A little bit about our company
Schiavone Woodworking was founded by Joël Schiavone, the son of American teachers who worked for the German armed forces. Joël was born and raised in Bad Tölz, a small town based in the southern part of Bavaria.
During his time in Germany, he was exposed to the culture of quality engineering and unmatched work ethic. Working with the German people helped him internalize the saying he would often hear, “if you’re going to do it … then do it right!”
Our company has held true to those words, keeping the integrity of old word craftsmanship alive that Joël observed during his early years. Living in Europe allowed Joël to see some of the best woodworking in the world, and Schiavone Woodworking prides itself in consistently replicating that quality.
Joël’s training in European woodworking and craftsmanship proved to be a valuable investment when he found himself in the American market. Americans are a resourceful and enterprising people, always open to the raising of standards. American ingenuity has helped our company take the best ideas and refine them even further into a world class standard. The quality of our business has found a receptive and friendly market for which we are eternally grateful!
The woodworking technology we’ve imported from Europe is the baseline for the cabinetry and woodworking side of our business. The 32 millimeter system developed in Germany lives on as our standard for developing superior rabbet edge doors, the lift and slide doors, the slide and fold doors, and more. Our windows and doors are products with a rich European history that are made better and better after each generation.
Our shop contains some of the finest tools in the industry. Blades are sharp and tools are accurate to accomplish what we and our clients expect. Our shop is run by highly skilled and attentive woodworkers. These, in turn, have brought new abilities and decades of experience to compliment our business. As a company, we meet frequently to discuss how to better serve our customers and how to improve on what we do. This keeps our work interesting and challenging into the future. We really enjoy getting up to do our job!
How we like to do business
We’ve been doing what we do for a long time now. Our custom windows and doors meet or exceed the highest standards in quality and function. They simply work like a charm. They are also extremely energy efficient, with think insulated components and multiple gaskets guaranteeing virtually no air seepage.
Stewardship
Along with our quality level, we pride ourselves in being a company that is concerned with the environment. We believe that as a civilization, we need to think and work in terms of sustainability and energy conservation. Our intent is to provide as many highly efficient windows and doors to homes and businesses as we can, thereby making our contribution towards a cleaner Earth for widespread and effective.
Local sourcing
We feel that part of sustainability is using local resources. The bulk of the materials in our windows and doors don’t come from very far. Colorado has a wealth of wood from beetle kill stands and forest thinning projects. The lumber from these trees provides clear pieces of pine, spruce and fir, and is well-suited to the door and window industry. It is also wood that needs to be used not only for the health of the forest, but to reduce fire hazards.
We also use local resources to help support the local economy. Windows and doors are sophisticated components, requiring additional machining, glazing, aluminum forming, injection molding, powder coating or 3D printing. We have formed great partnerships with numerous shops nearby, who contribute to our final product.
Durability
In every way, we are looking to produce a sensible product that functions for generations. We have been installing doors for over a quarter century. Rarely do we receive requests to service our doors for any reason, because the doors have been built and installed with longevity as our goal. Yet we strive to stay open-minded and welcome any suggestions our customers may have to improving our product!
Our systems
Our four systems are: the Overlay Entry door, the Lift and Slide door, the Slide and Fold door or window, and the Tilt and Turn door or window. All of our windows and doors are produced from a variety of wood species, and can be delivered with or without a powder-coated aluminum cladding. Please see our individual descriptions for further information.
Philosophy
In 1988, Schiavone Woodworking began with the following philosophy:
As a woodworking service, we would refine our skills to such a degree that we could make the absolute best use of the resources that go into our work. Since we use trees, they are used in such a way to give the tree a second life. This is done by creating woodwork that is both exceptional in style and function, as well as pieces that will be admired and useful for generations.
On top of this, we seek to provide our customers with woodwork that is truly inspiring. While being sensitive to the taste of our clients, simply having our work around helps direct attention to what quality is possible in life. As our website indicates, much of the inspiration for our work is derived from the quiet contemplation of nature. We have chosen our location in the southwestern part of Colorado, for the abundance of nature and the beauty of the area. Not a small part of our philosophy is the practice of taking in the wind, the clouds and the sunshine.
These may seem like lofty tenets, so we don’t forget to have fun. If it is a quirky chair you desire, or a crooked plywood box with nails bent over, we can do it! We love to work with clients that have ideas, so we can strive to bring those ideas to beautiful fruition.
Engineering
Every detail in our Colorado doors and windows has gone through a process of extensive research and development. In order to keep all our wooden parts straight and true, each piece has a glue-lamination core. We cover cores with thick veneers, to give the appearance of a solid piece of wood, but with the structural advantages of glue lines.
Joinery between parts follows the best traditions of woodworking, using sophisticated shaped profiles backed with 12 mm dowels. Our Tilt and Turn window is assembled with deep finger joints for maximum strength and made in Colorado. All of our joints enjoy the prestige that the joint is stronger than the wood itself. The wood will break before the joint can.
Our hardware is largely made by European manufacturers that have been providing hardware to the rest of the world for decades. This hardware is proven to be exceptionally functional and durable. However, we realize that we need to adapt European fenestration to American building envelopes. So we have hardware produced locally to complete that adaption. The installation is as straight-forward as with any other door and window. Since your door or window is made with great care, then it should also be installed with care.
For maximum exterior protection, we use a 1 mm thick aluminum cladding that is locally powder coat painted; a highly durable finish for exteriors that uses high temperatures to cure the paint.
Glazing is typically tempered double pane insulated glass, but all of our products can be equipped with triple pane glass as requested. Both our doors and windows can accommodate 1.25” glass thickness, and more if needed.
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After reading the above, you hopefully have a solid understanding of our history, operating philosophy, services, and quality of work. If you have any questions about our company or services, you can always feel free to reach out.