Buying an insulated door isn’t possible unless it is custom made. This is an older house and this is an odd sized space. I need an exterior door that has good insulating properties. It doesn’t have to look good but it does need to be solid. The guy at the hardware store suggested I glue some 2x6 tongue and groove cedar and the nail on a Z pattern with 1x4. This sounds like a recipe for a warped door.
Any other ideas?
Standard construction for gates here but for a door you should be able to buy a Door Blank . They are easily obtainable here (UK) and Europe so I should imagine they are pretty universal.
They are available with interior insulation and/or fireproofing or even a sheet of steel down the middle - fire and intrusion deterrent.
Example is a randomly obtained German manufacturer.
I actually work for a door and window fabricator. The standard construction is 9mm MDF with a sheet of 12~32mm Polystyrene glued to it, then a uPVC moulded skin bonded to either side. Where applicable there are cutouts for fitting glazed panels but this would be an unnessecary feature where your needs are concerned. These doors can be custom made to fit any aperture, within reason.
Expensive though.
They are not as tough as people would like to think but the insulating properties are pretty good, both thermal and acoustic.
I can supply a link to the company website so that you may see the kind of thing I mean but I will only do it on request as it may be construed as spamming even though the likelyhood of you using the company would be roughly =0.
That link appears to be broken.
I’ll do it the quick and dirty way instead:
Is is close enough in size to a regular door that you could buy an old door and trim it down? It might not suit your insulation needs, but it might be more durable than a door you make yourself.
Or, alternately, is there any space in the framing so that you could purchase a prehung door, enlarge the rough opening, and slide it in? We had a 32"-odd door on our house; we were able to widen the opening and shoehorn in a new 36" door (we had to replace the trim, but it was much easier than building a new frame and such.
Sounds more like a gate to me. And it would have virtually no insulation qualities.
I don’t know much about doors but the guy at the hardware store said this was a no go but judging from his advice on building my own door, I better try somewhere else to see if if can get a door blank like Myglaren suggested. The problem might be that most exterior doors are metal and I wouldn’t be able to cut that. I guess I would be looking for a wood door with an insulated interior. Anyone?
Ok, so what’s the problem with a custom door? We just had 2 entry and 2 storm doors installed. It cost about an extra hundred dollars to have our steel door customized for our opening, which brought the total price up to something like 400 bucks (prehung). Then it’s just up to you if you want to try to do the installation. The professional we paid took about 5 hours to hang it. My dad, who is a VERY handy guy, tried to do his own and it took the better part of a weekend.
I should mention that 400 was the total, uninstalled price of the customized steel entry door, not the total price for the whole shebang. The whole deal, including installation, was much more expensive. But installing 4 doors is not a quick or easy job.
Buy a custom steel door pre hung in a new frame, if you can’t redo the door to a standard. This is going to give you a door that seals and hangs properly as well as being insulated and not liable to rot.
I find it hard to believe that you can’t find a door at least close enough to cut down and fit in the existing frame. If not then you should be able to replace the doorway frame and all. A little trim work should make it look nice and neat.
BUT… if you just absolutely can not find anything that’ll work (btw the steel doors the other posters recommended is a great idea)
A sturdy hollow but insulated door is easy to build. Use 2x6 oak framework with glue and styrofoam insulation covered by 1/4" solid oak panel. use a 2x6 across the header, center brace and kickboard at the bottom. Both sides (hinge and knob) 2x6 as well.
glue these together with strong construction adhesive with didos, biscuits, or tongue/groove.
Cut the oak panel and glue it down on one side then cut pieces of 1" foam insulation and glue in the panels. cut the other oak panel and glue it down on the back side. clamp it down for a day and sand the edges good when your done, cut out the hole for the doorknob and counter sink the hinges. etc… if you can read a square and tape measure fitting it is just a matter of accuracy.
You can build a sturdy insulated oak door for about $50. (hardware not included)
As a remodeler/carpenter, the easiest and cheapest way, unless you just HAVE to have a door in a weird size, is to modify the rough opening, and just install a pre-hung metal-clad exterior door. A general standard is 36" for entry doors. These doors come with threshold, weather stripping, etc pre-installed. Standard rough opening size is minimum 2 in. wider and 2 in higher than the door, but I like to go more on the height. That’s what shims are for.
Also, I don’t believe it’s possible to build an oak door for fifty bucks. Don’t know where you live, but the big box stores IME don’t even sell oak in 2X sizes, so you would have to go to a lumber yard, where you will probably pay 4 or 5 bucks a foot, and you need about 20 ft of material just for the frame. Not to mention, you would need to use advanced joinery skills/tools/techniques to custom make a door that won’t sag out of square/plumb after a few weeks.
You have alot of knowledgeable people here. If you provide some specific data we might be able to help you.
What size do you need?
Is there a specific look you would like?
Was there a door before?
What does the frame look like?
Can you take some pictures?
Could you ask a little less specific question like how do I build house?
Sorry solkoe, you did ask how to build a door and jimbeam gave some good ideas.
If I were building a frame and panel door though, I would use wide mortise and tenon joints for the frame instead of dados or biscuits, as they are stronger against the door wanting to sag/pull apart simply from it’s own weight. And instead of putting panels over the outside, I would use dados to mount the panels in the center of the frame. You would lose the insulation factor (which is negligible IMO) but it would look a lot better I think. Just personal preference.
Not the question but amusing. I know somebody that has a farm made by a short immigrant. The house has regular doors, because he had a wife. The people doors in the barn are about four foot tall. He changed one of the people doors to normal size and the rest remain.
klaatu I agree w/ you that $50 may be on the low side. I also do carpentry/remodeling. I don’t know his skill level but I assume he can figure out how to run a dido blade. The adhesive will help keep the joints tight and the key to the whole thing is the sheet of paneled oak. That will help keep it from sagging in the corners. I’ve built several doors and I’ve never had even one come apart or even drag.
Lets see 20’ of 2x6 oak at 1.50’ = $30
1/4" oak panel at $20 ea. (that was my mistake) a 32" door will require two sheets so it’s $40 so it’ll be $70 for the door
as far as the insulation goes…I can buy a 4x8 sheet at southerlands for about $7 plus for glue try liquid nails heavy duty construction adhesive 2 tubes at $3 ea.
Sorry klaatu you’re right. It’s gonna run probably $80 bucks before hardware.
BTW I agree w/ you…I’d rather fit a new door, frame and all. BUT he did ask how?
Besides, some folks might be interested in building a door. 
I also like the panels mount in the frame but I thought he wanted an insulated door and that is how it’s done.
anyway…I bet you can find a “blueprint” somwhere.
goodluck~JB
BTW; I buy all my lumber at lumber yards. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.
last time I promise
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2534
I don’t care how you do it. I was just letting you know that it’s not that hard to do.
You can use spruce or fir, hell you can even use pine. I’ve built a lot of (inside) doors with 2x2 pine and panels and they worked fine. (pretty damned cheap to build too)
You can use long wood screws to tighten the corners or even 90degree angles braces inside the joints, hell there’s so many ways to build a door it’s unreal.
I just think my way’s quickest and easiest. and it’ll be strong too.
so there ya go, I’m done
forgot a link, sorry
I guess I need to go back to bed. :smack:
I am no door expert, but this is making me think about a seriously inappropriate door that was 3/4 made, but fortunately not installed, in a house a friend bought.
The darn thing was solid hard wood, and I found it seriously hard to lift.
Like I could not - even tilting it was … painful.
The cedar sounds fairly sensible, it is not going to rot.
The ‘frame’ of 1 x 4 is what is meant to hold it into shape, from watching an adept joiner repair/rejuvenate my 100 year old front door, I recognize that pegging things is a bit of an art form.
I think I would start with a sheet of marine ply (or as others suggested MDF) and construct the thing before assembling it eg: put the cedar tongue and groove on last.
I would not use nails, rather self tapping screws in pre-drilled guide holes.