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Pasadena is Craftsman country, and the right door on most bungalows is the one already hanging there: a century-old slab with a mortise lock in a frame that has settled since 1912. We plane and rehang it, rebuild the lock or fit one in the same pocket, true the frame, realign the French doors to the garden, and install a new door the landmark district will approve when the old one is past saving.
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
THE LISTALL DONEEvery one of these is a regular Pasadena morning for a Kaminskiy-certified technician who comes over the 134 from Glendale. Make the list, call once.
We answer in under three rings and get you priced and scheduled in minutes.
A clear, written quote with upfront pricing. You approve before work begins.
Kaminskiy-certified pros finish the job with a workmanship warranty.
Every job is backed in writing by our workmanship warranty and done by a Kaminskiy-certified, background checked technician.
Craftsman homes from the 1900s to the 1920s, many in landmark districts, with original doors and mortise locks, lath-and-plaster walls, exposed rafter tails and shingle siding. The door sticks, the lock seizes, the plaster cracks, the tails go soft. We save the original, match the profile and the exposure, and keep the repair true to the house, because a matching repair needs no certificate and a new detail on the street face does.
Larger homes on slopes under big trees, with heavy entry doors, French doors and long eave runs in the shade. Frames move with the slope, pairs drift, the eaves stay damp under the canopy, and deck railings over the Arroyo loosen at the post. We rehang heavy doors on proper hinges, rebuild the shaded wood and name a ledger problem before a wall opens.
1950s ranch homes with sliders, hollow-core doors, wood fascia and pop-out sills facing the foothill sun and the windstorms off the San Gabriels. Rollers wear, doors split, fascia splits behind the gutter, caulk opens on the east wall. The January 2025 Eaton fire reached the north edge of this side of the city; on the streets that came through, the ordinary repairs are ours and a rebuild is a general contractor's.
Age by design. The Craftsman builders put the wood on the outside and the plaster on wood lath, so after a century the doors have settled with the frames, the tails have weathered, and every hot summer opens the plaster at the corners of the windows. Under the trees of the Arroyo the shade keeps wood damp; on the east side the sun checks the paint by August. Small jobs, steady, cheaper caught early.
Doors, locks, plaster, drywall, trim, porches, fences, decks, rot, caulk and fixtures are handyman work. A roof, an electrical panel, a re-pipe, a gas line or a beam that carries the porch roof goes to the licensed specialty trade, and we say so on the call. Termite treatment is the licensed pest company's; we rebuild the tails and posts after them.
Most Pasadena jobs are priced on the call, in writing, from your description or a photo, before anything is scheduled. The profile sets more of the price here than anywhere: a plain fascia board and a milled Craftsman tail are different visits, and a porch or a whole elevation gets a look first and a written scope. What you approve is what you pay.
Many Pasadena doors still carry their original mortise locks, set in a pocket in the edge of the door, and most can be repaired: taken apart, cleaned, re-sprung, new keys cut, or replaced with a new mortise lock that fits the same pocket so the old door needs no new bore. The same goes for the sash locks, the hinges and the push-button switches: fix the original first.
We answer in under three rings and most repairs are priced on the call, in writing, before anything is booked.
The technician arrives with the hardware, patching and fastening stock the usual list needs, so the first visit is the working visit.
Rot, a frame rebuild, a slider swap or a bathroom item gets a look and a written scope. You approve before work begins.
Every job is backed by our one-year workmanship warranty, and the area is clean when we leave.
California allows a repair under a small set amount without a license when it needs no permit and no one is employed to do it; the rest of a bungalow list wants a licensed contractor, and rebuilding a porch post or hanging a door crosses that line. Kaminskiy Care and Repair is one (License #1106209), bonded and insured, with Kaminskiy-certified, background-checked technicians, and every job over the state's written-contract threshold is on paper before it starts.
Pasadena adopts the California codes with its own amendments and keeps the state's list of work exempt from a building permit, adding one line: a zoning permit may still be needed for some exempt items. So an ordinary repair needs no application and painting and similar finish work is exempt, which covers a rehung door, a plaster patch, a rebuilt sill or a tail splice. Cutting a structural beam or a load-bearing support, enlarging an opening or changing a street-visible detail in a landmark district is where we check at the Permit Center on Garfield first.
Bungalow Heaven, Madison Heights and the other landmark districts have design review instead of an association: a street-visible exterior change needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before a building permit, while routine maintenance, paint colors and work not visible from the street are exempt. A repair that matches the material, the profile and the exposure is maintenance, and we photograph before and after for the file. On the foothill lots the 2025 fire maps grew the very high zone to several thousand properties, where a new exterior door or vent has a standard to meet.
Fifteen minutes over the 134. Your Pasadena crew dispatches from our Glendale office on Brand Boulevard, across the 134 from Old Pasadena, so most calls are scheduled within days. Call 747-298-8227, text a photo, or send the form, and we answer in under three rings. The whole foothill run is on our Glendale handyman page.
Can't find your answer? Call 747-298-8227 and ask us anything.
Call 747-298-8227We answer in under three rings and our Glendale office is fifteen minutes over the 134. Most repairs are priced on the call and a technician is usually at the house within days, Bungalow Heaven or Hastings Ranch.
Text a photo or describe the job and the price comes on the call, in writing, before anything is booked. On a Craftsman the profile sets much of it: a milled rafter tail is not a plain fascia board. A porch, a whole elevation or a bathroom refresh gets a look first and a written scope.
Usually, yes, and in a landmark district it is the easy path. We plane and rehang the door, rebuild the frame where it settled and repair the mortise lock or fit a new one in the same pocket, so the door keeps its face and the district has nothing to review.
Yes. Kaminskiy Care and Repair holds California contractor License #1106209, is bonded and insured, and every technician is Kaminskiy-certified and background checked. Every job carries our one-year workmanship warranty in writing.
Not ordinary repairs or finish work: Pasadena keeps the state list and adds only that a zoning permit may apply to some exempt items. A structural cut, an enlarged opening or a street-visible change in a landmark district is where we check at the Permit Center first, and we tell you on the call.
Not if it matches: routine maintenance and a repair that keeps the material, the profile and the exposure are exempt from review, and we photograph before and after for the file. A new door style, a changed window or any new detail seen from the street goes through the Certificate of Appropriateness first, and we help you choose what the district will approve.
Yes. The door, the lock, the plaster crack, the screen door and the porch step go on one list, and one Kaminskiy-certified technician with a stocked truck works through it. Special-order hardware is scheduled before we leave.
All of Pasadena from our Glendale office, including Bungalow Heaven, Madison Heights, Historic Highlands, the Arroyo, Linda Vista, San Rafael, East Pasadena and Hastings Ranch, plus Altadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, La Cañada Flintridge, Sierra Madre and Arcadia. Call 747-298-8227 to confirm your address.
Tell us what needs fixing. We'll call you back with a price and a time. Calling is still the fastest way: 747-298-8227.
Close to one of these but not on the list? Call anyway. If we can reach you, we will.
Ready to cross it off the list? Free quotes, a local Pasadena crew, and a workmanship warranty on every job.
We answer in under three rings, 24/7.No price games. You get a clear written quote before any work begins, backed by our workmanship warranty.
