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I am looking for plans, advice, suggestions and input in general on making an enrty door system by hand. The existing door on my 70 some-odd year old house is 42″ with side lights and a transom. I am curious as to the best and best looking type of wood and finish. I,m not in a rush as the existingdoorway is still functional. Thank you all in advance for your time.
George & Kim Anderson
St. Louis, MO
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You can do a good door and sidelight with pre-planed (S4S) stock from the lumber yard. I'd use 1 1/2" (6 quarter) stock. You'd also need a router, some large dowels, a doweling jig, and a good hand plane. I've fabricated many a fir, redwood and pine door in my time and they come out great. However, I was making flat panel glass (thermalpane) doors. If you want raised panel or any kind of wood panel, the equation becomes a bit different. As to wood and finish, you have to give more info. Do you mind introducing a nice wood like mahogany or redwood, do you want a natural, painted or stained finish ? Etc... I could go on , but I'm not sure if I'm on track with your project goals yet.
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Gary - I have seen some doors madde by gluing 3/4" thick material back to back. These seems like a good idea because you can do different woods to match finishes, and get more stable stiles and rails. What about brying foam inside the panels?
-Rob
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Glueing together is a bad idea if the woods are different cause their expansion & contraction will be different and could blast the assembly apart. The glues also have to be good waterproof type. Further, they will only be stronger if you glue them heart to heart. This way they will dry and their cupping action will cancel each other out. Only if you use quarter sawn, this won't be an issue. As far as burying foam inside, funny you should mention it. I did that once (only once) way back when and ended up in a lawsuit !!! Be careful, it could become clunky and very very time consuming and perhaps even very unstable in an exterior environment. Think hard about the labor involved. Also, what will you really gain? If you don't get the foam in at least 80 or 85% of the door surface, you will defeat your whole purpose and fatally compromise your insulation effort.
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George:
You don't say whether you plan on building the door yourself, or just want design ideas to give someone else to build it. Any answer would depend on what it is you plan to do.
In either case one decision will need to be made first: Which is primary energy or looks? Of course they go together but tradeoffs will need to be made. Then a tour of existing homes for basic designs that attract you might be helpful.
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Switch to the Fine Woodworking site on Taunton's main page. Run a search. Several years ago they had an excellent article on building exterior doors.
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I am looking for plans, advice, suggestions and input in general on making an enrty door system by hand. The existing door on my 70 some-odd year old house is 42" with side lights and a transom. I am curious as to the best and best looking type of wood and finish. I,m not in a rush as the existingdoorway is still functional. Thank you all in advance for your time.
George & Kim Anderson
St. Louis, MO
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Many of the custom interior and exterior doors that I buy are made with Micro-lam centers. The finished materials are then glued onto the frame. The door companies do this on doors starting at 1 3/4". The suppliers swear these doors will never twist.
Hope this might help.