enrty door??

Paul Downes

Member
Messages
959
Location
Westphalia, Michigan
Ok So I've been away for a while. Hopefully will have the shop back in heat this winter. So I've been looking into entry doors and got a bit of sticker shock looking for a good door. Thinking i just might have to make one. I have lots of wood but little time these days so I just might have to carve out some time to get tools back into my hands.

Is an entry door all that hard to build? I expect lots of glue and some sort of lamination. Guessing a 3 ply with the grain running in contrary directions.

What does the family think?
 
This will go against the grain of many woodworking "purists", but let me have a quick comment. The entry "front" door on our house was a decent mahogany door that was never maintained by the previous owner. It was in bad shape but I tried several products to try to revive it. It was too far gone, so I took the "easy" way out and replaced it with a fiberglass door. My reasoning was that the door faces due west - full late afternoon sun in south Georgia. I've built most of furniture inside our home with cherry, walnut, oak, etc. The door will survive without much intervention. It was the right decision for us.
 
I'd look for a door. Try the ReStore Habitat for Humanity store for a good deal. Solid wood doors are just that - solid wood, not plys. Could be a slab door or a frame and panel door. But ply is not a door product.

For my house I found a contractor who remodels high end properties and takes out good things simply bcause people want a change. He then sells them. I just got on his list. And not just for doors. Ask around.
 
I'd second Carol's suggestion, look for a local habitat for humanity re-store. They many times have new doors that are donated from the manufacturers/suppliers or older ones that have been removed from other structures. A steel or fiberglass door would give you less maintenance and efficiency in the long run as I'd expect the wood to expand/contract.
 
Well, I have a friend who manufactures doors and he commonly does a 3 ply of solid wood for dimensional stability. . I have lots of white oak and figured there's plenty of rift sawn lumber. Our house has all steel doors and I really don't care for them much. Right now they leak like a sieve and I'm rather tired of putting new weather stripping in each year. So my mindset is to go for what is best. After some reading there seems to be an opinion out there that solid wood doors are much better for the long haul.

I also realize that correct framing for the door is very important. If my memory serves me right ?? I have some sort of impression that the doors of my childhood home had very solid framing and some sort of copper weatherstrip.

The real issue is that so many things manufactured today are done on the cheap with poor quality materials. I am done buying cheaper lock sets and door knobs. I have replaced these on our entry doors every year or 2. I guess a Baldwin lock set/door knob (>$200) is the way to go.

All the same I will make a stop at the Habitat resale stores and see what might be lurking about.
 
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