I want to make a door for a small (3ft x 3ft) opening outdoors
under some outdoor steps.

What is the best wood to use?
Will 5-ply wood be appropriate,
or would it disintegrate under damp?

On 9 Aug, 22:42, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I want to make a door for a small (3ft x 3ft) opening outdoors
under some outdoor steps.

What is the best wood to use?

What you can get, what will last, what you can afford, what you can
work.

3' square will need some framing, either round the edge in a square or
else Z-shaped, so the "covering" could easily be quite thin ply - 1/2"
or so and taking its strength from the frame.

Will 5-ply wood be appropriate,

Exterior ply would work, but it must be a good grade (there are many
grades of "exterior") and I'd still coat the edges with epoxy resin.
It's expensive to buy, so I'd use it if I had it, but might not want
to buy a fresh sheet for this one-off.

Personally I'd probably make a classic "braced and ledged door", only
smaller. I'd use larch, because it's weather resistant, cheapish and I
have a good supplier locally. You might consider Douglas Fir or some
of the heftier cedars. What you most need is a real timberyard, not
just a builder's merchant.

The Z frame is most of the strength, but not all of it and it does
rely on the vertical matchboards for some rigidity. So screw these
together, don't just nail them. Alternatively nail them with clenched
nails (Nails long enough to stick through by an inch, then bent into a
U with big pliers and hammered flat into the back of the timber,
across the grain.) Make the matchboards half-lapped and only fasten
them along one of their edges (the edge with the outer half of the
lap) so that they can move a little with moisture changes. Don't set
them right close together either, allow at least 5% expansion room.

On Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:42:03 +0200, Timothy Murphy
wrote:

I want to make a door for a small (3ft x 3ft) opening outdoors
under some outdoor steps.

What is the best wood to use?
Will 5-ply wood be appropriate,
or would it disintegrate under damp?

Pitch Pine would sound appropriate.

--
Frank Erskine

Frank Erskine wrote:
On Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:42:03 +0200, Timothy Murphy
wrote:

I want to make a door for a small (3ft x 3ft) opening outdoors
under some outdoor steps.

What is the best wood to use?
Will 5-ply wood be appropriate,
or would it disintegrate under damp?

Pitch Pine would sound appropriate.

Iroko would be another good choice. Sometime known as poor mans teak, it
is not too expensive and stocked by most good timber merchants (not the
sheds!!).

Bob

On 9 Aug, 22:42, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I want to make a door for a small (3ft x 3ft) opening outdoors
under some outdoor steps.

What is the best wood to use?
Will 5-ply wood be appropriate,
or would it disintegrate under damp?

One of the many uses for old floorboards.

Cheers
Richard

On 10/08/2010 12:08, geraldthehamster wrote:
On 9 Aug, 22:42, Timothy wrote:
I want to make a door for a small (3ft x 3ft) opening outdoors
under some outdoor steps.

What is the best wood to use?
Will 5-ply wood be appropriate,
or would it disintegrate under damp?

One of the many uses for old floorboards.

Cheers
Richard

Shed/fencing treated timber might be ok for a rustic look.