Custom Door Jambs & Frames

Custom Door Jambs & Frames in Los Angeles

A door jamb is structural millwork. It carries the weight of the door, holds the hinges, defines the swing, takes the strike of the latch, and ties the wall opening into a finished assembly. Off-the-shelf jamb kits work for production homes with standard wall thicknesses and standard door sizes, but when the wall is plaster instead of drywall, or the opening is non-standard, or the door is 8 feet tall, you need jambs milled to fit. At House of Hardwood, we mill custom door jambs and frames for builders, remodel contractors, restoration specialists, designers, and homeowners across Los Angeles.

We have been operating out of our Wellesley Avenue yard since 1947. Bring us your rough opening dimensions, wall section, door specs, and species preference, and our team will mill jambs to fit.

What We Mill

Our custom jamb and frame work covers the full range of interior and exterior door applications:

• Standard interior swing-door jambs with stop applied or integral
• Exterior door jambs with weatherstrip kerfs and sill detail
• Tall door jambs for 8, 9, and 10 foot openings
• Pocket door frames coordinated with your hardware kit
• Bypass and bifold door head jambs and track-mount frames
• Double-door jambs with t-astragal or stop detail
• French door and pivot door frames
• Arched and Spanish Revival curved head jambs milled in Spanish cedar
• Cased opening frames where no door is hung
• Dutch door frames with split sill
• Pre-hung units where we hang your slab in our jamb

Every jamb is milled to the rough opening, wall thickness, and door specification you provide. Need coordinating trim? See our custom moulding and trim profiles.

Species We Recommend

Species selection depends on whether the jamb is interior or exterior, paint-grade or stain-grade, and what the door slab is made from. A few we work with most often:

• Poplar - The paint-grade workhorse. Smooth, machines cleanly, and the default for interior jambs that will be painted to match casing.
• Hard Maple - Stain-grade or paint-grade. Tight grain and dimensional stability for tall interior doors and heavy slabs.
• Red Oak and White Oak - Traditional stain-grade interior jambs. Strong, durable, and the historic choice in Craftsman, ranch, and traditional homes. Shop red oak lumber or white oak lumber for your project.
• Walnut and Cherry - Upscale interior jambs for libraries, executive offices, and high-end residential builds.
• Mahogany and Sapele - The standard for exterior door jambs and high-quality interior jambs. Naturally durable, dimensionally stable, and able to handle the weight of heavy exterior slabs without sagging. Learn more about Sapele vs Mahogany for outdoor projects.
• Spanish Cedar - Aromatic, stable, and naturally insect-repellent. A strong choice for exterior jambs and humid interior environments.
• Old Growth Douglas Fir - The right call for matching jambs in Craftsman, bungalow, and early-century homes where the original millwork is fir.

If your project needs a species we don’t have on the rack, we can usually source it on a short turnaround.

Interior vs Exterior Considerations

Interior and exterior jambs are built differently because they do different jobs.

Interior jambs are typically 3/4″ thick stock with an applied or integral door stop. The main variables are wall thickness, door height, and species. Most interior jambs are paint-grade poplar or maple, with stain-grade species used for feature openings and traditional interiors.

Exterior jambs need weather sealing, structural support for heavy slabs, and integration with the threshold and brick mould. We mill exterior jambs in heavier stock, typically 1-1/16″ or thicker, with kerfs cut for weatherstripping and a routed seat for the threshold. Species selection matters more outside; mahogany, sapele, and Spanish cedar are the durable options.

Wall Thickness, Sizing, and Mortising

The most common source of off-the-shelf jamb failure is wall thickness. Standard pre-hung jambs are sized for 4-9/16″ walls (2×4 framing plus 1/2″ drywall both sides). Older LA homes with plaster walls run 5-1/2″ or wider. 2×6 walls run 6-9/16″. Thicker custom assemblies can push past 7 inches.

We mill jambs to your exact wall thickness, accounting for finished surfaces on both sides. Send us a wall section detail or measure the existing opening, and we will mill the jamb depth to match. Our team also handles custom wood components for architects requiring precise dimensional specs.

Hinge and strike mortising is cut to your hardware schedule. We can mortise for standard residential hinges, ball-bearing commercial hinges, full mortise locksets, or multipoint locks on exterior doors. Send us the hardware spec sheets or a sample, and the mortises come precut.

Pre-Hung vs Knock-Down Sets

We deliver door units two ways:

• Pre-hung - You supply or specify the door slab, we mortise and hang it in the jamb in our shop, and the assembly ships as one finished unit ready to drop into the rough opening. Best for openings where dimensions are confirmed and the installer wants the fastest turnaround on site.
• Knock-down - We mill the head jamb and side jambs separately, mortise for hardware, and supply with stops and threshold. Your installer assembles on site. Better for tight access conditions where a pre-hung unit cannot fit through doorways or up stairwells.

Restoration and Matching Existing

For historic home restoration, we mill replacement jambs to match the original profile, thickness, and species. The process is the same as our custom moulding work: bring a sample of the existing jamb, casing, or stop, and we will reproduce the profile and dimensions exactly. For homes where the original was old growth Douglas fir or wide-grain pine, we can source matching stock so the replacement blends with the surrounding millwork.

Sustainability Options

For projects with green building requirements or client sustainability standards, we carry FSC certified stock in select species and can source additional certified material to order. The certified lumber mills and machines exactly like our conventional stock, with chain of custody documented for your file.

Sizing and Lead Times

Most interior jamb sets run 80″ or 84″ tall side jambs and 32-36″ head jambs, with custom heights to 120″ or beyond available. Width and depth are milled to your opening.

Lead times depend on species, complexity, and whether the job is a single opening or a whole-house package. Standard interior jambs in stocked species can ship in one to two weeks. Custom exterior jambs with weatherstrip detailing, tall doors, and matched-stock restoration jambs typically take three to five weeks. Whole-house packages with matched casing and trim take longer. We give you an honest schedule up front so you can coordinate with your installer.

Who We Mill For

We work with custom home builders, remodel contractors, door installers, restoration specialists, architects, designers, finish carpenters, and homeowners. We have milled jambs for Spanish Revival restorations, Craftsman bungalow remodels, modern hillside builds, hotel guest rooms, commercial retail buildouts, and high-end residential projects across Los Angeles.

We do not handle on-site installation, but we coordinate closely with your installer on dimensions, hardware prep, and threshold detailing.