BILCO is actually a brand name. Check the handle on the unit, if it doesn’t say BILCO, its from another cellar door manufacturer. BILCO still makes all the original sizes sold 80 years ago. Their only upgrade is they now comes standard with a piston pump for each door to keep it from slamming on people’s heads.

The main cellar door manufacturers are

1.   Bilco www.bilco.com The industry standard, about 75% market share

2.   Gordon www.gordoncellardoor.com  Cheaper than Bilco, but not matching Bilco sizes

3.   Steelway www.cellardoors.com  Often the very large ones are steelways

4.   LuciGold www.lucigold.com  Last resort, very expensive, but can customize any opening

100% of Cellar Door customers are replacing existing ones that have rusted out, or to cover basement stairs that are open to the rain. They were popular for new construction mostly between 1900 and 1955.

TIPS ON BILCO DOORS / CELLAR DOORS

1.  GET IT GLAZED, NOT PAINTED: As of late March, 2023, we are now buying glazing materials from a chemical supplier, and we are professionally glazing cellar doors. Every square inch is glazed prior to installation. We are the only installer in New Jersey doing this, and maybe anywhere. The glazing is far harder and more durable than any paint. It locks in the steel and it prevents rust. It's a 3-part mix system if sprayed, with an optional fourth part if brushed on. The glazing supplier has a piece of glazed steel sitting outside his loading dock for years. It has no rust. The glazing factory-tests with an adhesion score of 100%, and a hardness of 4.5 on a Moh's hardness scale of 1 to 10 (a diamond is 10) A diamond is the hardest substance, and nothing can scratch a diamond. 4.5 is so hard that plastic, wood, and even many rocks won't scratch it. Ordinary steel is 4.0 to 4.5. If you want to scratch this glazing, you'll have to scrape at it with a piece of granite. 

We've seen signs of rusting in the Bilco B & C models that were ordered factory-painted, and in some units that we painted with Rustoleum product. Bilco charges about $330 for their powder-coated paint. All types of paint are semi-porous and allow in water.  Rust is why you are replacing it, right? Glazing is the answer.

We have real high hopes for the glazing product, and we might even start marketing it to other industries. And yes, we can glaze a steel or fiberglass door, and it will never fade.

For customers that still want the Bilco powder-colors, the colors available at Bilco are: Brick, Driftwood, Grey, Hunter Green, Matte (white?), Matte Black, Sandstone, and White. 

2.  USE GOOD CEMENT: We use a high-end cement that costs four times more than basic cement. It’s one of our trade secrets. It’s better than anchor cement, even for anchor cement applications. We aren’t looking to save $20 by cutting corners on cement quality. We want it to dry fast, never crack or chip away, and never leak.

3.  CEMENT SKIM COAT: We usually recommend skim coating the entire exterior cement base with the same cement that we use to install. Make it all look professional.

4.  LEVEL: The door will not operate properly and close straight if it is not sufficiently level. The doors have to be level on the top and bottom when they close.

5.  DON’T CHANGE BRANDS: You need one that is an exact fit, an exact match to the old one. If the original is a Bilco, don’t try to save $200 and convert to a Gordon. You aren’t saving money, because It dramatically increases costs to cut into the siding, or do more cement work to the base. (If Gordon was smart, they’d offer exact sizes for every Bilco door)

6.  VENTILATION / AIR GAPS BELOW THE DOORS: It’s not a design flaw, or an installation error. All brands are designed to wick away the water, but allow air flow under the front of the doors to reduce condensation. Lack of ventilation causes stale air and heavy condensation and/or frost when the air temperature drops below the dew point in the atmosphere. Condensation causes heavy rusting from the inside that will deteriorate the new door. Old cellar doors that have rusted out typically do it from the inside.  In some cases, it can cause mold or mildew, but usually not on metal. Most customers have heard about roofers installing ridge vents to prevent condensation in attics. This is the same principle, except condensation is heavier on metal. You WILL see light under the doors from the inside, and that's for moisture to escape, and reduce condensation.

Dew or frost from condensation is most likely to happen in the mornings, especially in October, November, December, March, and April. It's been happening for millions of years, that's just the science. As a general rule, if there is dew or frost on your car windshield, chances are very high that there will be dew or frost on the new cellar door. This can happen on the outside or the inside of the cellar door. Condensation is especially heavy on the inside surface of a triangular base, if it is a "corner install" that adjoins a house foundation (or even a cement steps foundation). Reason: when your foundation is flush against one of the triangular bases, it keeps the metal temperature warmer than the other triangular base, and that attracts heavier condensation and rusting. For this reason, these are the cellar doors that most need to be painted. 

Additionally, Bilco does NOT warranty against a drop of water coming through the top areas or the handle. If you call their customer service, this is what they will tell you. We caulk the top corners and the handle to minimize drips. For sure, you won't have basement flooding through the Bilco, and you won't need a tarp.

7.  NOT A SOLUTION FOR BASEMENT TEMPERATURE: Customers wishing to keep their basement warmer should install a standard pre-hung exterior door at the bottom of the stairs, just like your front door. A Bilco / Cellar Door is not even part of the solution for basement temperature concerns. It’s made of solid heavy steel. Steel conducts the cold even more than aluminum, and it’s not insulated. When it’s 20 degrees outside, it will be 21 to 22 degrees under the new Bilco door. We are advising customers upfront to set proper expectations. We are not losing business here by educating customers. If your main concern is basement temperature, hire us to install a pre-hung exterior door at the bottom of those stairs. When our work meets our customer’s real concerns, we both benefit, and establish a long-term business relationship.

8.  WHY DOES IT COME STANDARD AS AN UGLY RED COLOR:  All the manufacturers sell them pre-primed red. There's iron oxide (finely powdered rust) in the primer as a key ingredient. That pushes the primer color in the rust-color direction. They add a little extra red pigment so it's not an actual rust color. You'll see in the pictures that the Gordon brand is a tad brighter red. The factory-red primer offers some protection, but the manufacturers recommend they be painted, especially the underside.

9. BILCO IS THE BEST BRAND FOR METAL CELLAR DOORS. Around 2010, Bilco started using piston pumps to keep the doors from slamming on customer's heads. After decades of lawsuits, they got smart. Bilco must have a patent on that, because Gordon hasn't done the same. The pumps add a little extra push, and sometimes that makes the difference allowing the door to stay open against the house siding, whereas before it wasn't. However, if you are replacing a Gordon, sometimes you need to get another Gordon. I'll tell you if you can switch to Bilco. Sometimes it's a more expensive install to switch brands, and typically you need more masonry work.

10.  OSI / QUAD SILICONE:  When caulking is needed, we always use a commercial grade OSI Quad Silicone. We always go overboard with the caulking, so there's no way a drop of water is going to get under the unit, or between old cement and new carpentry.

11.  FOUNDATION LEAKS: Any cement work, and any new cinderblocks or bricks that we lay are guaranteed not to leak. This includes any old masonry pieces that we reset with new cement below them. We guarantee that the cellar door will not leak around it's base. However, spalling or foundation leaks two inches or more below OUR masonry work are not part of our contract, and not part of our warranty. At some homes, there are pre-existing leak problems down there completely separate from any above leaks around the base of your old cellar door. We aren't doing any masonry work there, so if it was slightly leaking, that will continue. You might not even know about it, if a much larger amount of water is running down the foundation walls from an old rusted cellar door above. There are contractors who chisel out cracks in basements and cellar door foundations and inject a special sealant. And others who use basement waterproofing paint or special masonry. We don't get involved in that, and it's not part of our normal services. We can skim coat entire cellar door foundations, if you want to contract us for that, but that can't be warranteed.