My first exterior door (and full-mortise lockset)

[Dan Friedrichs]

I’ve never built a door, before, so this was maybe a bit over my head, but my folks have a 1920’s farmhouse that has an original exterior entry door that was in sore need of replacement. It’s also a non-standard size, so building a replacement seemed attractive.

The original trim is CVG fir, so that’s what the door is to be made of. I found this bunk of 2x6” CVG fir at my lumber supplier (how convenient…).



After much back-and-forth with Sketchup Models, design was finalized by drawing out potential dimensions/designs on paper and hanging it over the original door. The “customers” decided on a design with 3 top lights and 2 flat panels.



I read everything I could find about how to build exterior doors. Joinery was done using dominos (and I’m now wishing I had sprung for the Domino XL…). Lumber was planed close to final dimensions, allowed to acclimate, planed to final size, allowed to acclimate, pieces that moved rejected and replaced, etc.



The strike side is beveled by 4 degrees.



The panels are 1/2” isocyanate insulation sandwiched between 1/4” marine fir plywood.



Insulated glass units were ordered from an online supplier.
The glass is siliconed in place and sits in rabbets and has L-shaped trim holding it from the inside (should it ever need to be replaced).





I was worried about water hitting the flat panels, running down into the bottom dado, and stagnating, so there is a weep hole drilled from the bottom of the dado through to the bottom of the bottom rail.
The entire door was made slightly oversized to account for a slightly non-square opening, then planed-to-fit onsite using a cordless planer (what a tool!).





Hinges are ball-bearing.

There is a rubber-bulb-type seal mortised into the bottom.

Hardware is Emtech, full-mortise lockset (also the first full-mortise lockset I’ve ever installed…)

The door was stained using a pigment stain custom matched to the existing trim by mixing a few drops at a time of various shades and making test pieces until it seemed close enough. Despite using pre-conditioner, it ended up more splotchy than I'd like, and the end result wasn't as dark as I had hoped.

Topcoat is Cetol.

Finished door weights 89 pounds with hardware installed.



Unfortunately, I didn’t get any “before” pictures, but these thermal images show that it seems to be pretty tight.




This was quite a project. However, the only real technical challenge was the full-mortise lockset – the rest was just basic woodworking skills. However, I know door building is more complex than it seems, and if there are any suggestions for how I might have done this better, I would be most grateful to hear them.

[Frederick Skelly]

This is good stuff. I've always wanted to make a door and just haven't yet. I like what you've done and I'll bet your folks love it!

Dan, you said something I didn't understand: "...... there is a weep hole drilled from the bottom of the dado all the way through to the bottom of the bottom rail." Are you saying you drilled a weep hole from the dado that the glass rests in, all the way to the bottom of the door? If so, how did you do that - it looks like you'd have to drill a 2 foot long hole? Also, have you considered adding a "bug screen" to the bottom end of the weep hole? It would keep a critter from nesting there and blocking the hole.

It looks like it was fun and it came out very well!
Fred

[Dan Friedrichs]

Fred, sorry for the confusion. The bottom rail (which is ~11" tall) has a hole drilled from top-to-bottom ("starting" at the bottom of the dado that holds the flat panels, and "ending" at the bottom of the door and mostly covered by the mortised-in aluminum track that holds the rubber bulb threshold seal). I'm not sure if this was necessary, or not, but my intuition was that water hitting the flat panels could easily end up sitting in the bottom of that dado. This way, it has a slow path to weep out.

I'm less worried about the glass, as the glass has silicone adhesive holding it in.

[Jamie Buxton]

What you have at the bottom of the door panels is essentially a tongue-and-groove joint, with the groove in the rail. I agree, water pooling in the groove is worrisome. One fix is to reverse the joint, so the tongue fits up into a groove cut into the bottom of the panel.

[Dan Friedrichs]

What you have at the bottom of the door panels is essentially a tongue-and-groove joint, with the groove in the rail. I agree, water pooling in the groove is worrisome. One fix is to reverse the joint, so the tongue fits up into a groove cut into the bottom of the panel.

Wasn't sure how to do that with the foam core in the flat panels...

[Andrew Hughes]

It’s a good looking first door Dan. I like the natural colors of fir but it’s still a good door.
I also forgot to comment on your coffee station. I like that a lot too.
That’s very nice cabinet.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Thanks, Andrew!

[John TenEyck]

That's a well proportioned door, Dan. And very nicely made. But next time you might consider using stub tenons on the rails that fit into dados in the stiles. That will give you more glue surface area as well as keep out water better if the joints open a little. A stub tenon also will keep the rails from cupping, something I'd be concerned about with your current arrangement with the Dominos all clustered at the bottom of the bottom rail. I'd also use something more substantial than those little Dominos. If you can't cut deep mortises easily long dowels would be fine, and have been used for decades. Please don't take any of this as criticism, just ideas to consider for your next door.

John

[Jim Becker]

Really nice looking door and excellent build!

And yea...if you continue to do this kind of thing, it's worth having the Domino XL700 in your stable. The 14mm x 140mm sticks are really well suited to this kind of thing! I'm about to do an interior door and am happy that this time around I have the tool so I can avoid the drudgery of long tenons and deep mortices cut "manually", as it were.

[Dan Friedrichs]

That's a well proportioned door, Dan. And very nicely made. But next time you might consider using stub tenons on the rails that fit into dados in the stiles.

Thanks, John. Good point - a stub tenon would have been much better. I'll keep that in mind if I ever build another door.

Thankfully, this door has a storm door in front of it and is covered by a very deep porch overhang, so it's not the tough environmental conditions some doors face.

[Ron Citerone]

Wow, that is a great looking door! Someday if I ever get brave....................

[Jamie Buxton]

Wasn't sure how to do that with the foam core in the flat panels...

One way might be to make the groove in the bottom of the panels to be the thickness of the foam. To produce the groove, you just hog out the foam. Another way -- a little nicer -- would be to use a piloted slot cutter. The pilot bearing leans on the wood, and the slot cutter reaches in to cut the foam. You'd still clean out all the foam, plus a tad more to give a wood-to-wood contact between the tongue and the groove. Or if the foam is almost the entire thickness of the panel, you could use either of those methods to clean it out along the bottom edge, and then glue in a piece of wood. The groove gets cut in the added piece of wood.

[brian zawatsky]

Nice clean looking door. Good work!