- In-house fabrication helps solve non-standard openings, retrofit challenges, and hardware upgrade requirements.
- Custom machining for frames, vision lites, louvers, and pre-installation helps keep projects moving and code compliant.
- Shop-based modifications can improve turnaround times, installation speed, and consistency across your project.
When Custom Fabrication Matters
Stock doo
rs and frames are built for typical conditions, but in Chicago and the surrounding region, older buildings, changing construction codes, retrofits, tenant buildouts, or even creative architects mean that typical situations don’t stay typical for long.
Over the years, we’ve heard our customers wish for a one-source door, frame, and hardware solution — and that’s just what we’ve created with our Door Division. We’ve become a powerful partner for Chicago-area contractors, facility operators, and property managers.
Our in-house fabrication capabilities allow us to tailor-fit doors, frames, and cutouts to exact field conditions. And all our modifications stay code compliant. That keeps your project on schedule by avoiding rework and less-than-idea jobsite jerry-rigging.
How Stock Doors and Frames Can Fail
Factory-direct doors and frames may not fit the bill for several reasons:
- Size mismatch In remodels or older buildings, the opening size or wall thickness may be mismatched with the frame. This is especially true with non-standard or out-of-plumb walls.
- Upgrades When it’s time to upgrade your hardware, or especially with access control upgrades, you may find your doors need new cutouts, reinforcements, or electric fittings.
- Code changes Changes to safety codes, especially concerning visibility, often require installing vision lites or louvers in solid doors.
- Special projects Sometimes you have a design idea that’s off the beaten path, and no one makes a door quite like it. You need customization!
Understanding In-House Fabrication Projects
There are a few common machining projects we see in the Door Division.
Custom Door Frames and Frame Adjustments
When you actually get to the jobsite, or once the drywall and finishes are up and you have field-verified specs, you may find that stock frames won’t fit, won’t sit flush against the walls, or won’t anchor securely in place.
Frame jobs include resizing frames or making adjustments to accommodate jamb depth, unusual wall thickness, or unique opening profiles. Because we do this in our shop rather than on the jobsite, we can maintain tight tolerances and grind and dress welds cleanly.
Vision Lites or Windows
In industry-speak, the windows you see in doors or next to them are called vision lites. You can just call them windows; we’ll know what you mean. They are important for both safety and aesthetics.
Our shop can cut and reinforce openings for glass kits, sidelites, narrow lites, and so on. With our CNC (computer numeric control), we’re able to make precise and non-standard cuts.
See what our CNC can do at the new Color Factory in downtown Chicago.
Louvers
Louvers are the thin metal slats you often see in commercial and industrial applications. They allow air flow while also providing some privacy and security. They can be used alone or with vision lites.
Most louvers come in standard sizes, but not all doors have cutouts for them. Our CNC makes precise cutouts to accept any manufacturer’s louvers.
Pre-Installation
Hardware pre-installation is fast becoming a popular option among contractors. We can cut and drill out doors for hardware with greater precision than can be done onsite. Then we can install and even test everything so it gets to your site ready to go. Anything we can’t install in our shop gets packaged with the door so installers know exactly what goes where.
Fire-Rated Doors
Did you know you can modify fire doors? Anderson Lock is Warnock Hersey–authorized fire-labeled shop. We can modify and recertify fire doors to remain compliant with all relevant local, state, and national codes.
Key Ways Our Door Division Shop Serves You
When you partner with us for your door and door hardware projects, our in-house shop gives you unparalleled service in the region:
- Shorter wait times Commercial door factories can get backlogged, requiring wait times of months to over a year. We have over 2,000 doors in our warehouse, making us the region’s most reliable source of commercial doors.
- Fast turnaround Handling the cutting, prep, and pre-installation eliminates factory and third-party delays and helps you meet project timelines.
- Precision and consistency Using the right tools for the job means consistent results with high tolerances across your whole project.
- Code-compliance Jobsite improvisations cannot always guarantee your door stays up to code. Our machinists have the training and expertise to get all modifications right and keep you compliant.
- Quicker installation Doors and frames arrive on the site adjusted and prepped so installers can move quickly.
Get a Customer Fabrication Quote for Your Project
Contact us today to talk to an expert about your Chicago-area door project, including:
- Hollow metal and commercial wood doors
- Metal door frames
- Vision lites and louvers
- Commercial or fire door modifications
Frequently Asked Questions
When does custom door and frame fabrication make the most sense?
Custom fabrication is especially useful when you are dealing with older buildings, non-standard openings, retrofit work, code updates, tenant buildouts, or specialized design requirements that stock doors and frames cannot accommodate.
What kinds of in-house door fabrication services are available?
Common in-house fabrication services include custom frame adjustments, cutouts for vision lites and louvers, hardware pre-installation, and modifications to fire-rated doors that need to remain compliant.
Why choose in-house fabrication instead of jobsite modifications?
Shop-based fabrication can deliver tighter tolerances, cleaner finishes, faster turnaround, improved consistency, and better code compliance than last-minute field modifications made onsite.