RBM Lumber

Solid Wood Doors

The exciting thing about doors is that like people, they are a bit of a paradox. On one hand, they are welcoming, and a good door communicates warmth, friendliness and accessibility. On the other hand, the most important day-and-night job of a door is to keep strangers away and the weather at bay. At RBM, we love the unique ability of solid wood to do both of these tasks well.

Some notes about our doors:

RBM makes only solid wood doors, made from native Montana species including Fir & Larch (mixed), Alpine Fir, Pine, and Cedar
At RBM Lumber we build doors using a stile and rail structure. Each “stile” or vertical piece, is held together with horizontal “rails” that frame the “lights” — glass panels — and decorative panels of the door. Most of the stiles and rails are made with two layers of solid wood, firmly glued together. This is what makes RBM doors so strong … and it’s the reason why you can count on them to last a long time.

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Some notes about our solid wood doors:

RBM makes only solid wood doors, made from native Montana species including Fir & Larch (mixed), Alpine Fir, Pine, and Cedar.
At RBM Lumber we build doors using a stile and rail structure. Each “stile” or vertical piece, is held together with horizontal “rails” that frame the “lights” — glass panels — and decorative panels of the door. Most of the stiles and rails are made with two layers of solid wood, firmly glued together. This is what makes RBM doors so strong … and it’s the reason why you can count on them to last a long time.
Before we start on an RBM door, we hand-select wood that has unusual “imperfections” that, when artfully positioned as an element of the door’s design, give it a unique character and friendly appeal. These “flaws” include various kinds of knots, cat faces, and healed scars. See Head Rig. There is endless variety in the shape and color of these natural character elements. Another common defect such as blue stain is caused by fungus which begins to enter a tree as it dies. Instead of “grading” this stain out of the trees we harvest — essentially throwing it away — we value it as a beautiful character element. When sanded, this wood reveals depth and color that might be considered some of the most beautiful wood in nature. Other features such as the spike knots in our Fir & Larch Vertical Grain #2 take hundreds of years to develop. A branch grows out from the tree, after many years it dies, and later it breaks off. Slowly the tree grows around the broken branch until there is no outward sign there was ever a branch there. When we quarter saw that part of the tree, we find these beautiful knots and incorporate them into your doors.
Before we start working with the wood, it must be dry. We air-dry our wood, letting the natural breezes take the moisture content of our door-selected wood down to around 14%. Then we send it to our wood-fired drying kiln which reduces moisture content to 6 to 8%. This is ideal for creating doors that will withstand the natural variations in humidity without warping. When it leaves the kiln, our door wood is maintained in our 60,000-foot warehouse in warm, dry temperatures until the moment it enters the door shop.
Once we have selected the unique qualities which we will design around, we construct a solid-wood door. Each door is composed of central panels and fit by hand and glued together with high-quality glue. Our primary goal is to focus on the natural characteristics in the wood. RBM doors stand out because we try to make each door unique. Its thumbprint of grain, knots, natural stains or worm holes add character which we prominently feature in most doors we make.
Panel and mullion profiles. All of the patterns below come in two basic profiles:
CRAFTSMAN is a simple, elegant, contemporary profile in which the mullions are square-cut and the panels have a square edge with a flat profile to the main panel.
ROUND/RAISED profile features a “Round over” of each mullion, stile or rail edge that fronts a light or wooden panel.
Then the panel is “Raised” from the thin part that fits with the mullion, stile, and rail that frame it, through a 90 degree curve to the full thickness of the panel.
Glazing. All doors with glass are required by law to contain safety glass. There are two kinds:
Laminated is like your car windshield… 2 layers with a plastic glue in between. This can be used for small or large panes of interior doors . However because it is heavier than a tempered-glass sealed unit, we don’t recommend laminated glass for Pattern J full-glass exterior doors.
Tempered is a single layer that resists shattering and when it does break, it crumbles into small harmless fragments instead of sharp shards.
Sealed Unit, which are comprised of two panes of tempered or laminated glass, hermetically sealed. These are ideal for exterior doors. A single tempered-glass sealed unit (2 panes) is lighter than a single sealed unit of laminated glass. The tempered unit has one pane on each side, the laminated unit has two panes on each side i.e. twice the glass. The glass in our windows can also be tinted, frosted, or left clear.
Wood Door Surface Textures. In addition to all the choices of species, finish, etc. you can choose the surface texture of your door. Do you want smooth, or circle sawn? Band sawn? Wire brushed? Skip sanded? Depending on your taste and application.
Obviously we specialize in custom doors but to keep your cost and our profit margin under control, we try to offer a finite number of proven, tested patterns for you to choose from. If you don’t see what you are hoping for here, let us know. We keep adding new designs. Most likely, the first time we make a new pattern for you will require special pricing. Just so you know. Below are our current “standard” choices.
NOTES: Red Square = Exterior only > = Dentil pattern can include 3, 4, or 5 bosses under the bar
These patterns show our current selection of custom door basic designs. Grey areas can be glass or wood panels. The large lights on F, H, J, and P can have grids supplied in the glass and make it appear there are multiple individual lights. This would require sealed unit.A, B, C, K, and T are exterior only.
The above designs show the proportions of a 3 feet, zero inches wide door, 6 feet 8 inches high. (3068) Most doors can be ordered from two feet to four feet wide and from 6 feet to 8 feet high. Thus a 3 foot door, 7 feet high would be a3070. A 42 inch by 86 inch door would be 3672 (3 feet 6 inches x 7 feet 2 inches).
We can also bore the lock sets for you. A RH door means that as you stand in the doorway with your back to the hinged door jamb, the door swings to your right. If it opens to your left, it is an LH door.

Bear in mind that you also need to consider that outside doors almost always are hinged to swing “in”, to allow for a screen or storm door. Exterior doors are designed with an inside and an outside, while most interior doors look the same on both sides.

These doors can also be ordered with a wide variety of stains and finishes. Too many to list here.

When you are ready to buy…

Please send us your plans. This will prevent mistakes as we custom-build your doors for precisely the places they will go.
Remember that no two RBM doors, even in the same pattern, species and finish, look alike. The wood characteristics are completely unique. If you come to the showroom and buy from our inventory, you’ll get exactly what you see. But if you order a door, or several doors, “like” something you see in the showroom… well, they’ll be like your kids. Each one will have some resemblances, and a lot of differences!