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Attachment to Application for Certificate of Appropriateness 1430 E. Wayne St., South Bend, Indiana 46615-1040 Nancy Ickler and Gary Hamburg Nancy fickler@asantefound org (574) 261-5270 Description of Proposed Work: We propose to replace the front door of our 1929 Tudor revival home with a fiberglass door. The current door is a four -panel Tudor arch door set in a rectangular opening with wood spandrels, as shown on Exhibit A. It has a window with rectangular panes. The door faces east and is unprotected. The door and the spandrels are badly degraded. The door was already in very bad shape when we bought the house 27 years ago. We have tried to nurse it along by filling and restaining the rotten wood on the inside, painting the outside many times, replacing weather stripping, caulking and painting the spandrels, and putting a door plate on the outside to cover the bottom part of the door that is falling apart. We have sought advice on having the door repaired, and have been told that would be a waste of money, as the core has probably become irreparably damaged by moisture and weather over the years. Our first thought was to replace the door with another Tudor arch door. This would have to be custom made. We have obtained several quotes. The cheapest is from a company in Crown Point, Nick's Building Supply, attached as Exhibit B. A door and frame from Nick's would cost $3723.60—and of course, we would also need to pay our contractor to fashion custom spandrels and install the door. Nick's is a huge facility with over a million doors in stock and world-wide distribution. We visited the warehouse/showroom and talked at length with the door specialist, who explained all the options for our situation. He also explained several other points that have been confirmed in discussions with other companies: (1) an unprotected east -facing wood door will always be problematic, requiring constant maintenance and vigilance, (2) it does not help to add a storm door—on the contrary, that would be worse for the door because it would trap heat and humidity, (3) there is no guaranty in the business that is longer than one year, because of all of the things that can go wrong with a wood door, and all of the ways an owner an compromise it, and (4) our opening is not tall enough to accommodate a standard door of a different shape such as one with a round or "eyebrow" arched top. Two other quotes for custom Tudor arch doors are attached as Exhibits C and D. In addition, we have explored the idea of "local Amish craftspeople" and have received estimates of around $4800, with no guaranty against splitting or other problems. Finally, Big C Lumber gave us a verbal estimate of $5000. As much as we love our Tudor arch front door, these prices seem very high, particularly for a solution that is very likely to bring continued problems.