Exposed cellar door question

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Next week I’m going to my parents in law place to spend a couple of weeks holydays.
Last year I promised my father in law that I would make a door for his cellar; while the final design is not finished because I will ask for his approval I’m thinking about making it as shown on the sketches.

A top and bottom hidden spline acting as if a breadboard end and vertical matching slats.

My question is the following:

The wood is going to be oak, and the door will be exposed to open air all year round with temperatures ranging from -10º (14F) up to 35º-40º (104F).

With such extreme temperatures should I bother about wood movement at all, or it is going to be useless giving some space for wood movement?

I have the feeling that being exposed, no matter what I’ll do the door is going to move, shrink expand and eventually crack.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated
 

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The door for our family room that opens to the outside is 4' 6" wide. I did this on purpose for a couple of reasons, I wanted to be able to get a pool table in, and wanted a better than average entrance. Then I priced such a custom door:eek:! The man that owned the sawmill where I was buying my rough cut said he would build the door. He used a sheet of the T-1-11 (4X8 sheet that looks like vertical siding), then on the inside he put a layer of insulation sandwiched that between the T-1-11 and finished cedar boards then on the outside he framed it with cedar and put in the diagonal brace. Looks very nice and is quite functional as well as efficient. Since then, moving in a gun safe I have appreciated putting in one large doorway into my home. :thumb:
If this sounds like something you are interested in, could snap a shot or two that maybe would explain it better. We put it together in a couple of hours after I had planed the wood. I live in a big swing of temps and this has held up well.
 
Thanks Johnatan, but My father in law wants it massif, if I proposed him that he would shake his head mumbling something like " those urbanites..." and most problably he would say "leave it like that son...":(
 
You may want to think about using tongue and groove between your panel boards and make the top, bottom, and sides a frame like a frame and panel door. The T&G should help compensate for the wood movement.
 
You may want to think about using tongue and groove between your panel boards and make the top, bottom, and sides a frame like a frame and panel door. The T&G should help compensate for the wood movement.

Thanks Ed.
Actually is what I drew, maybe it doesn't show clearly on the detail render.
But then, would you use a loose tongue or there's no need for it.

And for the corners of the frame, would you join them using dovetails? or other type of joint?
 
another idea??

T&G is good but you could do a ship lap and acheive the same end and have just one setup on the tooling depending on what your using for it. then the ends could still be bread board style.. as for the oak goes if you can get white oak, use that instead of red or black oak its outdoor properties are much better and they store whiskey in barrels made outa of it:D the finish needs to be some kind of good preservative on what ever you use toni...
 
T&G is good but you could do a ship lap and acheive the same end and have just one setup on the tooling depending on what your using for it.

You just hit on the nail with that one Larry! How I didn't think about that.

Now I have to evaluate both procedures, ship lap or t&g and see what will suit me better.

I guess that whatever I choose I'll need to leave some gap between the slats to allow for movement.
 
Ship lap would definitely work, in fact you could put a bead to minimize the look of the gap. With traditional T&G, the front face of the joint fit tight and there is a small gap on the back side. in theory the wood on the face side should compress while the back allows for movement.

If you went with a frame, you could either use a bridle joint or half lap. The bridle joint would probably work best and use a couple dowels to pin each joint.
 
What if I fix each slat to the top and bottom frame with a wood pin in its center leaving a small gap between each of them? This would allow each slat shrink and expand without affecting the others wouldn't it?
 
What if I fix each slat to the top and bottom frame with a wood pin in its center leaving a small gap between each of them? This would allow each slat shrink and expand without affecting the others wouldn't it?

that methode is what they used to use on the old barns for there siding,, one nail in the center then the battens were nailed in the center to..allowed for the movent without having them warp badly.

p.s either way you make it toni you WILL need some kind of rack brace or it will just accordian one way or the other..
 
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