The door is 29 x 74 and cannot be widened because it is enclosed by two concrete walls. As for the look, the word is functionality. Solid and well insulated please. I would provide pictures but I don’t know how and I’m not sure what good they would do.
Why don’t you just buy a 28" door? I don’t know what if any frame you have but it doesn’t sound like a big deal. Cut the door off to length and shim around the frame add a little trim.
You can check out Lowes.com go to building materials and access the doors. they have some composite doors for less than $40 bucks. Give’m a good primer and enamel they should be okay.
If you want a solid wood door try
http://www.ebuild.com/guide/products/specifierResults.asp?catCode=1797&pageNum=0&sortCode=5&firstSearch=1&E_neg1=&F_1715=&F_1586=&N_537_8=78_1&N_727_8=28_1&F_124=&F_1220=&F_733=&F_125=&N_1806_8=&N_1164_8=&F_200=&F_203=
that site, they will sell you one online and ship it to you.
There are a few steel door manufacturers that’ll oblige but they’re pretty damned expensive for a custom built steel door w/ a frame.
I’d just buy a 28" composite blank and seal the piss out of it.
good luck ~JB
I seem to be missing something here and I don’t mean to hijack the thread but I read the entire thing with a solid look of jaw dropping amazement on my face.
I just examined all the doors in the vicinity, interior and exterior and they all seem to be made roughly the same way: It’s a rectangular slab of wood-product. Interior doors seem to be particle board frame sandwiched between plywood or somesuch but are hollow inside. Exterior just seems like it’s … a solid rectangular slab of wood or particle board.
Am I just misjudging what it is inside by what it looks like?
I’m not much on woodworking but to me “How do I make a door?” sounds in the same league as “How do I make a tabletop?”… Is this the point where somebody informs me tabletops are more than slabs of wood product and have some inherent construction to them?
If you had said ‘How do I make a table ?’ then it would a closer analagy.
Sticking the legs on in such a way that darn thing does not twist and collapse if you bump into it, is not exactly an art, but it requires some consideration.
With a door, it could just be a slab of wood, but that would be incredibly heavy and is likely to create real problems hanging it. Like massive reinforcement for whatever the hinges are screwed into.
Normally doors are a solid rectangular frame with lighter weight panels filling in the gaps - an interior door generally has something inside that acts as a sound insulator, exterior doors need to be a bit more robust.
The OP was told how to make a shed or barn door by his hardware guy, and he is quite right in reckoning that it would warp - personally I would expect it to sag.
Given later information, my recommendation would be to go out and find an undersized door that looks pretty decent, then build up the lock side and/or top with good quality kiln dried hardwood (or even better some reclaimed and seriously old hardwood).
I’ve literally built hundreds of custom doors. There are many different types of doors, frame and panel, which are beyond the skill of novices, hollow core, solid core, board and batten which is what the hardware store recommended. T
A door that a novice stands a good chance of pulling off would be an insulated hollow core. Start with 1 1/4" thick x 2" wide lumber for the frame. Use a rot resistant wood such as cedar. Cut the 2 stiles (vertical pieces) to length. Then cut 5 rails (horizontal pieces) to length (finish door width - width of stiles). Attach the rails to the stiles with corrugated fasteners. Make sure to place one rail just below lockset height. Glue a backing block of wood approxiamately 4" square in the corner stile/rail space directly above this rail to recieve the lockset.
Now cut some type of insulation to fit the rectangles formed by the frame members. Next glue a piece 1/4" plywood (ask for “door skins” at your local lumber yard) to both sides, taking care to make sure the frame is square. Use a waterproof glue such a Titebond III or a polyurethane glue.
Remember to account for the width of the jamb stock when deciding on door width and height. The 1 1/4 thickness plus the two 1/4" sheets of plywood will give you a 1 3/4" thick door which is exterior thickness.
First, to reply to some other posts, it seems as if a 28" door qualifies as a custom door, especially with only a 74" height. That means mucho money.
This post provides tons of good info, thanks! Here are a few questions.
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Why cedar? I know its rot resistance but doesn’t it warp easily? I would like to use cedar because it is fairly cheap but I thought a hardwood might be a better choice especially since the door will not be exposed to water.
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I need five rails, where do they go?
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What is a corrugated fastener?
This looks like the way I’m going to go. Thanks for your help!!
To help avoid warping use 4" or 6" wide lumber for your top, middle and bottom rails with 2" rails spaced evenly between. That will divide the door into 4 equal rectangles where you will place the insulation.
Pound several corrugated fasteners into each stile to rail joint. These will work more to hold it together until you glue on the door skins on. The skins, if properly glued will keep everything together and maintain rigidity.
Before you begin to glue up, have everything at hand. You’ll need clamps and heavy objects to hold the skin down. Scrap pieces of lumber to evenly spread the clamp pressure and keep the clamps from marring the surface. You don’t need to use too much glue. A thin even coat will work fine. A small disposable paintbrush will help you do it quickly.
It’s best to do a dry run first with no glue so you’ll have a better idea how the whole thing comes together. Take your time, think it through. Once the glue is spread you must work quickly but calmly. The dry run helps you do this.
Make sure you do this on a very flat surface so your door will be nice and flat when you are finished.
Can you provide a reason that a 28" door won’t work?
9 years dude. 9 years.