My wife and I halfway retired and are selling our house next springs. Among many fix-up projects, I need to replace three fogged and rusted, double-pane metal exterior doors on the house backside.
New wood door prices with full, double pane glass inserts send me into shock, especially considering the cost of materials for other fix-up projects on the list.
How feasible is the idea of veneering hardwood plywood to the interior side of new metal doors – with a hardwood strip applied to the narrow plane that is visible when opened inward? I have factored the necessity for extending the jamb width and have determined that the new hardware we already purchased is compatible with extended door dimensions. I am concerned about successfully laminating plywood veneer to the metal.
I assume that veneering interior grade plywood to the exterior sides would be inviting disastor. Cost of marine grade plywood is not practical in this case.
Any experience with – or thoughts about this nutty idea?
Replies
I would not be confident that the veneer would hold.
But you mention veneering hardwood plywood, is it ply or veneer? The-with a hardwood strip applied to the narrow plane that is visible when opened inward? - has me confused-adding to the edge of the door? (hinge or lockset side)?
If veneer, I think the cold / heat would ruin the bond and it would delaminate-look bogus.
If ply applied to the face, think it would look bogus.
How big is the glass in these doors? Full view, small lights?
New prehung fibreglass (now about the same price as metal) units are not "real high". This will help in the sale of the house. If I inspected this for a prospective homowner, I'd note the wornout doors, give a replacement cost to consider and think that in general, the rest of the place might not have been "maintained" .
Best of luck.
How about simply replacing the glass and painting the door frames?
Could be........
that the rust is too far gone on those metal skinned doors.
>>> the metal moulding on
>>> the metal moulding on both door sides that contains the fogged glass panes seems to be soldered, spot welded or else applied with some kind of super industrial grade adhesive.
Really? That would be unusual. Most doors are built with the expectation that glass will at times break and need to be replaced. Usually there are trim strips ("stops") that can be popped off so that new sealed units can be installed.
I've only seen the plastic "trim" on residential steel entries.
Sounds more like a commercial door, but even those are held together with screws on the interior side.