Using Wood Stain Samples When Planning Your Projects

On Jul 10, 2020 | masonite

Architecture and design engage all of the senses. Your choices work together to create an immersive experience. For this reason, choosing architectural materials by only seeing them on a screen—in two dimensions and with colors limited by HTML code—can never give you a true sense of their aesthetic qualities. Wood stain samples of architectural doors give you a more realistic and tactile experience to aid you in making the best choices for your projects. Learn more about how to use wood stain samples to your advantage.

What are the Benefits of Ordering Door Stain Samples for Commercial Projects?

There are four main benefits you get when you order door stain samples from Masonite Architectural.

1. Can Preview the Stain Colors in Different Lighting

We all know how much impact lighting makes on the look and feel of a space. Different wood grains and stain colors for doors may look completely different in low light or bright light, and whether the light comes from above or head-on. Samples enable you to visualize the location of interior doors relative to a light source and see how the wood looks.

2. Can Compare Door Colors with Other Design Elements

Various wood species and cuts take stain in different ways, producing variations in color. Easily place wood door samples alongside samples of millwork, furniture and other design elements. This will ensure that your interior entryway choices will fit with and complement everything around them.

3. Helps Clients Envision Their Finished Spaces

A key part of an architect or designer’s job is to enable their client to image the finished space. Showing them wood stain samples in person allows you to do that. They can see and appreciate the quality of the wood, accurately assess the color and texture, and picture the doors in their office, school or other location.

Keep Samples Handy for Quick Reference

When you embark on a project, you have numerous elements and vendor interactions to manage. You can save time by ordering a range of wood door samples so that you have them on hand when you need them.

Why Choose Factory Stained Doors?

Having all of your wood interior doors factory stained helps ensure consistency across your project. The controlled climate of the factory minimizes contact with dust. Doors get adequate drying and curing time in favorable temperatures and humidity. Factory staining also helps with maintaining project timelines, since contractors can install the doors immediately after delivery. If you want a more consistent, efficient and reliable finish in less time, factory-stained wood doors are the solution.

What Stain Colors are Available for Masonite Architectural Doors?

Masonite Architectural offers more than a dozen colors for Cendura Series stained doors; these are also available for Aspiro Series doors. Stain colors range from a clear finish that showcases the natural beauty of the wood, to a deep stout that works with a wide range of design styles. You can request individual 8”x10” samples of specific species-color combinations, or you can select a box of all stain colors in a particular species, in 2”x4” size.

Wood Species Options for All Doors

  • Plain sliced red oak
  • Plain sliced white oak
  • Plain sliced white maple
  • Rotary white birch
  • Plain sliced white birch
  • Rotary natural birch
  • Plain sliced cherry

plain sliced white birch wood with clear factory finished stain
rotary natural birch wood with cinnamon stain

Stain Color Options for Aspiro and Cendura Series Doors

  • Clear
  • Espresso
  • Cinnamon
  • Stout
  • Caramel
  • Honey
  • Cane
  • Nutmeg
  • Toast Bourbon
  • Saffron
  • Cocoa Bean

plain sliced red oak wood door with toast stain

How to Order Stain Samples from Masonite Architectural

Wood stain samples will guide you toward the best decisions the next time you specify interior wood doors for a hospitality, retail, office or education project. Masonite Architectural would be happy to supply your file of samples. Just fill out a quick sample ordering form, and you should have your samples within one to five business days. Order what you need to plan a current project or prepare for future projects. If you are keeping our veneer samples for reference, please keep them in their original packaging and boxes.  You should store them in a dark closet or cabinet to avoid discoloration from UV and other light sources.  This will ensure that your samples stay in the appropriate color for future reference.

Changing Times for Office Design and Construction

On Jul 10, 2020 | masonite

As trusted providers of interior wood doors for design projects across the country, we are watching how the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts will affect the commercial construction industry. It’s no secret that the outlook for the 2020 non-residential construction market is bleak. April 2020 saw non-residential construction starts down more than 30 percent year-over-year and down 22 percent from their five year April average. Here, we share some thoughts on the future of office design, including the role of office door performance in constructing spaces clients want.

Brooklyn Craft e-Commerce Headquarters Office

Commercial Construction Predictions

A recent article in Architect Magazine stated bluntly, “companies are questioning their traditional investment in expensive real estate.” While some worry that commercial office construction is a thing of the past, the article goes on to predict, “we will eventually return to a collective workplace, but one that has changed beyond what we could have previously imagined.”

A tighter market means more competition to deliver the best designs, particularly for office space, where demands are changing fast. Success means understanding client needs from layout to doors and windows and more.

Assessing Changing Office Design Demands

While many offices adapted to a work-from-home model, the trend is toward returning to the office, whether on a staggered schedule or with precautions in place. Many still put stock in the benefits of in-person interaction. Therefore, companies who choose to keep employees working on-site in an office will face greater demands from employees and, in turn, real estate companies will face greater demands from office tenants.

Doors Contribute to Calming Office Spaces

Workers returning to the office want stress-reducing experiences. Office designs may emphasize connection to natural elements, such as wood, and calming colors. Interior wood doors available in a wide range of stains and colors can contribute to such an environment. STC-rated doors can reduce sound transfer, creating quieter work spaces, which also help to reduce stress.

Daylighting in Offices

Design changes influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic in many cases will eliminate open, team-work style spaces, and allow for more isolation and privacy. However, putting up walls means the need for glass partitions and lites in order to allow in natural light. Glass is becoming a sought-after building material for contemporary office design. It provides a great intermediary to counter the adverse effects of light deprivation or isolation. Daylighting has long been shown to enhance worker productivity and well being. The strategic use of glass lites in commercial doors, or as sidelites and transoms create naturally-lit, comfortable spaces.

two office doors with sidelites

Less Crowded Spaces

For a long time, the trend was toward creating more density in office buildings. Now, in the interest of social distancing, workers will be arranged with more personal space. Workstations will likely be further apart and partitions will divide up spaces. It’s likely that a particular space will need more office doors than it would have previously.

Explore Office Doors Now for 2020 and Beyond

Now, as always, interior office doors can influence a healthy and productive workforce by providing secure, attractive work spaces to keep work projects moving forward. As trends change, even in a challenging market, Masonite Architectural can provide a wide range of interior door styles and performance functions to meet every need. Request samples today or explore your options with our Door Selector.

Use Natural Light to Support Thinking and Learning

On Jun 19, 2020 | masonite

The concept of daylighting, well known to architects, is catching on with educators, human resources professionals, and others who aim to use natural light to draw out the best work from people. Allowing the flow of natural light through a space supports thinking and learning. As explained by Edutopia in an article titled “The Science of Effective Learning Spaces,” light engages the body’s systems related to sleep-wake cycles and cognitive performance.

It starts with windows and skylights, but also relies on the flow of light within the space. Interior doors with glass lites, transoms and side lites facilitate the flow of natural light into classrooms or offices while still meeting requirements for sound reduction or fire resistance. Consider how glass options for wood doors can contribute to a better environment in your next school or office project.

Exterior Stile and Rail double door with side lites installation

Natural Light in Offices

According to Whole Building Design Guide, “By providing a direct link to the dynamic and perpetually evolving patterns of outdoor illumination, daylighting helps create a visually stimulating and productive environment for building occupants, while reducing as much as one-third of total building energy costs.”

Employees recognize the importance of natural light while they work. In a survey by Future Workplace, they rated it the number one perk for an office environment. Research from multiple sources confirms that natural light positively impacts employee engagement and productivity. It also affects employee health, decreasing eye strain, headaches and fatigue.

As open plan offices are fading from popularity, walls and doors hinder the availability of natural light. Furthermore, employees benefit from quieter environments, so doors with good STC-ratings improve their productivity. In order to get the benefits of both sound reduction and natural light, solid wood doors with glass lites provide an ideal solution.

Natural Light in Education

Educators are also noticing the benefits of daylighting compared with manufactured lighting. The Healthy Schools Network reports that students in naturally-lit educational settings demonstrate better work habits, fewer sick days, and better scores on assessments.

Scientific American reported on a separate study where, over one school year, elementary school students exposed to more sunlight during their school day displayed 26 percent higher reading outcomes and 20 percent higher math outcomes than kids in less sunny classrooms.

Door criteria for schools include features like fire resistance and attack resistance. However, they can still permit the flow of daylight with the strategic placement of glass.

Doors with Glass Lites Facilitate Daylighting

Strategically placed lites in or around doors can allow natural light to pass through while still meeting performance needs. You can customize to a great extent by choosing among size and shape of opening, glass types and finishing options. Masonite Architectural offers a broad range of options for factory glazing to enhance the beauty of any finished door.

These are some of the goals you can achieve with doors with glass lites.

Fire-rating

It is possible to specify interior wood doors with 20-minute fire rated glazing. In our Graham Maiman doors, choose our wood bead 20-minute lite kit, with ¼” thick clear glass and 1” bars and muntins. Stile and rail doors may be used in combination with fire rated glazing and metal or wood veneered metal lite kits

Attack resistance

Attack resistant door openings are increasingly in demand for schools. When you specify an attack resistant door solution from Masonite Architectural, you get the benefit of Armoured One’s 5/16” tactical security glass, along with standard metal door frames, metal vision kits, and reinforced hardware. The security glass can slow down or deter an attacker who is trying to gain entry through the glass with a blunt object or a gun.

Privacy

One drawback to glass lites is that not everyone wants passers-by to see through the door. Different glass options including frosted, reeded or rain-patterned provide privacy while still allowing light to pass. Transoms—glass lites above a door—also permit light without letting someone easily see into a room.

School Administration Offices

Elegance

French doors offer the maximum flow of light and add elegance to executive offices or conference rooms. Opt for true divided or simulated divided lites. Stile and rail doors can be enhanced and customized with lites in configurations of your choosing. Side lites can create the appearance of a larger, more elegant door opening.

Quality

All of Masonite Architectural’s wood interior doors exhibit superior craftsmanship and integrity. With the Aspiro™ Series, you will find full lite or lite panel combinations featuring cope-and-stick joinery and custom profiles.Or choose Cendura™ Series flat panel MDF doors with glass inserts routed directly into the door.

When designing for school or office environments, or any location where people can benefit from natural light, consider how to incorporate glass into interior doors. Door lites offer infinite possibilities for style and function, letting you customize your project and delight clients.

Where to Specify Stile & Rail Doors in a School

On May 4, 2020 | admin@freshy.press

When specifying doors for a school or education facility, your first thoughts likely relate to safety and durability. While both factors are crucial to a successful education project, don’t overlook the chance to make choices based on aesthetics, too. Performance factors for school doors need not limit your creative vision or refined taste. Stile and rail doors combine both form and function, and make a statement in key areas of a school.

Read on for some inspiration about where to specify stile and rail doors in a school or education facility.

5 Places Where Stile and Rail Doors Can Make a Statement

Public schools often work from publicly approved budgets with little room for leeway, but private schools sometimes offer more opportunity for high-end features. Higher education buildings also tend to offer more allowance for some luxury touches.Regardless of the type of institution where your architectural school doors will be installed, think about spaces used primarily by adults. Spaces where meetings might be held with potential donors, for example, call for a more dignified appearance. Try specifying stile and rail doors for the following spaces:

Masonite Architectural stile and rail doors at university entrance.

1. Executive offices

When executives invite anyone—a parent, a donor, a colleague from another institution—into their office, the doors make a strong first impression. Embellish with sidelites, archtops, metal inlays, or other features to make these particular doors unique.

2. Conference rooms

As a location where school officials may host guests, in addition to conducting their own day-to-day business, conference rooms require a certain sophistication. A wood stile and rail door can welcome everyone to the start of a great meeting. Use double doors for a more stately look and to ease traffic flow.

3. Libraries

Ideally, the demeanor in a library is more studious and less rowdy than, say, a gymnasium. A library may pull double-duty as a space for receptions, book signings, and lectures, too. These are occasions where guests from outside the school community may visit, and school officials will want to put their best foot forward.

4. Arts venues

If a school is fortunate enough to have a theatre or art gallery, they will want it to look its best. Architectural doors leading into these spaces and connecting them with offices or corridors should look the part. A neutral paint color or custom stain can allow a wood door here to look elegant without stealing the show from the artwork.

5. Dormitories

For boarding schools, dormitory areas may play a role in the design. While doors to individual rooms and corridors need to stand up to heavy use and reduce sound transfer, you may want one or two high-end doors in central areas. These can make a strong impression for tours and parent visits.

Stile and Rail Doors Also Offer Performance Features

Stile and rail wood doors do more than look great. With their superior craftsmanship, they can last a long time. You can also find them with performance features like fire ratings, and STC ratings for acoustics. Combine your ideal colors, veneers, wood species and additional features to perfectly complement the rest of your education design project.

Even if you specify only a few stylish stile and rail doors for a given project, you can rest assured that Masonite can supply all of the different types of architectural wood doors you might need. After all, going to fewer suppliers for materials can reduce friction and costs. Remember Masonite Architectural for your next education project, and source all of your wood doors from one manufacturer you can trust.

How Wood Cuts Influence the Look of a Door

On May 4, 2020 | admin@freshy.press

When specifying architectural wood doors, the options for customization are almost endless. Different wood cuts, for example, can change the look and style of a door. By adjusting the cut, along with the veneer species and stain, and other choices, you can tailor wood doors to meet a unique look and feel for a project. Review the different wood cut options to understand what will work best to create the look you want in your next project.

Wood Cuts for Interior Wood Doors

Wood makes a beautiful building material because it comes from a living thing, each tree a unique individual. It’s also incredibly versatile, able to be crafted into a work of art or a practical object—or a combination of both, as with an architectural door.

Skilled woodworking involves understanding the natural tendency of a particular species while applying a creative vision for how it can look.

The method for cutting wood determines the grain pattern and consistency in the final product.

Rotary cut veneer for broad pattern door.

Types of Wood Cuts for Architectural Doors

For most species, you can specify plain or flat sliced, rotary cut, or quarter cut. When you specify red or white oak veneers, rift cut and comb grain cuts are become options. Choose the cut for your wood veneer doors that best suits your overall design style and budget.

Rotary Cut

In a rotary cut, the blade spirals inward through the surface of the tree, producing wide sheets of wood that “unroll” from the log. This method produces the least waste, making it environmentally friendly and economical. Wood resulting from a rotary cut displays broad patterns and wide leaves. Its random, non-repetitive grain pattern makes it difficult to match but entirely unique.

Plain Sliced or Flat Cut

Another highly affordable cut for commercial doors, plain slicing produces straighter grains and a more uniform look. Plain sliced veneer may also be called flat cut and it’s the most popular cutting method that our clients request. Each piece of wood yields more slices when cutting straight across than with some, more complicated cuts. Flat cut wood may display a cathedral pattern, comprising rows of arch-shaped markings that run the length of the wood.

Quarter Cut

To create quarter cut wood veneers, a log is first cut into quarters. Then layers are cut from each quarter. Quarter cut veneer produces a tight vertical grain, which tends to produce a uniform look that many clients like. It eliminates arches or cathedral looks that can occur with plain sliced veneer. When cut with this method, oak species tend to show a “flake effect,” or shiny appearance.

Rift Cut

With its open grain texture, red or white oak holds stain well, although the grains of white oak tend to be longer. It also contains medullary rays, a natural occurrence of vein-like structures radiating across the tree’s rings. These structures cause the “flake effect,” giving the wood a reflective look. It will be especially visible if an oak wood veneer door is in a location where it gets direct sunlight.

A rift cut, made at 15 degrees to the radial, reduces the “flake effect” that a quarter cut produces in oak. This angle accentuates the vertical grain. The difference is subtle, and oak can also be cut in a combination of rift and quarter cuts.

Library seen through glass of interior wooden door.

Comb Grain

Like the rift cut, its variation called a comb grain, is also available only in oak. The comb grain is the portion of rift cut slices with the tightest and straightest grain, giving the appearance of an almost solid color. Because this wood cutting method yields a small amount of product, costs are high compared with other cuts.

Barber Pole Effect

Another wood veneer option you might encounter is the “barber pole effect.” To create this effect, the manufacturer alternates the veneer leaves between the inner and outer side of the grain. A stain accentuates the difference between the two. The barber pole effect creates a striking look that is not to everyone’s taste. It has less to do with the cut itself and more to do with how the pieces are assembled.

The Effects of Flitch Type on Wood Cuts

A term you might encounter when exploring wood cuts is flitch. Because logs are cylindrical and veneers are flat, a log must be shaped before it can be cut for veneers. The flitch is the section of the log cut away to expose the surface from which the veneer will be sliced. The flitch size varies, but the cutting method will determine the minimum width. A smaller flitch leaves more of the log to slice into veneer.

Wood Cuts from Heartwood vs. Sapwood

A tree grows from the inside out, and the wood nearest the center is called the heartwood. Heartwood is darker in color than the wood surrounding it, the sapwood.

Depending on the wood cut, a particular veneer may include wood from both the heartwood and sapwood of the same log, resulting in color variation. If you want to stick with only the heartwood, you can specify this as “red,” or for only sapwood, specify “white.”

Factory Staining Commercial Wood Doors

Factory-applied stain allows you to fine-tune your color results while adding a layer of protection to a wood door. Factory application helps ensure color consistency across a project. However, it’s wise to understand how the cut of the veneer wood affects stain results. For example, flat cut or plain sliced wood tends not to receive stain as well as other cuts. While Masonite Architectural offers 13 designer stain finishes, each finish produces different results according to wood species and cut, so talk with a distributor to determine the needs for your project.

Whatever you can envision for architectural doors, Masonite Architectural can help you formulate the right match. With a wide range of wood door styles, veneers, paint and stain, and additional customizations, you will discover the perfect look for an office, hotel, restaurant, or any other incredible new space.