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View Poll Results: Solid core, laminated doors - good idea or not?
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31st July 2017, 11:20 AM #1
Poll - Internal Door construction idea - be ok?
To make this easy, and to hopefully capture more responses, I'll make this a poll.
I may be making some internal doors at some stage. Raised panel doors might look ok (but don't really do that much for me) and the downside of them is that they are dust catchers, and of course are very detailed to manufacture.
Internal doors are usually hollow core these days, but I have it mind that I can make a very simple solid core door that would look great, and also be a timber showpiece.
Very simply, get a bunch of planks 2.1m x 35mm and laminate them together using Dominoes. The width of each plank is arbitrary, as long as the overall width suits the doorspace (which would vary anyway).
That means there would be end grain exposed across the entire top and bottom - probably no big deal - but for a wet area door it might be a good idea to glue a strip of matching timber across the end grain, at least at the bottom. Hell, you could even finish the end grain with a smear of Sika Flex to seal out water - it won't be seen.
O'course if one wanted to have some detail, a bit of routing could carve a pattern.
What does the brains trust think?
Actually, I can't see why this method couldn't be used for external doors too, particularly with the Sika strip. From a practical point of view they would also be excellent in a kitchen - raised panels catch so many food drips that can be difficult to get off......
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31st July 2017 11:20 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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31st July 2017, 12:31 PM #2
It will work. At work we have built internal doors in just this way when they're specifically ordered, subject to disclaimers. This is NOT a good idea for external doors which see large temp/humidity variations between both sides and we will NOT build one for a customer. Not even with disclaimers to cover our butts.
You'll have to follow all the rules about alternating grain direction between boards, etc., etc. to prevent cupping. Gravity will help to hold a tabletop flat against 'light cupping' - to a degree - but a door will move significantly.
Modern solid cores that are made of timber generally use your method but are built up from strips around 1" wide. This not only reduces the expenses involved with wider planks (ie. using what would otherwise be offcuts) it also minimises the cupping problem. They typically also have top/bottom rails and are faced with veneers/laminates.
Personally I'd still prefer to have top and bottom rails, which also assist with cupping, but primarily because they add strength across the major grain direction. What if someone slams one of your doors and there's an object in the way? Any splits along the grain would probably grow until you had to come up with a solution for a problem that should never have cropped up.
You can do without visible rails if you want to do something like running a couple of lengths of all-thread through the width and plugging over the holes, or running mortises through each board so you can glue in a concealed near full-width floating tenon.
Whatever approach you take, I strongly recommend some form of bracing across the grain.
- Andy Mc
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31st July 2017, 12:59 PM #3Taking a break
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31st July 2017, 01:23 PM #4
2.1 x 35 but how wide ? If its narrow strips like 35 x 35 I wouldn't be using the domino normally but thinking about it , long ones going in 70mm each side would have a real effect on keeping a door straight in a situation like that. If you rip down wider stuff into 35 x 35 then the strips can be orientated so every strip has as close as possible to a 1/4 sawn face on the front and back . That's going to be as stable as you could do .
You would have seen veneered doors like that possibly . The old corestock. Isnt it possible to by door blanks something like this now ? .
If your talking wider boards at 35 mm thick like you probably are then as said above or good luck.
Rob
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31st July 2017, 01:36 PM #5
Won't expansion be a problem? Pretty sure the solid cores are oriented so the expansion is across the depth of the door.
Those were the droids I was looking for.
https://autoblastgates.com.au
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31st July 2017, 01:47 PM #6
Thank you chaps. they would be wider boards - prolly minimum 70mm or so, but generally around 120-150 I should think. Don't mind a rail across the top and bottom, and as Skew says, will assist far more for preventing cupping plus added strength.
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31st July 2017, 01:49 PM #7Senior Member
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I'd be concerned about a couple of things. If you're fitting the doors to existing jambs, then chances are they are out of square or out of plane. If you have to trim to fit you don't want to have to plane a whole lot of end grain. Catching on the bottom will tend to split along the grain, if the grain runs vertically you can do more damage appearance wise.
How about something like this?
image.jpeg
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31st July 2017, 01:55 PM #8
I did this 30 yrs ago with a custom size entrance door WRC. Used all tread in 3 places, 150 from top and bottom and 100 below centre line of lock. The door is still going today
The person who never made a mistake never made anything
Cheers
Ray
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31st July 2017, 01:58 PM #9
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31st July 2017, 03:35 PM #10
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31st July 2017, 03:41 PM #11Senior Member
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Don't know to be honest, I was emailed that pic and asked if I could make a sliding door like it. Sent back a quote and that was the last I heard of it. You know, business as usual. Most prospective clients have no appreciation of the cost of materials nor the amount of work required.
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31st July 2017, 04:40 PM #12
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1st August 2017, 10:21 PM #13
I'm going to jump into the "your dreaming" camp.
Compared to frame and panel your proposed construction is heavy and a fair amount of work -- especially if the doors are made from 1-2" wide strips. and you keep them flat with allthread or dovetail battens.
I encourage you to reconsider frame and panel.
the panels can be veneered MDF or marine ply -- I doubt if you can get A/A or A/B ply in Sydney -- rather than raised, or even your own 12 mm thick glue ups.
you can trick the doors up with applied moldings or leave the panel surrounds beveled.regards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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2nd August 2017, 11:06 AM #14SENIOR MEMBER
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Although the "table top" sliding door design looks pretty smart, I'll bet it has breadboard ends. I would suggest that humidity varies more indoors than outside, especially up your way. By heating the house in the depths of winter when the cold air is super dry, the relative humidity plummets. I've been whacked by static charges countless times on cold days.
The Poms often use solid core doors inside but they're all tongue & groove with bracing on one side...not unlike the gate to the chook shed. I would cut T&Gs rather than use dominos.
mick
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2nd August 2017, 02:44 PM #15GOLD MEMBER
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Veneer a hollow core door? I think you are under estimating the work involved in building them the way you plan.
CHRIS
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