homemade z-doors

[MarkAndDebbie]

I got some of the 2x6 kiln dried SYP #2 that I will use for my loft decking and built 3 doors for my shed a while back. I am very pleased with how the pine has yellowed and I think they would look nice for my house as well. My problem is warping. I have a 2" gap of daylight at the top of the non-hinge side. My wife will find that drafty in the house .

Here is how I constructed the doors: I used pipeclamps and glue to put together the boards vertically. Then I put a 2x8 across the top and bottom leaving a border around it (so the jam would hit the vertical t&g and not the bracing). I then drilled through each vertical board and the brace and put a 3/8s inch bolt through it in sort of a w pattern so that the bolts wouldn't be in a strait line. Then I attached the diagonal brace piece in the same way.

How can I improve my process to get a more stable door? X bracing instead of Z? Let-in the brace? Polyurethane (I didn't finish the shed door). Some sort of angle iron reinforcement? Have PEG ship me some straight-grain old-growth fir ? Buy a cheap prehung fiberglass door ?

BTW - I am planning on outswing doors with surface mounted hinges.

Thanks!

[NM_Shooter]

Nice looking door!

Building a weather tight door is a challenge.  You probably should build it with styles and top rail stay to keep the edges as straight as possible.  Go get good wood that has been kild dried and stickered...not the stuff at big box stores. 

Or if in the big box home store, go to their millworks area and look at the custom doors they have there.  HD has a door here locally that is very similar to what you are after.

Good luck, and nice work!

[MountainDon]

As Shooter stated, building a weather tight solid wood door is, at best, a difficult task. With all those vertical pieces there will be a large increase/decrease in width as the humidity goes up and down. The problem is not the type of bracing.

[Don_P]

For a Z door to work best the diagonal runs the other way so it is propping up the top outside corner in compression rather than hanging in tension.

Wood selection is important. Notice the streak of pith down the inside of the diagonal. That door curved in at the bottom I'll bet. Juvenile wood typically shrinks a bit in length while the more mature wood on the other face probably did not, causes bow. Kiln dried construction lumber is still 5-10% above the final moisture content the wood will acclimate to.

Even a wood frame and panel door is tough to keep straight. It is wood, shrinks and swells in response to moisture. One face is alternately seeing blazing heat and blowing rain. The other face is seeing a woodstove or shade. It's a wonder they ever seal. An architectural premium door has a glued up solid wood frame covered by veneer for this reaon.

[MarkAndDebbie]

Thanks Everybody. This is why Debbie made me draw the door rough openings for a standard prehung 36" door. I'll start watching Craigslist for nice doors. But I still have some more of the 2x6 T&G cut too small for the loft floor- so I'll try again. I'm sure I'll have more questions on installation if I don't end up with a prehung door.

For a Z door to work best the diagonal runs the other way so it is propping up the top outside corner in compression rather than hanging in tension.

I realized that I put them on backwards after I had them up.  Maybe this is better. Photoshop (Gimp really) is more forgiving than wood. The good news is that it doesn't sag - like every gate I've built

[Pritch]

I have not tried this but I read once where a guy built the door by using two layers of boards sandwiching a thin sheet of plywood inbetween.  I bet you could find a way to recess it so it wouldn't be visible at the edges.  IIRC, the individual boards were glued and screwed to the plywood, making everything pretty stable.  You could make this a pretty massive door or perhaps use slightly thinner stock to offset the width of the plywood. 

[Ndrmyr]

Kudo's on the door, and let me say, it has been my lifetime ambition to avoid making two things, doors and chairs (Adirondacks not included). I wondering if using a or making a mini-SIP might not be a way.  Say, sandwich 1" high density foam between two sheets of ply, with construction adhesive. Run aluminum angle iron around the edges, you could even countersink and through bolt if you so decided.  This would give you a frame to attach your outside solid wood and hinges. It would well-insulated and should have minimal seasonal movement.   If I were doing it, I might use 3/4" steel angle and weld it into a frame and just drop the SIP into it.  You could put some plates on the back for hinge backers.

Just a thought.