building insulated carriage doors

[Jim Chandler]

Hi all,

I have been doing some research on the net but wanted to see if any one had any experience or advise on building insulated carriage doors. I was hoping to find a place on the net that I could buy plans, etc but I've had no luck.

My main goals are to keep the doors light and the R value high.

Would anyone have any experience with this and be able to give me some guidance.
Thanks!

[Dan Rude]

You might check out the Home Time episode that went to our local company "Designer Doors" and showed the construction of the doors on the current show project. Also the FW "Tools and Wookshop" issue had some information on what one of the editors did.

[Doug Mason]

I made some LARGE carriage doors using rough lumber and plywood--fully insulated--and they turned out great (except for some subsequent warping-but not enough to warrant removing the doors). I have a two-story shop--so on my bottom story I took out the wide garage door and installed the following doors--built cheaply and full of insulation. These doors are 3 1/2 inches thick, about four feet wide and 7 1/2 feet tall.


6-5-09 025_1.JPG

For my upper story, after learning from the lower story doors, I built what turned out to be some beutiful carriage doors (with all the hardware & mouldings--again using just rough lumber and plywood). The reason I built the doors myself is to save money (they wanted $10 grand to put carriage doors in my upper garage), to reduce sound and for heating. These aren't difficult to build--just glue up correctly to avoid warpping. Turned out great and saved a ton of money.

[Peter Quinn]

Do check out the FWW article from the Dec. 2010 tools and shop magazine. There is a whole bit about insulating a workshop and carriage doors are covered. It basically involves a ladder frame built around foam insulation skinned with 1/4" plywood. I made an uninsulated set to cover a 9' opening out of t-111 and spruce t&g decking from the lumber yard which I could easily insulate with foil backed insulation added to the inside. I searched for a design on the web to no avail. Either you buy the doors for a small fortune or you become the design builder!

[Brad Shipton]

If you do some reading through a lot of threads on the Woodweb you will find Dave from Acornwoodworks discusses the ladder frame option quite a few times. He is highly regarded, has tons of experience, and is a no BS kind a guy. At its core it the ladder frame is not really that complex. It is basically stiles and rails inside a finish skin. Fill the voids between with insulation. There are a lot of details to consider to make it functional. There are also some beautiful examples in the project directory for a high end home.

Good luck.
Brad

[Don Buck]

I recently made a sliding "barn door" for my shop and found some useful assembly information in this very detailed article about making an insulated shop door. Try this link: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/gar-dr-1.htm

Don

[Tom Gerken]

Seems to me the biggest problem is keeping a wood door flat. You can insulate the heck out of it and have the smallest bit of air infiltration which wipes out the advantages of the insulation and then some.

Might want to consider a commercial insulated metal swing door as a starting point and apply wood over it. Only available in 4 ft max width which may be a problem with your design.

[Neil Brooks]

Since my GUT would tell me that ... in theory ... this shouldn't be that complicated (difficult, yes; complicated, no), maybe others can suggest what they think are the pitfalls -- what you want to avoid, and where you can go wrong.

I just picture ... an interior panel, rather standard carpentry framing over it, with pink fiberglass insulation batting in the middle (think: interior wall), and the desired skin on the outside.

Maybe another way to approach this is ... what's weak, wrong, or missing with that basic construction ?

I mean ... if you could easily _insulate_ it ... I'd think you'd want to build a torsion box, and stand it on its end, essentially

[Mark Bolton]

I will tell you a great way we have built large opening doors in the past that are insulated and stay dead flat is to use steel studs for the frame with ISO infill and then skin the doors with whatever finish material you desire.

You can buy steel studs from 1 5/8" on up. We commonly use 1 5/8" or 2" with 1 1/2" or 2" ISO panels in between. We run a rabbet on the edges of the ISO panels so they nest into the stud cavity. You simply cut your ISO to whatever spacing you are going to run your verticals and just stack/sandwich them together. After that just skin the door and you can then cover with a thinner wood face and edging.

The steel studs are extremely light as is the ISO and it will never warp/twist. Of course your face material could cause the door to move.

With the 2" option you wind up with approximately an R15 door.

Mark

[Richard Shaefer]

I built a set of insulated doors for my garage wood shop about three years ago that pretty much meet all your criteria, except for weight. mine are friggin heavy, but then, they're 8' tall and 4' wide, each

The doors are very simple in terms of construction, I think anyone could whip them up without much effort. All they are is a simple kiln dried 2x4 frame laid flat with a mid-rail to support the middle hinge and a diagonal on the between the bottom rail and the mid-rail. back face is 1/2" sanded ply, front face is 3/4" ply. 1.5" rigid insulation and buckets of glue between everything. the door is then trimmed in 4/4 stock on the fronts, sides, and back. the windows are just thrown together out of scraps from the door trim. hinges are from Mcmaster Carr. (I love that website)

here's a link to a pic of the doors with the kid standing in front:

http://www.dana60.com/sundowner/kare..._big_doors.JPG

[Jim Chandler]

Sorry for the delay in responding..... lifes been crazy.
Thanks for the responces.... Weight is what I've been thinking about too. I really like Mark's idea to use steel studs. Mark would you be able to elobrate or post a few pictures? Do you build a Z style frame with the steel studs? Do you do any kind of blocking in the areas where the hinges will go? Do you install windows in the door? if so how?

Sorry for all the questions, anyones thoughts on building these with steels studs would be appericated!!

Jim

[phil harold]

Do you build a Z style frame with the steel studs? Do you do any kind of blocking in the areas where the hinges will go? Do you install windows in the door? if so how?

Sorry for all the questions, anyones thoughts on building these with steels studs would be appericated!!

Jim

the steel studs and foam sounds great
no need for cross braciing the exterior and interior ply should stop sagging
Yes blocking for hinges is a good thing

think of your insulated entry door
wood edges filled with foam stuck to the door skins
just cut a whole in the door where you want the window and the frame sould be deisgned to hold it together (u-shaped)

I have made plenty out ot 2x2s with 1.5 inch foam and 1/4" ply
build on a flat surface clamp or weigh down until glues binds the foam to the skins

the only problem with the steel studs would be thermal bridging
so the less studs the better