First Impression Security Doors-Tim Cornelius-Housetalk Show 8/8/09

Well Good Saturday morning and Welcome to HouseTalk! It's a beautiful morning once again. This morning's special guest is Tim Cornelius from First Impression Security Doors. (480-924-1104) out of Gilbert, AZ, with showrooms around the Valley. First Impression's manufacturing facilites are located in Gilbert off Baseline & Hobson in the East Valley Commerce Center. One facility does the security doors and gates, another does the iron entry doors, and the third fabricates the pool fencing, spiral cases, gates and railings. It's very busy for them at 1415 Mondel Drive, Gilbert AZ, 85233! They give tours to show how they build their spiral staircases, doors and other products.

First Impression Security Doors does more than the name implies. Basically they do anything that requires steel welding. They focus on building, manufacturing, installing and servicing steel security screen doors in addition to gates, railings, spiral staircases, pool fencing and decorative wall hangings and other iron work products.

First Impression is also one of HouseTalk's Trade Partners, so they come with good recommendations. If you're looking for any contractors, you can go to http://www.housetalkshow.com/ and click on Trade Partners. Under Security Doors you'll find First Impression Security Doors along with a little video about them and a link to their site.

Warren asked what it is that makes a security/green door secure. Tim said number one reason is because it's made out of steel. There are not a whole lot of materials stronger than steel. Sometimes security doors are made from aluminum, but people generally know that steel is much stronger than steel. The second reason for security is that all their doors have tamper- proof, double-cylinder deadbolt locks. A double-cylinder deadbolt means there is a key entry on both sides of the door, not a thumb bolt. Tamper proof means you can't just unscrew the lock. The doors swing out, mounted on the outside, and have vault pins on the inside, so even if the hinges are removed entrance is still prohibited. Homeowners love the security because they can leave the door open to enjoy the fresh air without concerning themselves about people just walking in.

Can you re-key the door to match the other keys of the house? Tim said yes, absolutely. Their employees are all trained to re-key their regular house keys for the security doors. If the homeowner wants a separate key, fine, no problem, but they find that most homeowners want the key to match the rest of the keys in the house.

For those who are curious about ornamental iron, stair rails, staircases, gates, doors, First Impression has a great catalog to show the type of work they do. Very interesting, artistically done, well-made security doors, staircases, railings, patterns... Call them to ask for one! (480-924-1104) or take a look at their beautiful website at http://www.firstimpressionsecuritydoors.com/.

Talking more about the front doors capabilities, screen built in, glass that swings open - iron entry doors. It is actually a remodel job for them to come out to install them because the entire front door has to come out. These iron entry elegant faux finished entry doors replace steel frame and doors. These doors have glass, glued chip, rain effect, blemish (privacy glass that allows light). First Impression really wanted to preserve the screen effect though, so they've built their doors with a deeper frame so that people can open the glass to get that frest air through.

Security doors sold in big box stores are basically a frame and a door. There's no threshhold or sill plate. There will be a gap between security door and the entry door, and your house will be open to the rats, lizards, scorpions, because of the big hole between the door and the threshhold. First Impression has paid close attention to this and seal theirs as best they can so that you don't have to worry about intrustions by all those little critters!

First Impressions also does a lot of hand-formed arches for big, big frames! In order to avoid creases, they are hand-bent and hand-ground to the radius that is required to exact precision measurements and CAD drawings. They do have to design, review.

A customer has many options for color coatings. First Impression use powder coat. It's a much more durable and better coating than spray painting or electro-static coating. This is a pretty important part of buying ornamental iron because if it's not properly applied it can cause rust issues sooner than they should. If you are in the Valley area, go to their manufacturing facility for a tour. Watch how they charge the steel and roll it into a 450 degree oven to bake it! This is definitely a high-end product. It's interesting and there's a lot to consider when buying your security doors or ornamental iron.

Today Tim was giving away a decorative ornamental wall hanging to the next caller. Can be hung over fireplace, outside, beautiful scrolls. David from Cave Creek called in. He has ornamental iron fence around his pool. It's powder-coated and rusting. How do you repair a situation like that? Tim said generally they'd remove the fence, remove the rust, clean it and re-powder it. If the tubes themselves have an entrance or exit for any moisture inside the tube then it can start to rust from inside the tube. In those cases, those can be painted on site, but the issue will not go away unless it's treated or replaced.

Nathan in El Mirage wanted to know if Mr. Cornelius could give a low-ballpark and high ballpark price on ornamental iron screen doors. The range is based on the size of the door but can go anywhere from $800 - $1800. They use 16 gauge steel, use full felt-weatherstripping, seal the bottoms, powder coat, best quality locks and levers, and a lifetime guarantee!! Customers are #1 at First Impressions.