Customer has a steel door ginog from newly paneled laundry to the grudge.
laundry is knottypine v-match.she would like the door to match.
I made the mistake of mentioning veneer.
I would say have the painter faux grain it, but she wants real wood.
Would 1/4″ knotty pine be better than veneer?
is knotty pine veneer going to be impossible to find?
I am open for suggestions.
Piffin, now is the time for your wisdom (that comes with age) to shine thru!!! 😀
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
Replies
Mr. T:
I am far from being an expert on veneers but would wonder how it would hold up over time. Dents, dings, scratches, kids? Seems like this might be a pretty high traffic area.
Would the other 1/4 " option make your life difficult with casing, base, door knob?
I don't know......maybe your thought on a painter is the best. I've seem some very impressive faux stuff. Then about 3 coats of low gloss poly over it all.
I think my wife has a couple of rolls of wood grain self adhering shelf paper in the closet. I'll mail em to you for free. : )
Rugby
I'd be afraid to work with thin knotty pine veneer because it is so brittle and flakey. I've never seen knotty pine that didn't have gaps of knotts missing where she would see the steel door or glue underneath.
Now that we've got the wise part out of the way, let's find a way to do this and make someone happy.
Start by making sure she knows that you are moving heaven and earth to accomodate her wishes - just so she appreciates it.
don't they make knotty pine paneling? - or is that fake stuff?
GP does have that T&G breaded 3/16" crap in knotty pine.
I'm thinking a thin plywood with a knotty pine surface veneer finish that you could v-groove yourself to match the walls or simulate them.
naw - she ain't gonna be happy. I'd say build a naughty pine door your self but then it wouldn't be a fire door for code and insurance.
Gooooooooooooodluck
Excellence is its own reward!
If you want to try the veneer approach, you can indeed buy exactly the stuff you need. Look for "backed veneer". The basic veneer leaves have been edge-jointed together and assembled into large sheets, backed by paper to hold it together. These sheets are often used to re-face kitchen cabinets. One source (in Anaheim) is Anderson International (http://www.aitwood.com). They have knotty pine, and want $40 for a 4'x8' sheet.
A high quality faux painter would give you a more durable finish and better looking than the real deal. I saw a couple of cherry panel doors flanking a garage entry door that had to be steel to get the fire rating. The faux cherry finish on the steel door shamed the real cherry doors on either side of it. I did some knotty pine cabinets with flat panel doors. Because I couldn't get two-side knotty pine and couldn't get two pieces that would fit the design for the doors, I faux grained the interiors of the door panels. The customers still don't know this (8 years later). If you must do the veneer thing anyway I would reccommend using "microlam", which is super-thin plywood that appears to be veneer but is more durable and easier to handle.