Gedar windows and doors

ity is better. Owner William Hawking thinks cedar is a natural choice for windows and exterior doors due to its beauty and inherent decay and insect resistance. "You don't get any complaints about splitting, warping or rotting," he explained. "Once you ship it out, you never see it again. Other companies get a half a dozen bloody complaints and have to run around town picking things up. What's the use of doing something if the customer's not happy with it?"

When Hawking came to Arkansas in 1987 from Australia, where his family operated one of the largest

Story at a Glance

Custom cedar doors and windows are unique niche products ... western red vs. yellow cedar.

door and window manufacturers in Canberra, he found the countries' markets very different. "Back in Australia, if you didn't use cedar, you didn't sell windows." he said. "But out here everybody wants something cheaper than pine. In Australia they want quality. Here they want rubbish. All they want is something that will hold up long enough to get the house built."

At first, sales were difficult. Hawking began achieving success after showing samples at shows to architects and builders. The specifiers, used to working with pine, took one look and started running their fingers over the cedar, he said. Thereafter. word of mouth took over.

Styline imports its cedar from British Columbia, where another firm holds a similar niche. About 30-35Vo of the doors produced by B.C. Door, Vancouver, are residential entries or interior doors of western red cedar. Priced more than hemlock and about the same as fir. their cedar doors stress quality. "They are all raised panel not flush doors," said Shane Palmer. "There are no pitch pockets, no imperfections. Cedar has many different textures and a wide color spectrum, ranging from a white to a dark wood. We color select each component piece so there are no natural variations in the finished product."

"It's not a wide industry," he admitted. "Most doors are made out of Douglas fir or oak, often veneers. But for 25 years we've been manufacturing cedar doors that are solid wood. As time goes on, with the shortening of wood fiber, we may have to start looking at other things. But we're going to hold out as long as we can."