which wood would be best choice for screen door ?

[Milind Patil]

I need to build a screen door. It is generally very hot and humid down here in southwest Texas (and rains heavily when does). What wood would be appropriate for a screen door in such climate ?

[Joe Chritz]

It really depends on a lot of factors, such as how much weather it will see (my front door is under an 8 foot porch roof) as well as sun exposure, etc. Painted or clear coated or some other finish.

1/4 sawn white oak would always be a good choice. Dimensionally stable, rot resistant and very easy on the eyes.

I have seen wooden doors for sale in a lot of different lumber varieties.

Joe

[Milind Patil]

It will be under the back porch roof, so will never take direct rain or sun. I think will prefer to paint it almond white (same color the kitchen door has on which the screen door will be fitted).

[Thomas Hotchkin]

I like Red Cedar. Light weight, takes paint well, easy to work. Redwood is also great wood for painted doors, getting a little hard to find good stock. Tom

[Neal Clayton]

cypress, GOOD old growth yellow pine (longleaf pine 10+ rings per inch), as stated above white oak would be fine, red cedar dents a bit too easily, depends on how rough you are on it, but it would definitely hold up to the elements.

a couple of things...

1) there's not a whole lot to try and keep it from warping, so try to pick quarter sawn stiles and make a large bottom rail.

2) a trick for keeping windows and storms stable and rot free that the old timers employed, is to use tenons that go all the way through to the edge, and leave the edges of the door unprimed and unpainted, just paint the faces. water will freely dry from the edges of a board if uninhibited, and water that gets into joints can get out if the ends of the tenons are unpainted. since those areas are protected from the sun by the jamb, there's no issue with sun exposure. in fact for windows i just use bridle joints at the corners, and they stay stable moisture-wise year round without storm windows on the outside.

3) before you finish it, give it a boric acid treatment. the added longevity of wood treated with borates is well documented, especially in the deep south.

if you ever wondered how century+ old wooden structures seem to last while new ones seem to rot, that's how. better lumber + better paints + boric acid ;).

whichever paint you choose, always an oil sealer (any varnish works fine, including BLO+some turp if nothing else is on hand), always an oil primer.

[Will Rowland]

Neal gives some great advice. If you are in Katy and looking for old growth cypress or pine boards, Discoverys in Gonzales(http://www.discoverys.net/) is about about 2 hour drive and has a wide selection. Alternately, try Historic Houston's salvage warehouse, but selection there can be spotty.

You can also drive around the Heights area and look for old houses getting demo'd...unfortunately, there are many going down. I just reclaimed 600 linear feet of 100 yr old cypress lap siding in phenomenal condition this way (which matched my house exactly!).

[Zack Teal]

I would go with a cedar because it doesn't rot and it will repel bugs also.