Anyone ever built their own front door?

[Paschale]

Hi guys,

I'm on a big kick right now thinking about ways to improve my house.  I just took a walk through my neighborhood which is made up of a lot of homes from the 20's and 30's, so there are a lot of Arts & Crafts bungalows and such.  A lot of them have such cool wooden front doors!  The people that owned my hosue did all kinds of dumb things, like take out the pedestal sinks in the bathrooms, and replacing the front door with a stupid metal thing from a local lumberyard.  The cost is CRAZY expensive for new reproduction Craftsman/Arts & Crafts doors...and so the thought entered my mind: why not build one?

Anybody done it before?

Dan

[DouginUtah]

I think Patty has some door building experience.

-Doug

[mike_van]

Here's a photo of mine, red oak sawn on my mill, I built the 2 sidelites too.  Local lumber yard was 1600.00 for  the door & sidelites [no frame, no hardware, not prehung]  The tempered glass were 40.00 ea. I made the raised panels on my shaper.

[crtreedude]

Those are nice looking door mike.

Does it count that I just had some built by our people? Normally it takes about a day to build a simple hardwood door. I gather they aren't very hard to do. 

I had a couple commissioned by a local artist with the logo of our company in them. (or Hector did)  I hear they came out very well.

Okay, before I get yelled at, this weekend, I'll take pictures of the doors...  ;)

[RSteiner]

I have put together several doors.  This weekend I put together a "Christian door" for inside use.  Now the wife wants me to make one to replace the bathroom door.

Several years ago I wanted a wooden screen door for the entrance to a new room we added to the house.  The local lumber yards wanted what I thought was too much for a door with a removable screen and window insert so I made one.  Three coats of marine grade finish and it is pretty well protected from the elements.

A friend or mine several years ago made what was known as a warm door.  Which is a wooden door with insulation in the middle, came out really nice.  I hope before winter sets in to make an outside door to replace the front door to the house. 

Give it a go it's not that hard.  Cutting each piece to the exact size necessary and consistantly from piece to piece will keep things square.

Randy

[woodbowl]

Does it count that I just had some built by our people?

 Nawwwwwwwwww..........That don't count. Just as long as you got pics!  ;D

[Patty]

This was my very first project with wood. Relatively easy, I guess, but then I have very little to compare it to. Now the door is finished, with glass panals, and hardware. Dan, if I can do it, ANYONE can !  ;D          Go for it!

[Paschale]

Well...that's right!  I forgot we had our own resident door builder in the person of Patty!   ;D  You've all inspired me...of course, it's gotta be added at the bottom of the list...which means I'll get around to it in the next three years...   :   ;D

[johncinquo]

I did at my cottage.  The whole place is lined with bead board or car siding depending on which room your in.  I made the door out of 2 layers of car siding and then added a cross brace on the inside.  It has a double paned window I salvaged out of junk pile.  I used lots of liquid nail to hold it all together and stiffen it up nice.  I was surprised at how nice it actually came out.  Been hanging 7 years now and no sag or problems with it yet. KNock wood! 

Pictures forthwith.

[CHARLIE]

Paschale, I would use a waterproof glue.  I think the Titebond III would be the easiest to work with and would be my preference.  Polyurethane glue expands which can be good and bad. Good is that it fills voids, bad is that it might split the wood if you got too much and it had nowhere to go and cleanup is a lot of scraping.

Just use mortise and tenon joints for the frame.  You might go to the Wood Magazine website (woodmagazine.com) and do a search for doors. They might have an article about it.  Sometimes, just searching on Google will give you a lot of info.  Oh.....and be sure to seal the endgrain real good when finishing it.

[mike_van]

I used Titebond ll,  good overhang,  door never gets wet. It does get quite a temperature workout though,  -10 F on one side &  70 on the other in the winter. July & August, with the humidity, never stuck yet.  I used a cabinet door set on the shaper to cut stiles & rails, then 1/2" dowels across the joints.  No sags.  You need floating panels, either flat, raised or glass, a 36" wide door made solid will move with the weather too much.

[Patty]

I used yellow wood glue and bicuits to join the pieces. The glass panals float and are held in place by a strip of foam pad that I got from the glass cutter, and then strips of quarter round. I didn't have a router or shaper, so it is pretty simple. I used the tempered glass so it wouldn't cut anyone if it got broken somehow.

[Don_Papenburg]

Make the styles longer than needed so they dont split when you are assembleing the door . Cut them off when ready to hang.
I have made interior doors  and am fixin to make my own front door soon .
I would post a pic or two but mine are jpg and will not work here.

[Furby]

Uh, JPG is the ONLY way to post pics!
Look at this link. ;)
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=12416.0

[flip]

I just sold the 1910 craftsman/arts and crafts home I restored.  The doors are actually made up of 2x1 3/4 strips glued together then a 1/8 inch veneer laid on front and back.  The strips are a tongue and groove with the tongue being more rounded and oversized.  I'll try to get some pics.  THe veneer is quartered white, I do not know what the backer is, I know there was pine, poplar, and white oak  used throughout the house so maybe poplar??

[beenthere]

My take on an entry door, is balancing the wood construction materials in an entry door being the biggest challenge. When in a climate where there is winter heating on the inside, and high humidity cold air on the outside, it means shrinking wood on the inside and swelling wood on the outside. Very tough conditions to hold an entry door straight and to keep it from warping.

Not said to discourage you, but give it some thought when designing and building it. 

[Texas Ranger]

One of my side lines is building windows and doors for a local stained art artist, as well as frames.  Not a hard process, a lot depends on the quality of wood you are using.  I  have some plantation grown mahogany that twists like a snake when I try to make window stips out of it.  I have started using cypress and other local hardwoods that don't have the instability of the plantation grown stuff.

[crtreedude]

Texas Ranger,

Are you sure that is true Mahogany? Mahogany normally is so stable that you can build with it GREEN and it won't twist - it almost doesn't have a grain pattern.

The problem is that people are selling as Mahogany a lot of other woods - for example, gmelina, which will do what you said.

Where are you buying the stuff if you don't mind me asking?

[Texas Ranger]

No, dont mind, All Woods in Houston, a regular retail outlet we have been using for years.  It has all the appearance of mahogany, grain, smell, my allergic reaction to it, etc.  There is a very weakly defined demarkation between annual rings.  Annual rings appear to be one inch or better.  Humidity makes it crawl,  If it is the  other, gmelina, how would I identify it, it does not show in my wood ID books.

[crtreedude]

That is an interesting question. The truth is, if it is mahogany, it has to have a origins document since mahogany is on the CITIES list and so therefore can not be imported.

It sounds like it might be - but I am pretty curious about the problem you are having.

mahogany is part of a family of trees with more than 30 species. I probably wouldn't use mahogany - it is a little soft for me except for furniture. I prefer Caobia instead, it looks the same, but it harder. Same family.

[asy]

I have put together several doors.  This weekend I put together a "Christian door" for inside use.  Now the wife wants me to make one to replace the bathroom door.

SOrry, but I gotta ask...

What's a "Christian door"???

I'm coming up with all sorts of answers, everything from a door for a person named Christian...

asy :D

[Patty]

Shopteacher told me that a Christian Door is one where the rails & stiles form a cross on the door. They are pretty cool. I am sure there are photos out there of them, type "Christian Door" into google and see what comes up.

[Paschale]

This is some valuable information!  I'm intrigued by the idea of making an insulated door, and the comment about moving wood on different sides of the door is something worth thinking about.  There's gotta be a way to take into account temp/humidity differences, and allow for movement such that things wouldn't get completely out of hand.  But makes me wanna learn more...   :P

[Norm]

Our front door is north facing. It is in a cove also so it does not get any direct sunlight. I would not attempt one for an area that gets direct or much indirect sunlight. When researching making it I noticed alot of the makers of doors were using mahogany because of it's stability. This one is honey locust and walnut, it's not moved much but it has warped a little on one rail.

[Paschale]

Hi everyone,
Don Papenburg sent me an email with pictures attached of some doors that he made.  I'm finally getting around to posting them.  They're beautiful, and show a real craftsman's touch when you see they incorporate a curve.  Nice work, Don!   8)  Thanks for sending the pictures, and sorry it took so long to post them.   :