work, and door hardware on an existing frame needs no Florida contractor license.
What we get called for here
What is different here
A door that binds at one corner is often hanging correctly in a frame that is no longer plumb. We measure the gaps all round before touching anything. Shimming the hinge side and resetting the strike costs a fraction of a new leaf, and it holds.
Closers and exit devices from old product lines cannot always be matched. Where a part is unavailable we say so and price a current replacement that fits the existing cut-outs, so the door is not drilled again.
Owner-operators pay from trading income, and repeated small visits cost more than they look. We check closer, hinges, threshold and strike on the first visit and put the full list in the quote, in order of what matters for security and egress.
In practice
Repair is the right answer where the hardware is sound and only the geometry has moved. A closer with a good body and a bent arm, a hinge with worn pins, a strike that no longer lines up with the latch: each comes back to working order for an hour and a part.
Replacement is right when a unit is worn out, when the way the door is used has changed, or when earlier repairs have packed and shimmed the opening until nothing sits true. We say which you have at survey and give the reasons in the quote, so you can set it beside anyone else's.
Fire-rated doors need more care. A rated door has to keep its rating, which means the right closer, the right hinges and no holes drilled where they should not be. If a door or frame has to be replaced and a permit applies, that part is coordinated through a licensed contractor.
Common questions
Usually not. A door that binds at one corner is often hanging correctly in a frame that has settled. Adjusting the hinges and resetting the strike and threshold fixes it, and we check the gaps before deciding.
We say so at survey. Where a like-for-like part exists we fit it. Where it does not, we price a current replacement that fits the existing cut-outs.
Yes. Exit devices on required exits are serviced and adjusted so they release freely, and anything that cannot be corrected by adjustment is reported to you in writing.
Yes. The quote lists every item, and anything Florida requires a licensed contractor for is shown as coordinated work instead of being folded into a labor figure.
Further reading
Doors
Doors
Doors
Doors
Doors
Doors
Also in North Miami
One number for the whole scope, including the make-good after another trade has finished.
Everything we do in North Miami
Other submarkets we have written up
Background-checked, insured and on our payroll, so one company stays accountable for the result. Tell us the property and the problem and we will come back with a window. Call out of hours and someone who works here answers.
