Area business builds $160,000 door for mansion
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Gary Recker walks by a door his company, Recker & Co. LLC, constructed in German Twp. Staff photo by Ron AlveyGERMAN TWP., Montgomery County — Opportunity recently came knocking in a big way for Gary Recker and a handful of other locals who make their living through the construction trade.
Recker's business, Recker & Co. LLC, near Germantown, was tapped to build the front entry door set for a $30 million residence in suburban Indianapolis.
Recker isn't sure if the entry door and transom set, whose $160,000 price tag eclipses the cost of many homes, ranks as the largest residential front door in the nation, but said, "I've got to think it's a contender."
Recker declined to give the name of the mansion's owner, saying only it's the chief executive officer of a company based in Indianapolis.
Next week, weather permitting, Recker hopes to install the doors and transom window, made of steel and mahogany and measuring 12 feet wide by 24 feet high.
The two mahogany doors themselves are 4 inches thick with steel inside; each measures 13 feet by 5½ feet.
Recker has secured a wide-load permit to transport the door. Six men and a five-ton crane will be involved in the daylong installation. The crane must be positioned so it doesn't drive on and damage the residence's marble and granite driveway.
Recker estimates 1,800 man-hours were spent just in his shop on the entry door set's construction over the past three months.
Recker & Co. landed the job after the home's builder, Leonard Watson of Indianapolis, learned of Recker through a mutual lumber supplier, Frank Paxton Lumber in Cincinnati.
While Recker & Co. handled the door's woodwork and design, Shade Tree Machine in Middletown fashioned the metal work, and AAA Glass & Mirror Co. in Dayton did the glass work. Hardware and wood were provided through two Cincinnati companies.
Recker & Co., a four-man shop with about $700,000 in sales in 2008, also made the mahogany wood paneling for the mansion's massage room, gymnasium and locker room, and a mahogany bar with a 30-foot radius in the mansion's basement. The company also will be fashioning more panels for the mansion's spiral staircase.
In February 2004, fire destroyed a 118-year-old tobacco warehouse in Middletown that housed Recker's former business, Recker Custom Woodworks. In 2006, Recker & Co. began operating in a 7,000-square-foot shop on a former Montgomery County farm thanks to financing through First National Bank of Germantown.
By the numbers
$160,000: Cost of the door
24 feet: Height of the doorway
12 feet: Width of the doorway
9,000 pounds: Approximate weight of the entry door set
30 million: Cost of the house in Carmel, Ind.
900: Number of stainless bolts used in the entry door set
2,600 board feet: Amount of mahogany used in the entry door set
45 board feet: Amount of white oak used for the door sill
16 gallons: Number of exterior wood glue used in the entry door set
36: Number of custom beveled double glass panels used in the entry door set
Source: Recker & Co., LLC
