My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would it be to build a nice wood front door as well as a new front jam/casing? How would you hang a door in a casing you made yourself?

It seems I have also read you can stain a metal door like I have now with special stain. Have any of you tried that and were you happy with the results?

Wuld a wood door I made myself have opening/closing problems with changes in the weather due to expansion and contraction?

I have a sawmill with kiln dryed white oak available and that is what I was thinking of using.

I appreciate any help. My wife is about to drive me crazy.

wrote:
My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would it be to
build a nice wood front door as well as a new front jam/casing? How
would you hang a door in a casing you made yourself?

It seems I have also read you can stain a metal door like I have now
with special stain. Have any of you tried that and were you happy
with the results?

Wuld a wood door I made myself have opening/closing problems with
changes in the weather due to expansion and contraction?

I have a sawmill with kiln dryed white oak available and that is what
I was thinking of using.

I appreciate any help. My wife is about to drive me crazy.

To do it right requires a pretty well-equipped shop - molders , table saw
, jointer-planers , clamps , etc . I suggest you find the nearest discount
lumber outfit and buy a prehung door unit . The expansion/contraction issues
are inherent in wood . A well-sealed and varnished door will have less
trouble than one that's raw . If there's also a security or storm door
that's even better . Don't forget to finish the top and bottom , that's the
biggest mistake DIYers make .
--
Snag

On Friday, May 2, 2014 9:41:47 AM UTC-4, wrote:
My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would it be to build a nice wood front door as well as a new front jam/casing? How would you hang a door in a casing you made yourself?



It would seem to me that this is an advanced DIY project. Do you
have the skills? The necessary shop equipment? Is it worth your
time, with an unknown result, vs just buying a door? I do a lot of
repairs myself, but I would not do this one for two reasons, I don't
have the skill, experience and eqpt to make something that's going to
be an attractive front door.





It seems I have also read you can stain a metal door like I have now with special stain. Have any of you tried that and were you happy with the results?



They have gel type stains, that are made for wood where you don't want
the natural grain, but instead the product leaves a finish that looks
like grain. I've used it on wood doors and it worked great. Don't see
why similar wouldn't work on steel.




Wuld a wood door I made myself have opening/closing problems with changes in the weather due to expansion and contraction?



Sure possibly because of the wood and construction techniques.



I have a sawmill with kiln dryed white oak available and that is what I was thinking of using.



I appreciate any help. My wife is about to drive me crazy.

Simple, fast solution, buy a door.

On 5/2/2014 8:41 AM, wrote:
My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would it be to
build a nice wood front door as well as a new front jam/casing? How
would youhang a door in a casing you made yourself?

'Pends on what you've got for gear and what level of experience and
adeptness you have in w-working. That you ask _probably_ means you're
short on both, I guess...

Here's a way w/o a $300 set of shaper cutters/router bits...

http://www.cjohnhebert.com/Catesdoor.htm

Here's the background sheet Freud publishes w/ their router bit sets...

http://www.ptreeusa.com/PDF/EDMS-Instructions.pdf

As for hanging, you build a jamb just like a real one and hang it the
same way a prehung is hung with exception you're the one doing the "pre"
part, too...

Don't forget the sill as well, storm seals, and all the associated to
have a tight-fitting, weather tight and energy efficient installation.
Needless to say, if you don't know construction details on such, you're
basically in over your head or have a lot of learning to do before you
even start.

As another said, visit the box stores w/ your missus first and perhaps
sticker shock will relieve you of duty. If that doesn't do it, go to
the Peachtree or other outlet in your fair city...

--

wrote in message

My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would
it be to build a nice wood front door as well as a new
front jam/casing? How would you hang a door in a casing
you made yourself?

With hinges

Seriously, there is no difference in hanging a home made door on a home made
jamb than there is in hanging any door on any jamb.

I've never made an exterior door - will be later this year - but there is no
difference between that and an interior passage door save thickness and the
thickness isn't written on stone.

Wuld a wood door I made myself have opening/closing
problems with changes in the weather due to expansion and
contraction?

That depends on how you make it. If you use panels in the rails and stiles
and you leave room in the grooves for the panel to expand there should be no
problem.

Of course, there are other types of wood doors...vertical boards, for
example, either glued together with or without toingue and grooves and with
or without a "Z" frame. For something like that you would have to allow for
expansion/contraction of the entire door, not just a panel; neverheless,
they are not uncommon. There are some examples among the images here...

https://www.google.com/search?q=chur...&bih=602&dpr=1

I have a sawmill with kiln dryed white oak available and
that is what I was thinking of using.

It will be a heavy door, use good hinges...4" solid brass, at least 3, maybe
4 of them. And use brass, bronze or stainless screws with the oak, else it
will stain.

I appreciate any help. My wife is about to drive me crazy.

Making a door isn't all that hard. Refering to a frame and panel door, you
need...

1. A way to get the lumber straight, smooth and accurately sized in length,
width and thickness

2. A way to make accurately sized grooves in the stiles and rails to hold
the panel(s). A table or radial saw can do it - even without a dado blade -
so can a router. With a router, I think it easier to use the router hand
held rather than in a table (for this purpose).

3. A way to join the rails and stiles. The nicest, IMO, is mortices and
tenons; the nicest of those - again, IMO - is loose tenons. The tenons can
be made with most any kind of saw, power or hand; mortices can be cut by
hand, with a router, a mortiser or drilled and chopped. I usually make my
loose tenons about 4" long so there is 2" in both stile and rail.

I have also joined the parts with half laps. At the moment, I am looking at
a screen door I made about 18 years ago that is joined with what amounts to
half laps; they weren't cut, they were made by gluing together 2 - 3/4"
boards.

I also have two pairs of French screen doors (four doors) that I made 2-3
years ago...they were joined simply with epoxy and 1/2" stub tenons.

For what it's worth, these are the dimensions that I would use for a
standard size (80" x 36") exterior door...

stiles and top rail: 4-6"
lock rail: 4-6"
bottom rail: 7"-?? (NOTE: don't try to use one wide tenon, use two or more
smaller ones, 2-2 1/2" wide.

4. Enough clamps - pipe clamps are fine - to glue up the panels and to glue
the rails into the stiles after the panels are inserted. Three clamps would
be sufficient, six could be useful.
______________________

What you DON'T need are those special router bits for rails and stiles.
Nothing wrong with using them but you don't NEED them. Their only purposes
(besides cutting the groove which can be done in other ways) is to give
decorative and coped edges. If you want a decorative edge it can be done
with standard router bits either after the door is assembled or before.
True, there will be an arc at each right angle corner...doesn't bother me a
bit. For that matter, using chisel/knife/rasp/sand paper can make the
corners look coped.

Something else you don't need is a panel raising router bit...those bits
that skinny down the panel for an inch or two along the edges to fit the
rail and stile groove. The skinnying down can be done on the saw or with
standard router bits. For that matter, you don't have to skinny it if you
make the grooves the same width as the panel is thick.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net



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On 5/2/2014 8:41 AM, wrote:
My wife is wanting a stained front door. How hard would it be to
build a nice wood front door as well as a new front jam/casing?
How would you hang a door in a casing you made yourself?
It seems I have also read you can stain a metal door like

I have now with special stain. Have any of you tried that
and were you happy with the results?
Wuld a wood door I made myself have opening/closing problems
with changes in the weather due to expansion and contraction?

I have a sawmill with kiln dryed white oak available and that
is what I was thinking of using.

I appreciate any help. My wife is about to drive me crazy.


You can definitely stain a metal door to look like wood. I just took a
picture of the interior of our front door and uploaded it to one of my
domains. The door is steel stained to look like oak and thus match the
oak trim that surrounds it. Sorry, but I don't remember the product that
I used but you can see the door at http://www.dongares.com/door.htm

Don

On 5/2/2014 2:50 PM, dadiOH wrote:
....

What you DON'T need are those special router bits for rails and stiles.
Nothing wrong with using them but you don't NEED them. ...

No, but the novice can trade a lot of inexperience for some $$ and have
shot at moderately near professional results that ime just doesn't
happen so frequently if have to do the setup individually otherwise.

One of the links I provided shows a "lower-tech" way w/o even raising
the mould on the the door itself but using applied mould.

Only place in your process I'd seriously disagree is that floating
tenons are better than traditional ones...

--

Terry Coombs posted for all of us...

And I know how to SNIP


To do it right requires a pretty well-equipped shop - molders , table saw
, jointer-planers , clamps , etc . I suggest you find the nearest discount
lumber outfit and buy a prehung door unit . The expansion/contraction issues
are inherent in wood . A well-sealed and varnished door will have less
trouble than one that's raw . If there's also a security or storm door
that's even better . Don't forget to finish the top and bottom , that's the
biggest mistake DIYers make .

Yes, six sides must be sealed.

--
Tekkie