Quick question about installing door panels

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I’m building a 2 panel exterior door from fir. Never done anything like it before.
Looking at utube (sic) they show a lot of foam rubber nibs inside the channels.
For you more knowledgeable door makers, do I need to do this? Instead of making a trip to get some, can I use some self adhesive rubber insulation ribbons in its place?
Almost ready to put it together and I really don’t want to mess it up.
Thanks

[Edward Weber]

The foam rubber "nibs" as you call them, are to keep the panel centered and stop it from rattling. When the humidity rises and the panel swells, the "nibs" will compress, allowing the panel room to expand. You can use what ever material you want for this, as long as it allows the panel to move.

[George Yetka]

Spaceballs

https://www.rockler.com/space-balls-...l-door-spacers

https://www.amazon.com/Space-Balls-B...91&sr=8-2&th=1

[Mike Mason]

For centuries before people used spaceballs or other such things, they just prefinished the panels before glue up and didn't worry about the panel possibly being slightly off center at times. I doubt that anyone would even notice if it happened, and if they did, you might then have met someone interested enough that you could talk woodworking with.

If it would bother you anyway (most of us know that feeling), you could also pin the panels in place with a single pin in the vertical centerline of the panel so that expansion or contraction is equal in both horizontal directions.

[Richard Coers]

Nothing is needed if you don't slather on the glue and glue the panel to the rails and styles. If you can't help but worry about the rattle, I center the panel and then drill tiny holes in the rails through the panel and put round toothpicks in to keep it centered. Calculate your panel spacing carefully. Single panels do a lot of movement from weather conditions. Miss the gap sizing and the joinery could fail, or you get a visual gap when they shrink in the winter.

[Jim Dwight]

It also depends some on the design and fit of the panels. I once made a house full of 4 panel raised panel doors out of softwood. The raised panels fit snugly enough in the grooves that I didn't see a need for spacers or pins. But I have also built doors where the panel was nice and flat and loose enough I wanted something to address the potential for a rattle - looseness. Raised panels tend to be more limited in movement since the edge in the panel is tapered. Flat panels will move easier if they are somewhat loose.

I also highly recommend finishing panels and the inside edge of the rails and stiles before glueup. The rails and stiles is a convenience thing. The panels is to avoid a major appearance issue. If you were to finish a door where I live right now, the panels would shrink (the humidity is high now and will be much lower in winter). That would let part of the edge of the panel that starts out in the groove to show, With stain it's really bad. Without stain it's still bad. Plus the finish should stop you from glueing the panel in position inadvertantly and risking later breakage. You still need to avoid going crazy with the glue.

[Tom M King]

I took apart some 1850 entry doors for a small repair, and the panels had, as identified by a trapper I know, Beaver fur stuffed in around the panels. It must have worked pretty good. I put it back like it was.

I know marine varnish is not period correct, but after stripping all the paint off, we couldn't paint them again.

[Bill Dufour]

I have used planer chips packed loosely in the groove at a few areas. Mark the panel with tape before assembly so it is centered in the opening before the glue dries.
Bill D

[John Kananis]

One spot of glue top and bottom of the panel, pin the top, spaceballs work.

Word of caution on the spaceballs, put what you're going to use in a bag with shavings the night before or there's a chance they'll actually show through. They'll sometimes leak some type of manufacturing oil otherwise.

[John TenEyck]

I took apart some 1850 entry doors for a small repair, and the panels had, as identified by a trapper I know, Beaver fur stuffed in around the panels. It must have worked pretty good. I put it back like it was.

I know marine varnish is not period correct, but after stripping all the paint off, we couldn't paint them again.

Now there's a new one, but I can see how it probably would work OK. Good for the beavers that better materials, easier to come by, were developed.

John

[Dan Palmer]

I like to use a nice dense closed cell foam rubber. Neoprene works well. Pemko makes a quality sense version that comes in various dimensions to suit your rebate or dado. On exterior doors, the the closed cell foam is preferable as you can run it continuously for air sealing, unlike with spaceballs.

[Dan Palmer]

Auto correct got my message a bit garbled. "Dense" not sense.

[Jack Frederick]

I used insulation stripped off wire on a door once. We had that property for 12 yrs with that door in MA and it stayed tight.

[Tom M King]

Here's another picture of the doors with the Beaver fur. It was laid in the grooves sort of haphazardly, and the door assembled with that groove facing up. It's easy to work on old doors and window sash, and the replacements I make. All you have to do is knock the pegs out.

I had to take one apart because someone had put a 3 penny finish nail through the side of one of the panels for some odd reason, and it shrunk to leave a gap on the other side. It had so much paint on it that we had to remove all the paint to not risk damaging the door to get it apart.

Once we had the paint off, absolutely no one wanted to repaint them. The panels are one piece 16-1/2" wide Heart Pine. The insides of the doors are still painted except I left the back on one panel unfinished so visitors can see what the old Heart Pine looks like with nothing on it. Someone had put a modern bolt lock in it, so the best thing I could find to hide that was a swiveling Baldwin brass cover.