Man Door for the Garage

[Chet]

I need to make a new door for my garage.  It's just basic 30" X 80" stile and rail door with a glass pane on top and panel on the bottom.  It will be painted.  It's on the north side of the house and in the shade all day so it doesn't get a lot of weather.  I was thinking of using Fir or Poplar.

Any thoughts?

[Coop]

Home Depot 

[Chet]

On 6/1/2024 at 1:23 PM, Coop said:

Home Depot 

I went there and Lowes.  Both only offered pre-hung doors and only doors made of steel of fiberglass.  

[martym]

If you have a common size opening and cost is the bottom line those steel prehung doors are hard to beat. They don't twist or warp, they have a magnetic weather strip and an adjustable threshold. 

 

I had some unique requirements when I built my shop. I wanted double doors 60 inch opening on both the east and west walls for a cross breeze. I wanted the top half to be glass because I didn't want to give up wall space for windows. And I wanted them to open out so I didn't give up interior floor space just to open doors. So I built my own.

 

I used Southern yellow pine ripped into 1/2 inch strips alternating grain pattern glued together to make the 1 inch thick cores. 1/4 Western red cedar on the outside and 1/4 inch Fir inside. They look good and work just as I hoped. As hard as I tryed 1 of the 4 doors has a 1/4 inch twist in one corner. Not a big deal, just cant get a good weather seal because of it. 

[Von]

I went down a YouTube hole watching door making videos a while back, so there certainly are videos to be found there for what that is worth. My take away was I'd want a reasonably flat surface the size of the door (which I don't really have).

[Chet]

On 6/1/2024 at 3:10 PM, martym said:

those steel prehung doors are hard to beat

Yeah, I just really don't want steel. 

 

On 6/1/2024 at 3:13 PM, Von said:

My take away was I'd want a reasonably flat surface the size of the door

I have the flat surface part.  My shop is small but I managed to make a dining room table a few years back, it was a challenge though.

[Coop]

Sounds like a neat build? 

[Mark J]

I have no door experience to offer you.  But poplar is a lower density hardwood, so I'd expect it might make a lighter door.  What is the current door made of?

[Chet]

On 6/2/2024 at 6:08 AM, Mark J said:

What is the current door made of

I think it was fir once upon a time.

[pkinneb]

For a painted door I would go polar but would rip and flip the core with an 1/8" skin to make it more stable.

[Coop]

Paul, explain the rip and flip in a little more detail, please. 

[pkinneb]

Ultimately you buy a 4 or 8/4 boards and rip it into strips the thickness of the door minus the face vaneers on both sides for the rails and styles, this makes them extremely stable, much more so than just using flat 8/4 stock. Definitely more work but will indeed make it more stable. Philip Morely uses this techniquie in a lot of his panels. Justin DiPalma used it in some doors he built in the last year for a church.

Adding another instagram account where Mike is making a door using this method as well. He refers to it as stave core.

mike__farrington