Shed Exterior Door

[Jack Frederick]

I have to build a 3-0 x 6-8 door for the shed. I want it to be strong. How would you build this out?

[Adam Herman]

for a normal size door? get a steel door slab.

or a sheet of exterior ply with a 2x frame and cross brace and a steel bracket in the corners. 3 foot doors do not need to be complicated. the ~ 5x8 ft doors on my green house are 2x4 squares with heavy steel corner braces and the heavy duty green house plastic stapled to each side. 3 big steel hinges. they work great.

[John TenEyck]

I built mine pretty much like a normal exterior door with frame and plywood panel construction.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3cQsyP3XJH0H13OxM-TEaynTUpGoXiIIjmy21mNdq4Osr3f7kqcy6DZZ7KYXrPd0qMWC jf4kjur1UKaCVo2S1rpNEGDJebXeeEUXTFBsBiMbnIvw6t1SMZ zqdaGQbDcPGX1-rh77b9W936BVu3qHao_ng=w835-h626-no?authuser=0

[David Sochar]

For gawd's sakes do not buy a metal door!

Build a nice 4 panel door out of White Oak. White Oak sill and jambs, solid brass hinges (Deltana).

Avoid gluing up panels for width. But build at 1-3/4" thick, with a 1/2" tenon and panel edge. Make it inswing if you can, to at lease get it out of the direct rain. Seal the ends of the panels with West Epoxy before assembly. After fitting and hanging, seal the entire bottom of the door with epoxy. The epoxy can be thinned (25%) with Acetone and it will soak into the end grain 3/8" or ,more. '

Finish with Sikkens or paint. If the exposure is not extreme, and you like maintenance, then use Sikkens. If the door is East, West or South facing, then Paint.

To me it is about living with your work, and respecting your craft. You will see that shed door every day, so make it so it repays your efforts.

[Adam Herman]

For gawd's sakes do not buy a metal door!

Build a nice 4 panel door out of White Oak. White Oak sill and jambs, solid brass hinges (Deltana).

Avoid gluing up panels for width. But build at 1-3/4" thick, with a 1/2" tenon and panel edge. Make it inswing if you can, to at lease get it out of the direct rain. Seal the ends of the panels with West Epoxy before assembly. After fitting and hanging, seal the entire bottom of the door with epoxy. The epoxy can be thinned (25%) with Acetone and it will soak into the end grain 3/8" or ,more. '

Finish with Sikkens or paint. If the exposure is not extreme, and you like maintenance, then use Sikkens. If the door is East, West or South facing, then Paint.

To me it is about living with your work, and respecting your craft. You will see that shed door every day, so make it so it repays your efforts.

sure, that would be beautiful. I suppose this is a woodworking forum. some of us are young and have learned to value our time in real dollars. Is this a shed, or is it the Parthenon? is the rest of the shed built to this standard? or is it 2x4s and sheets of t-111.

[David Sochar]

I learned to value my time as a young man, and now in my 50th year as a professional woodworker, I value it more than ever.

If you don't now understand what I am talking about, living amongst your work, your craft, your successes and even your failures, then you have a lot to learn, my friend.

I am literally and figuratively surrounded by my work, inside, outside - anywhere I go. Go to town, there is my work, go to this or that neighborhood, there is my work. Go to the Big City, hundreds of places where I see my work. Hell, I have even found myself admiring a door or element somewhat passively as I wait for a light to change, and then it hits me. Yep, I made it.

If you really think your time/life is so valuable as to not 'waste' it making a wood door, then what exactly do you do? I know heart surgeons that know what I know and would never pass up a chance to replace a metal door with a wood door. Their patients do not suffer as a result.

The docs know, as I do, the level of achievement, the sense of satisfaction, the pleasure of living with wood, wood I shaped, and drew, and designed and finished and added to the world I live in.

I am shocked that an avid woodworker, serious enough to join this site, would so easily pass up the opportunity to add some nice wood to the surroundings. I apologize if I come on too strong, it is just that I hate to hear people describe making something nice as a waste. Hell, finish it, and then cut it up and burn it if you like. But there is much to be derived from the build.
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[Dave Seng]

I just built a 3'0" x 6'0" door for my shop. Built it as a torsion box with 2" of foam insulation inside. Cheap, easy, rigid, and lightweight. I ripped down 2x4 lumber for the interior framework and used 3/8" CDX ply for the interior and exterior skins. That's what I'd use for a shed door. The work should fit the site. I certainly wouldn't build a fancy door for a shed. There's a ton of information on torsion box construction both here on SMC and elsewhere on the interwebs.

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[Tom Bain]

Let’s all stay calm here, you are free to choose any door you want (wood, steel, fiberglass, buy, build, etc). Since you asked, however, here is the craftsman shed I built a few years ago. The door is is a 2x cedar “z-frame” constructed with loose tenon joinery, and 1x4 beadboard blind nailed into the frame. Has held up well.

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[Ronald Blue]

Great looking door Tom. I think it really gives the shed a classy look.

[Bill Dufour]

For my shed I got two solid core exterior doors at Habitat. Covered the outside with vertical groove siding plywood. 1x4 edge trim. They were a pain to hang with so much weight.
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[Randall J Cox]

For my shed that I built 30 years ago, the local lumber co had one with a frame on sale. Ordered for a customer who never came for it. I had never installed a door in my life then. It was a solid core, particle board inside with thin plywood veneer on both sides. I just now had to rebuild the bottom, it rotted off in the rain splashing up on it. It was cheap, sturdy and lasted 30 years. With my rebuild it should be good for another 30. With my "then" woodworking skills don't think I could have built a door or hung it right. And it was only a tool shed. Build it however you want. If your on this site, you have an interest in woodworking. Skills will accrue over time. You may even want to replace the door some years from now with something nicer, who knows. Anyway, good luck and have fun along the way. Randy

[Robert Hayward]

Here is mine. Two fiberglass door slabs from HD. Lightweight and strong enough to meet our hurricane wind codes. Was going to build my own doors and permitting wanted engineering and etc to show compliance with wind codes. It is a shed!!! Sorry. The barn door design was done with frog tape and paint.

[Jim Becker]

If one has the ability and means to construct proper doors for an application like this and wants to do it, I see no issue and it does make it easier to do a particular or unique style visually. Construction of the same needs to have a high level of focus on the door(s) not racking as well as staying flat. Bracing internally and externally, or both, as well as the joinery design enter into that. Most folks build shed doors pretty minimally and if it's a storage situation, only the outside needs to be "pretty" and one can get pretty aggressive with bracing on the inside since it doesn't all have to be hidden. For 3' wide door panels, I'd stick with at least 3 hinges on each side for a shop built door to insure the weight is supported. The insulated, steel double doors to my shop are setup that way.

[Adam Herman]

David, my post was a bit more in jest than you took it, sorry about that.

my point was only that some may not have the time/means to build a beautiful white oak door for a storage shed. many great examples above.

[Tom Bain]

Great looking door Tom. I think it really gives the shed a classy look.

Thanks Ronald. The only thing I need to change is to move the upper strap hinge up to the top rail of the door. It's a heavy sucker and it droops a bit on the non-hinge side.

[David Sochar]

Jack - VG Doug Fir would be a good wood for exterior use. And much lighter than W Oak.

I mentioned W Oak since it is local (?), excellent in exposure, and not too terribly expensive. But the threat of fire. I guess you can see what makes it and what doesn't from the extensive fires. Seems like overhangs are the worst contributors to a building's consumption.

I did not advocate a pretty or fancy door (both relative terms...), but simple frame and panel since that is the backbone of so much woodwork. The frame is there to establish the size, panels are there to fill in the openings and keep the critters out. Torsion box is more complex and will tend to bow during damp weather. It is higher 'tech' than frame & panel being of the late 19th C, while frame and panel dates back to about 1600.

Adding lumber to one side of an existing door for decorative purpose will work, but does little to celebrate one's involvement with the craft. Same with foam and plywood. It just does not speak well of a person's involvement with this marvelous material.

[Jim Dwight]

It deepens on what you want it to look like. My shed door is falling apart (partly due to my neglect) so I face this same decision before too long. It is painted wood and gets splashed by water coming off the hip roof. I am pretty sure I will make the replacement. If I could get dry PT wood I would probably use that for the frame. But I have no ready source of that so I will probably buy a southern pine 2x12 and cut the frame stock out of that. Domino tenons - probably wide custom size - for the joints. It will have to be painted due to the roof so no need for hardwood. SYP is more weather resistant than other softwood. It needs a stain blocking primer but paints fine with one. Not sure the style yet. I made an interior door for my previous shop where I just had a perimeter frame with a panel in the middle and molding around the panel. Top and sides were about 5.5 inches wide and the bottom about twice that. Panel could be 1/2 or 3/4 exterior plywood. Or it could be a raised panel door. Existing door has a window. I might try and recycle it.

[Robert Hayward]

If I could get dry PT wood I would probably use that for the frame. But I have no ready source of that

I order KDAT PT lumber from both HD and Lowes with no problems here in the Tampa Bay area.

[Joe Calhoon]

For sheds, outbuildings and the such a simple frame with cladding one side is easy to make and will hold up better than a panel door to the weather.
This is a outhouse door I made recently out of VG fir. Simple tenoned frame (Could be doweled, Dominoed or other loose tenon)
T&G applied horizontally is glued and nailed to the frame, tongues up and planks not glued together to allow for movement. Vertical planking probably a better construction and planks fastened from the inside with screws would have been more crafty. Quick to build for a outhouse!
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[Dave Seng]

That's a pretty classy door for an outhouse! I like it. A far sight nicer than I've seen on many a privy. Always nice to have a window - depending on where that outhouse is, it can be a really nice thing to look outside before stepping out.

[Christopher Giles]

David,
Thank you so much for your post talking about being surrounded by your work. I'm not an old timer like you, I've only got about 41 years making a living at this, but I already get the same sense of "being surrounded" that you describe. I can only hope I am as spry as you when I achieve you ripe old age. I really appreciated the observations.

[Joe Calhoon]

That's a pretty classy door for an outhouse! I like it. A far sight nicer than I've seen on many a privy. Always nice to have a window - depending on where that outhouse is, it can be a really nice thing to look outside before stepping out.

its really nice looking out of this one Dave!
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