Light shed doors

[Stan Orsk]

Due to advanced age and a couple of bad knees, I'm looking for some ideas for building light doors for a 6'x6' shed I put up for my grand-daughter. I need (2) 3'x3' doors for 3 bays, front and sides. The back I enclosed already. I had thought I would build sliders but that seems like a helluva lot of work and am not sure it will work for her. She wants two sets of doors in each bay. I built similar sized doors a couple of years ago with two layers: one of 1x6 pine on the back and tongue/groove 1x4 on the front. They were nice but pretty heavy. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[John Ziebron]

I would think about using cedar. It's light and rot resistant.

[Stan Orsk]

That's a good idea. Maybe a bit pricey, but i'll look into it. How would you form the door? I did lap joints for the last doors I made, but even with 1x6 backing boards they warped and the two layers of boards was heavy and difficult to move around. Edge gluing is a possibility but I'm doubtful they will hold together well. let me know...But you got me thinking. There's a lumber mill no too far from where i live in maine. They sell undressed 1x6x6 cedar for $2.50/board. I figure it I would need ~four of these for each 3x3 door, including backing boards for stability. That's about $10/door if I got it right. That's not bad. Still don't like the idea of edge glueing. What other options do i have?

[Paul Schaefer]

I made two 3'x5' doors a few years back for a shed. I used cedar fence pickets and the rough-cut cedar 2x4s that they sell in HD's fencing section. Light and fairly cheap.

I made a rail and stile frame with lap joints from the 2x4s, with rabbets cut out of the back of the frames. Then I routed the pickets with a half-thickness rabbet on alternating sides, slid them together like siding, and screwed them into the rabbets in the frame with deck screws. They're still in great shape. No real warping to speak of.

[Tom Ewell]

Metal framing parts like furring might be integrated into the design to keep things flat.

[Stan Orsk]

If I understand correctly, the pickets are not glued end to end but each is screwed into either side of the frame? What was the thickness of the pickets? I don't think my local HD sells them.

BTW, I did find a sawmill up here in maine and i'll pick up (300 1x6x6 cedar this week that's been planed, sides and faces for ~$80. A similar purchase at Home Depot would cost over $200 i think. Strange, he's one of the last sawmills up in this area. In fact, he may be the only one.

[Mike Schuch]

How about a simple piece of 3x3 marine plywood 1/2" thick with a frame screwed on the front for looks. Make the pluwood the structural piece instead of a floating panel.

You could use your imagination to spruce it up. Cut some V groves in the plywood to make a faux toung and grove look. Put a stick from the upper right to the lower left to look like a support but just for looks.

[Jim Dwight]

I made a couple interior doors to go into storage areas of the attic out of a frame of 1x softwood skinned with thin luan plywood. They have foam centers but you could delete that. The 1x is pocket screwed together with the holes on the inside where you don't see them. They have remained flat and work well. They are quite light. For this application I would want to be sure the glue is exterior and paint them.