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.