Attaching a “faux” stile to this door

[Stephan Mackin]

Novice woodworker with unusual request. I want to make this single lite door a two lite door, to match the windows on the old schoolhouse I’m restoring. Budget constraints are the main reason, because getting the exact door I want doubles my cost, and I can get this door cheap. To add a vertical stile over the glass, has anyone done similar? Any advice to make project more successful? Or am I pissing in the wind? Sorry about the sideways pic, it looks normal in my phone but not on this site.

[Jim Becker]

If you are leaving the glass in place, then you merely need to match the profiles of the surround to lay in the centered vertical stile. It's meticulous work, but can be done with some careful thought and hand work to form the mating profile using both hard tools, files/rasps and contoured sanding sticks. You'll need to glue the wood to wood joints (requiring you abrade the finish off in the contact area) and use, perhaps a few dabs of flexible silicone on the glass under the stile to allow it to move, but stay in place. Repeat for the backside.

That said, removing the glass and making it a true divided door is also possible, but requires more work.

[Floyd Mah]

It's a big job for you if you are really a novice. The problems include the length of the stile, which makes the new stile harder to stabilize, and the natural finish, which makes the new stile hard to conceal, and the need to match the color of the existing wood. As mentioned also, there's the need to match the contours of the existing framing. An overlay without cutting the glass isn't as strong as removing the existing glass. You also have to be clever to blend in a joint at the ends of the stile to disguise the new joint. Maybe a traditional tenon and mortise joint at the ends and a lap joint in the middle might work best. Lots of work with hand tools as Jim mentioned to get a clean result.

I have a little experience doing this because I divided a light in my casement style window to put in a plexiglas pane (to allow me to attach a movable A/C's hose to exhaust the warm air). It was a lot of work. Fortunately my window was painted a white color, so I didn't have much difficulty hiding the work.

[johnny means]

There's no real need to exactly match the existing profiles. Just machine a reasonably similar style with a good color match. Attach directly to the glass with automotive tape. This is a pretty standard trick for dressing up newer (cheaper) windows and commercial fitouts where no permanent changes can be made to glass.

[Jim Becker]

There's no real need to exactly match the existing profiles. Just machine a reasonably similar style with a good color match. Attach directly to the glass with automotive tape. This is a pretty standard trick for dressing up newer (cheaper) windows and commercial fitouts where no permanent changes can be made to glass.

I would agree that on the vertical edges, coming close is fine, but at the top and bottom where it meets the rails...it's going to look funky if the profiles don't merge cleanly.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with Jim. You definatly want each piece to fit the existing wood moulding close enough that someone pushing the new muntin won't break the glass. By law the glass is tempered or laminated. But it can be broken, and someone would
have to pay to replace it.

[johnny means]

Agree with Jim. You definatly want each piece to fit the existing wood moulding close enough that someone pushing the new muntin won't break the glass. By law the glass is tempered or laminated. But it can be broken, and someone would
have to pay to replace it.

Who pushes on a muntin?

[johnny means]

I would agree that on the vertical edges, coming close is fine, but at the top and bottom where it meets the rails...it's going to look funky if the profiles don't merge cleanly.

I was assuming that someone who is doing a job like this can cut a cope. Even just a square piece of trim could leave clean looking "joint" if coped halfway decently.

[Mel Fulks]

I've seen new factory made doors that had at least a 1/32nd gap between a rail and muntin end.

[Warren Lake]

seen cope and stick that were not ground that accurate. Make a mitred profile its how doors were done at one time and sometimes tighter than cope and stick.

[Mel Fulks]

Who pushes on a muntin?

Children,drunks, people carrying packages, thieves ,animals (and they seldom have any money or insurance ), people
hanging Christmas wreaths

[Bill Dufour]

I have seen this kind of work done with masking tape. And I have seen it done with two pieces of painters tape and a paint brush as well. Not saying it was done well.
Bil lD.

[Wayne Lomman]

My experience is the same as Johnny's. Make 2 pieces reasonably close and fit both sides of the glass. It is a common shortcut when circumstances dictate. Sure, if the OP had ideal circumstances he would shell out for the expensive option but that's not the case. What he is proposing is a cosmetic change without structural change. It also happens to be reversible.

As far as insurance goes, if you attach a stiffener to a glass pane with something like silicone or double sided tape, it actually increases the strength of the glass. The flexible attachment absorbs shock and reduces breakage. Ever taped your windows for a cyclone or hurricane? Cheers

[Carl Beckett]

There's no real need to exactly match the existing profiles. Just machine a reasonably similar style with a good color match. Attach directly to the glass with automotive tape. This is a pretty standard trick for dressing up newer (cheaper) windows and commercial fitouts where no permanent changes can be made to glass.

The handles of my shower (glass) door are just double sticky taped on. Make the piece the way you want it to look with whatever edging you can. Match the finish. File or cope the ends to fit snug at the joint, and double tape it down.

[Jim Becker]

I've seen new factory made doors that had at least a 1/32nd gap between a rail and muntin end.

Yea, but in this case, if it's applied over the glass, the "strength" connection needs to be at the jointery to the rail. An accurate cope will improve the strength of the glue joint. The OP isn't doing just a simple narrow muntin...it's a full stile based on the description provided.

Personally, if I had to do this job, I'd strip the door, remove the existing glass, create the stile and set things up so that the glass can be inserted from the "back" of the door and is held in place with molding that's just pined. In fact, I'm doing a job exactly like that for a client on some cabinet doors "as we speak", minus the stile.