Wood type for exterior door.

[Jared Sankovich]

I have a set of exterior double doors (6 lite 3/4 doors) I need to build. Normally I'd use QS Sapele but these doors will be painted. My local yard carries QS poplar in 7/4, 8/4 and 12/4 for door stock. Considering this door is north facing and covered by 10' of porch roof and a alcove on one side I'm tempted to try the poplar.

I know should just get the sapele and be done with it but I thought I'd ask what other people are typically using for paint grade exterior doors.

[Bill Orbine]

Even with the north facing 10' covered porch roof, I'd still choose sapele or even QSWO. Peace of mind. Don't doubt yourself .

[John Goodin]

Personally, I would be concerned about the softness of poplar but it is about as hard alder -- which is a very common door material. I have had good luck with the stability rift sawn oak but it is probably close in cost to the sapele. The oak would probably require some pore filling as well. Douglas fir also comes to mind too.

[Roger Marty]

I recently made a white oak door. Awefully heavy. If I were doing it again, I might choose Douglas Fir

[Andrew Seemann]

I'd probably want something with at least a little rot resistance that was stable and still painted well, maybe white pine, although that can be soft sometimes. Poplar tends to be at the bottom of rot resistance compared to other woods.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have made quite a few exterior doors out of Poplar in areas that are well protected, and have not had a problem yet. I do seal all end grain with West System epoxy, but I do that to all my doors no matter the species.

[John TenEyck]

I agree with Larry. As long as the doors are not directly exposed to the weather and the end grain is sealed and everything is well painted poplar should be fine. That said, poplar is really soft and for that reason as much as any fear of failure I'd prefer Sapele or walnut. FWIW, Douglas Fir is always a good choice but it's outrageously expensive these days thanks to tariffs, so unless you can get it from a domestic supplier I wouldn't choose it. And I'm not keen on white oak unless it's rift or quarter sawn and then you still have to fill the grain if you want a smooth finish. For reference, cost goes like this for me: With poplar =1, Sapele = 2X, walnut = 3X, rift or QS white oak = 3X, Douglas Fir = 4X. For me, Sapele is a genuine bargain at $5.5/BF in just about any thickness. And yes, DF was $11/BF when I bought some earlier this year.

I'm actually building doors for my shed right now out of white ash which is a really poor choice in terms of resistance to rot. But they will be sealed and painted, it's what I had available, and it's a shed.

John

[Jared Sankovich]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I can't even get Qs white oak in 8/4 from the local yard. Talking to him a few weeks ago he was going to stop carrying any qs or rift white oak in any thickness. It's more expensive than all other choices (besides walnut) $6.55/ bd ft for 4/4 any way. DF (along with any softwood) is not available, though for as much Syp as we grow around here you would think it would exist in a local yard.

I'll likely go with sapele just for the hardness alone, but it's good to know poplar is a viable option if I choose to go that direction.

[Jim Becker]

Jared, you could always take a nice field trip to SE PA to places like Hearne and get pretty much anything you'd like... ;)

[John TenEyck]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I can't even get Qs white oak in 8/4 from the local yard. Talking to him a few weeks ago he was going to stop carrying any qs or rift white oak in any thickness. It's more expensive than all other choices (besides walnut) $6.55/ bd ft for 4/4 any way. DF (along with any softwood) is not available, though for as much Syp as we grow around here you would think it would exist in a local yard.

I'll likely go with sapele just for the hardness alone, but it's good to know poplar is a viable option if I choose to go that direction.

If you can't get white oak in 8/4, why not make a stave core door? Use poplar as the core and skin it with 3/16 - 1/4" veneers. It takes a little longer to put together but it's very stable and not hard to do. Here's one I built about a year ago. It's white oak on the outside, poplar core, ash on the inside.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ThP9A4corxr4gIcwYrWprKkx0AVBcJSuFdDjrH2FPQ6NpaXIY6 RbTHQIDawVoERbjPfu4KXuyEdtq6cpEqZF3fQuN2DRxMbGzILn YlM8Pes_TdFZMivuKlth-hUEElPJzatknd9G_jT243453ia3r39pUMsi9qNCmMCnfovSe2I L7MHXER9MBK7QC-HaP8Fao9B5nipced_8OnrE4Fwd8c8qDQ7RVC1uazkOi1xafxWp KGOqicTtzZ1K8gf0L0kCt5k1rxDPHjgR9wCObYpOY1q3Az9QYJ D3BQyPFqe9KEBfyF9W_T5ECT6xaH6qZ07kl5Nj6ILfqjkgJ5Md R765p4DiXEZzQ5V3gC34y12TaNqhT2FvkpPo_r4K-umuh6XE9nm10CZF0w-x4yu5MHdSOP7VibNVrUqloJ0ZneRGxiQtIF-NO6CIGhy3ccuwck78w48qKiKANvY8rzWaVcgR3tNKIZhcvAeRt D3Mbzc9bvrXHJdB1k5cHiyLXLRxg8rE11nEACN2L6ZI-6YDfvYWxz9iSKyx3jMy8JxkrLE034ix3x7dPTCf3O5NZxaTFd0 SnqONCWzhGAHi00r_S2TC_WR4JPjLDUmPQyi5gmtLXpUO7m26l WBWofhPrjQqZTcsDL-Kup9ig6ZE1O2ATWvHg-DjPNWYjRvJhdGiMWCnnsB8r8z7FfyCzchC4Q=w835-h626-no

John

[Jared Sankovich]

If you can't get white oak in 8/4, why not make a stave core door? Use poplar as the core and skin it with 3/16 - 1/4" veneers. It takes a little longer to put together but it's very stable and not hard to do. Here's one I built about a year ago. It's white oak on the outside, poplar core, ash on the inside.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ThP9A4corxr4gIcwYrWprKkx0AVBcJSuFdDjrH2FPQ6NpaXIY6 RbTHQIDawVoERbjPfu4KXuyEdtq6cpEqZF3fQuN2DRxMbGzILn YlM8Pes_TdFZMivuKlth-hUEElPJzatknd9G_jT243453ia3r39pUMsi9qNCmMCnfovSe2I L7MHXER9MBK7QC-HaP8Fao9B5nipced_8OnrE4Fwd8c8qDQ7RVC1uazkOi1xafxWp KGOqicTtzZ1K8gf0L0kCt5k1rxDPHjgR9wCObYpOY1q3Az9QYJ D3BQyPFqe9KEBfyF9W_T5ECT6xaH6qZ07kl5Nj6ILfqjkgJ5Md R765p4DiXEZzQ5V3gC34y12TaNqhT2FvkpPo_r4K-umuh6XE9nm10CZF0w-x4yu5MHdSOP7VibNVrUqloJ0ZneRGxiQtIF-NO6CIGhy3ccuwck78w48qKiKANvY8rzWaVcgR3tNKIZhcvAeRt D3Mbzc9bvrXHJdB1k5cHiyLXLRxg8rE11nEACN2L6ZI-6YDfvYWxz9iSKyx3jMy8JxkrLE034ix3x7dPTCf3O5NZxaTFd0 SnqONCWzhGAHi00r_S2TC_WR4JPjLDUmPQyi5gmtLXpUO7m26l WBWofhPrjQqZTcsDL-Kup9ig6ZE1O2ATWvHg-DjPNWYjRvJhdGiMWCnnsB8r8z7FfyCzchC4Q=w835-h626-no

John

Actually stave core was a strong possibility, though I'd still go with sapele over oak

[Jim Dwight]

Southern yellow pine is pretty durable in weather. I would trust it any day versus poplar. I've had bad experience with a poplar project rotting with just a tiny finish imperfection. SYP won't do that. Construction lumber is iffy for dryness but you could measure it and possibly get some good material cheaply. It needs shellac and/or a good primer when finishing and tends to gum up tools a bit but it would make a good door.

It isn't stave construction but I've though of putting together two skins 5/8 thick with a 1/2 center. 1/2 could be run across the stiles to create the joints. I find it hard to find 1 3/4 thick material (although I have a little oak I am using right now).

[Warren Lake]

no experience with poplar outside but in furniture. Seems like a bad choice likely Joe and others who have done lots would say so. Ive done some homes with 16 foot pine making new facia just under 8" wide jointed planed straight then profiled bottom under the eves. Its stayed perfect but not in direct rain as I made a flashing into the eve and the eve itself protects the rest a fair bit. Likely I did some reading the pine was the right choice at the time. People said I was nuts not to use aluminum then a few years later some high end areas in the city I met a guy who had work taking aluminum off homes and owners wanted close to the original wood again. LIkely our wood now not as good as what was used then.

[John Gulick]

We use White Pine, Cherry, White Oak, African Mahogany often. I would not recommend poplar for anything exterior

[lowell holmes]

My front door rotted I wanted to save the leaded glass panels, so I made a replacement door using fir. It is painted .
It is a stile and rail with raised panels. The panels are half two pieces with poly ethylene sheets between the panels.
The door is 20 years old and still going strong. IIRC, it is a fir door.

[johnny means]

With the current prices on African "Mahogany", I can't see why not.

[lowell holmes]

Is Sapele an outdoor wood?

[Jared Sankovich]

Is Sapele an outdoor wood?

Seems to be, especially in the UK where it's sapele or accoya for sash and doors

[John TenEyck]

https://www.wood-database.com/sapele/