What kind of doors are you guys using?

Ya know....I have these rather large (but definitely solid) church doors. The only problem is that the one I want to use for a super-door has a notched-out, "gap" in the middle. I'm assuming stained glass or the like was here at one time. (it's the door on the left in the picture) Any advice on plugging this gap? Is it worth my time?

You don't need to drill holes. Use a surface mounted door knob/handle and/or pushplates in stead. Check my design (scroll back) and you'll see what I mean.

Ro wrote:

You don't need to drill holes. Use a surface mounted door knob/handle and/or pushplates in stead. Check my design (scroll back) and you'll see what I mean.

Yo, Ro. Not too sure if you're responding to me or not but, yeah, I'm not planning on drilling into this door (for a door knob, etc). What I'd like to know is what would be the best way to fill the gap in the middle? Cut-to-fit layers of mdf and caulk? Any better ideas? Thanks, dudes!

Cut-to-fit layers of mdf and caulk?

I guess that would probably work (not sure, though), but I was thinking that since the gap is designed for glass, then why not put glass in it? A couple of panes of thick laminate glass, of course, or maybe one REALLY thick pane It might look neat like that. Just an idea. - Stuart -

yo, dudes. My earlier response was to luke, but it could be a general comment as well. I'm with Stu, put laminated glass innit (1 pane). It would rock! If you know what wood the door's made of and how thick it is, you'll know it's mass. You can than calculate it against the density of glass and you'll know what thickness of glass to use. Or else I'd fill it with MDF. nice doors!

Pure L wrote:

What I'd like to know is what would be the best way to fill the gap in the middle?

It depends on if you intend to paint the door or sand and reseal. Making a plug to fill the void will require some finesse with @ minimum, a table saw and mitre saw. MDF is a good product for what it does, but it would not fill the hole in this beautiful hardwood door and allow for a quality finish...unless you painted it. The door is probably some where in the area of 1 7/8 inches thick. Based on this measurement you would use two pieces of 3/4 inch material with an inner layer of 3/8 inch to get this 1-7/8 inch thickness. (It could be thicker depending on the existing fire rating of the door.) The difficult part will be trying to match the grain of the veneered wood species if the exact wood product is either not available or unknown. If all the above conditions fell in line, then cutting out the widest width and height of the mentioned wood products and glue/clamp the parts together would be next. After a good 24 hour set up you can establish what the rabbited dimensions are from the existing hole and set the table saw rip fence to allow you to cut first the depth of the cut (on the side of the new panel) and second the width(on the face of the panel). I would glue the plug into the hole and clamp it in place, no nails. If this is too complicated you may want to enlist the services of some one local to apply this patch or even do a complete veneer. It can be done, Brien

xspace, Thanks for the advice. Just what I needed to hear. And, come to think of it, you see the door to the right? It's the exact same wood/cut as the door on the left. It's too small to be usable though (and "usable" simply means 'wide enough to get an Ampeg "fridge" through comfortably'........it's 39 3/4" wide. The door, that is). So yeah, I'm thinking about plugging that whole with the flesh of its little bro!

If you plug for paint grade, router a ledge for your outer layers to set in. Then you can caulk the inner plug good then caulk/fill outer plugs sand and paint. Probably better than 1 caulk joint. :)

Hey, does this look like the "GM Trunk Rubber" that Rod refers to in his book? http://tinyurl.com/r5u9zb It says, "TYP OF 2" in the book and I can't figure out what that means. Grazi!

Rod was just giving an example, there's plenty of choices in rubber shapes to use. If THAT was the type that Rod mentioned, I dunno.

Hi, I saw the title of the thread, so I thought I'd share my door design here in case in can help someone... Just so you know the door designed that way is 150kg, so you need someone with you to manoeuvre it. Well I do anyway... Links to materials used are: magnetic seals Batwing corner seals automatic threshold seals Hinges are specialist self-lubricating hinges rated at 200kg (for 3 per door) Steel frames done by a friend metal worker and blacksmith in hollow steel beams which will be filled with expanding foam. Hope it'll help someone here!

Lemme fix a link.........

TheFrenchVoice wrote:

Hi, I saw the title of the thread, so I thought I'd share my door design here in case in can help someone... Just so you know the door designed that way is 150kg, so you need someone with you to manoeuvre it. Well I do anyway... Links to materials used are: magnetic seals Batwing corner seals automatic threshold seals Hinges are specialist self-lubricating hinges rated at 200kg (for 3 per door) Steel frames done by a friend metal worker and blacksmith in hollow steel beams which will be filled with expanding foam. Hope it'll help someone here!

External image, not preserved — original: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/download/file.php?id=28479&mode=view

There we go. Thanks, TheFrenchVoice.

Nice one PureL, and you're welcome, hopefully sharing it allows me to give and repay a little after the wealth of information I've benefited from reading this forum!

I can't see the pic..

It's here but if for some reason your browser refuses to show it here's the link to it, just click it http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/download/file.php?id=28479&mode=view

Hallo guys I've found pretty cheap MDF doors, le compared to solid core ones. Are they a valid substitute for wood doors? I can only afford hollow wood doors, solid core are ridicolously pricey in Italy!!

a SOLID MDF door will do more than fine. Hollow core, however, are quite useless. Unless you make it a super heavy door by adding sheets of MDF on both sides and only using that door (1 door). But it's a wast of money, you can then just just the MDF sheets and make a door yeself. standard solidcore doors are indeed pretty expensive when they're hardwood doors o_O

I concur with Ro: do them yourself! Standard MDF density is 0.72 (720kg/m3), the density of many hardwoods. There is also HDF, with a density of about 0.95 (close to an average ebony density). A door made with 4 sheets of standard 25mm MDF is 150kg. This, combined with a good multi-seal system, should be not too shabby. Well, I hyope, since this is what I'll have! You'll need three specialised hinges per door (they each cost a small fortune but that's what you need) and a reinforced steel frame to hold them in place as strandard door frame and drywall structure will bend and not behave very well when you open the doors - make sure you place the hinges properly, too. Only thing with MDF is that although it's stable it will bend if you don't keep your stock properly, partly because of its weight, partly because it behave like a sponge with ambient humidity. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips guys. As you can see in my construction thread, John designed a complete double door system, so the weight of the doors can ne considerably reduced. In fact what I was going to do is get hollow core doors and reinforce hem with 1 sheet of plywood then rockwool and fabric. But you make me think.. I might build a "light" mdf door, but solid core.. Maybe add a layer of mdf or plywood.. I can get raw mdf doors with solid frame for 50€ (80 dollars) but they're hollow.. I would just save lots or work and risk the risk or doing it unproperly! What do you think?

Why dont you just go and buy some mdf sheets and build the door yourself? You can even ask homedepot to cut the sheets to size and glueing/screwing them its easier than turning on the microwave. Like my door, you can further add a sheet of high density vinyl which will improve isolation. Get a bunch of good hinges and you are ready to go

belairstudio wrote:

Thanks for the tips guys. In fact what I was going to do is get hollow core doors and reinforce hem with 1 sheet of plywood then rockwool and fabric. But you make me think.. I might build a "light" mdf door, but solid core.. Maybe add a layer of mdf or plywood.. I can get raw mdf doors with solid frame for 50€ (80 dollars) but they're hollow.. I would just save lots or work and risk the risk or doing it unproperly! What do you think?

One of the issues you will have is that the hollow core door becomes thicker then the jamb when you start adding layers of mass to it. Also it may not stay seated on the hinge leaf due to the inner hollow core door not being thick enough and the screws passing through the wood into the cavity, not getting enough of a "bite" of wood to secure the heavier door. A wooden frame is better for your jamb as far as continued mass. But these things all hinge(pardon that!) on if you have the ability to build a door and a frame. It is tedious and exacting work.

Skip the hollow core doors. For that price you can build a solid MDF door yourself. Check out my design on earlier pages, something like that will do very well. If you think that design is too heavy, you can use smaller sheets of MDF. no problem since my design is a VERY solid (heavy) door :)

So in regard to hinges...... I've been told that these hinges are "beefy hinges": I have 4 of them. I'm willing to bet that my door weighs a minimum of 250 lbs. You think these'll hold? Seems I'd need some pretty long, strong screws too, no?

I think they will

They are beefy indeed. pay attention when installing them... "this side up" ;)