I built an entry door unit for our house out of Mahogany that was installed 2 years ago
(documented here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...-)&highlight=).
The door is facing east and doesn't get rained on but we have sun and very harsh winters.
It is 8' tall, 42" wide, 2.25" thick, stave core. The construction was true M/T (3.5" deep) for the door itself and I used west system epoxy for glue-up. For the side-lights I opted for 5" dowels and IIRC I used titebound III instead of west system for the glue-up of rails/stiles.
It was a big project (lots of hours into it).
The first thing I noticed after one year was that it seems that the door developes a slight bow (due to sun I guess?) that goes away in winter. I noticed this because when you want to lock the door you had to push the lock side a bit so that the lock engages. In winter this doesn't happen. This a bit disappointing given that I thought with that method of construction it should stay flat all around but wasn't a big deal; it is seasonal movement it appears.
However, today I noticed something that is a bit more concerning. First of all
here are a couple of photos of glue-up showing the joint constructions I mentioned above:
e70.jpge73.jpg
Here is how the door looks overall:
n1.jpg
Today I noticed some of the joints (both for the side-lites and the door itself) have opened up a tiny bit, only from outside (i.e. the same joint from inside the house is as perfect as it was, no visible movement).
Here are a couple of photos showing a joint for the middle rail of one side lite (middle rail is about 8" wide):
n2.jpgn3.jpg
Here is the joint between the middle rail of the door and the top mullion (mullion is 6" wide)
n4.jpg
This was the worst of them, I didn't use any M/T other since I thought it is not under stress, only the cope/stick profile.
Here is the middle rail of the door and hinge side stile (rail is 8" wide):
n5.jpgn6.jpg
the bottom rail which is 10" wide looks fine. The gaps are not big but some are enough that I can insert a finger nail in between.
The openings are mostly on the ends of the joints (i.e. the middle part seems mostly intact yet).
Obviously I am concerned why this has happened. The joints had plenty of glue, so they were not glue starved.
- Is it because of the width of the stock (6-8") and the expansion/contraction?
- Am I safe to assume that the M/T joints with epoxy are holding up fine and hence the door is not coming apart?
- What is the cause and what should I do (if any)?
I repeat that none of these joints show any gap whatsoever from inside.
TIA