Hello all! I just built a shed for a buddy and have a roughly 42″ X 4′ opening i need doors for. They must be insulated (or ready for insulation)…. the question – build or buy?(or is there somewhere even to get cheap insulated doors of the quality i could build for the same price?)
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I built a shed last year with a door of similiar dimensions.
I used "sandwich" construction of of T-111 style ply, 1/2" thick for the outside.
Then 2x4's laid flat for stiles, and 2x2 rails for the center frame, "stuffed" with 1 1/2" sheet insulation foam. (The 2x4's allow for hinge,lock and handle screws to grip something!)
I then finished the sandwich with OSB on the inside.
I used polyurethane adhesive cartridges compatible with the sheet insulation.
Laminate it together using plenty of clamps on the edges.
When finished. I applied a 1x trim, where the two doors meet, so that it provides an over lap to seal out the weather.
After the doors were hung, I applied weather stripping on the inside for a seal.
That sounds like what I was thinking; but what r value? I was hoping to make the doors r-13 also. Maybe stand the 2x4s up and stuff w/ wall bat pieces?
I've made a couple of doors very similar to what Tacomama described. That's a good, workable way to get high R value.
If you want greater R value while working inside, you could place another piece of foam, snug against the door opening. It's feather light so moving it is nothing.
This shed is for paint storage: now that I think of it, with just 2 layers of 6 mil visqueen it's nice and toasty in there already so the 1 1/2" foam would probably suffice. Thank you for the help. Now the warm weather question; this is a 5' x 12' shed built onto his house with a 1 1/2 - 12 pitch. I left about 4" - 6" of overhang on the front, is that going to be enough to keep it reasonably cool in their so he's not boiling his paint?(Using a continuous vent or fully vented soffit material)
If it's facing north, that'll keep the sun off that wall. Otherwise it won't.
In any case I'd probably install a turbine roof vent and cut in some screened openings near the bottom of the walls. That will keep the heat and fumes low. You could cover the turbine with plastic in the winter, tape it down around it's base, and cover the screened openings with foam on the inside.
If you search "roof venting" on the web you'll find lots of information on the subject, including how to calculate air movement.
Edited 2/8/2008 4:05 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter