My parent’s home has a custom entry door, 1 3/4″ x 3′ x 7 ‘, made of heart pine. The pine was recycled and was harvested 120-140 years ago. The door faces north and gets no direct sun. The steps lead up to a covered porch about six feet deep, and is inset with no storm door. There appears to be a little water stain inside the door bottom. The outside paint is good.
The problems are: the door panels have split in several areas, the glue line in each panel is failing, and one has split along its entire length. A couple of smaller splits are visible from the inside, while another can only be seen from the outside. The other problem is the door is literally separating at the seams between the bottom rail and the two stiles. I noticed a small slit (it let light through) over Christmas on one side, it appears to be larger now (maybe 1/32″), and you can see the gaps on both sides. The top and middle rails look tight.
The door feels solid and the reveals are even all the way around. The wood trim, inside and out look good. Are these splits/gaps something that can be cured without disassembling the door? Or is it even worth worrying about? If the door has to be taken apart, what is the best way to go about it without damaging the parts?
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As a professional door maker with 30 years experience, nothing grates me more than to hear this sad story. Your door was made by some (alleged) woodworker (or shop) that could see no difference between an exterior wood door and a cabinet door, so why not make one? How hard can it be? I run into these things almost every week, and everybody wants what you want- repair. There is no repair, unfortunately. Your door sounds as if it was not tenoned together, much less cope and stuck with haunched tenons. If the panels split on glue lines, they may be glued in or the wrong glue used - perhaps both. None of this would make a repair practical or possible.
If a stuck door (integral profiling on the stiles and rails that retain the panels/glass) splits a panel, the sticking often can be routed out the release the panel for repair or replacement.
My first suggestion is to find the joker that made the door and hold his or her feet to the fire, and get them to replace the door or refund the selling price. These folks give the professionals an uphill road to tow when they pull these stunts. If nothing else, it is important to let them know their work has failed.
Secondly, seek out a professional door shop that can demonstrate experience and success in the long-term manufacturing of wood doors and have them make the door. It is then up to you to find a qualified carpenter (you?) to fit and hang and latch the new door. then you or someone needs to finish the door properly.
All things come together in an exterior door: temperature and humidity extremes, aesthetics, function, hardware, security, wood, weatherstripping and functional as well as aesthetic finishing. It is rare to find a woodworker that can appreciate this much less build to anticipate such a situation.
Dave S http://www.acornmwoodworks.com (prototype website)
Thanks Acorn,
The general contractor was a cabinet maker by trade and he made all the built-ins, trim, wainscoating, the entry, and interior doors. The architect speced quite a bit of trim, flooring, panelling and doors from this old heart pine. Even after 25 years all the other work, including a half dozen heart pine interior six panel doors look good. I planed one down the top corner of one that had started to stick a little the other day. To my knowledge that is the only maintenance they have done to any of the interior work. I think generally the quality is pretty good on everything else, the entry door is the only thing I've seen with any trouble. At any rate I cannot go back to the GC, he passed away some 10-15 years ago.
The front door does appear to have mortise and tenon joints. I can see light both above and below what looks to be a tenon on one side. The panels are not split all the way through front to back, and even though I think it is getting worse, the separation at the bottom is not that bad. I know there is plenty of the pine left to make another door, so I believe that is what I'll shoot for if we get to that point.
I am something of an intermediate skill level woodworker, and I thought I might be able to get this fixed for them along with the other things I have been fixing this week. My parents are in their eighties and might not want to keep this house much longer, and the door is not in danger of falling apart anytime soon. It is still a big, mostly solid, and very heavy chunk of wood. I guess I had some sort of vision of taking the door apart, fixing what could be fixed, replacing what could not, and rehanging the door. I am glad I asked.
I do appreciate your reply.
If I ever decide to try to make an entry door myself is there a book or website you could reccommend?
If the light is showing above and below the tenon, then there is no sticking and cope, or a haunched tenon. It sounds as if loose tenons may have been used. Both of those design elements help hold things together by increasing glue surface. Without a profiled edge around the panels, it will be difficult to remove the panel(s). There are 3 paths: Do nothing but caulk and patch, Replace the door, or remove the door and attempt to disassemble, repair and reassemble.
If you choose to disassemble, board up the opening since you will be more than a day. Measure and record the two diagonals on the face of the door. The biggest problem I forsee is that the stiles and rails are no longer square and true, so in order to preserve width and height, you will have to work with the same now uneven surfaces. Clean out all the old glue (type?) and rip apart and rejoint the panels on the glue lines. Dry fit the door without panels, and then with the panels. Before final assembly, paint the endgrain of the panels with epoxy to seal them and let it cure.
Use West epoxy or similar, since it is gap filling, to assemble the door and then clamp lightly. Check those diagonals. Insure that the door is absolutely flat on the bench - no twist. Sand and refinish.
It is not uncommon for a very competent cabinetmaker, trim carpenter or mill man to do a lousy job at an exterior door. Not due to poor craft or skills, but merely an unfamiliarity with the very real specifics of exterior door construction. The exterior doors (and frames, weatherstrip, hardware, and finish) are a completely different animal. Very few people in the trade see the difference, much less the customers, so this type of work is often grouped with all woodwork. For me to lecture about how they should back off and hire a professional sounds protectionist and elitist, but is borne out by experience time and time again.
Dave S
Thanks again, I really appreciate the detailed responses. My dad used to always tell me not to "buy trouble". In that vein I believe I'll let the door stay as is. As long as it s remains operable, I'll call it a win. If and when it falls apart, I'll find an exterior door maker to make a replacement.
After reading your post I made a closer inspection and both panel glue lines failed in exactly the same way on the inside of the door. Whatever he did at least he was consistent.
Sorry to hi-jack this thread but I am thinking about trying to make an exterior door and was thinking about the tenon joints and was wondering what you thought of loose tenons vs traditional mortise and tenons? As you know from the knots collum there are lots of opinions out there and sometimes they are backed up buy fact and experiance;) Yours would be greatly appriciated.ThanksTroy
I'm a raving traditionalist when it comes to M&T and doors. I have always made the tenons integral to the rails. Besides tradition, there are several reasons: Exactly half the joints to make, fit, glue and potentially fail than with loose tenons. Less parts to make and keep track of. No mortising into end grain. Loose tenons don't easily allow for glass muntins to be used.
I have used loose tenons in a case or two where there just was no other way, but not for exterior door work. A good trick to have up the sleeve if needed, but not for the daily bread. Economy of material and motion would also lean towards integral tenons.
I was looking at some of King Tut's tomb furniture the other day. Mortise and tenon, no loose tenons, and all they had was bronze or copper tools!
Dave S
Many thanks for your response and experience. Troy
Are you familiar with the technique of placing back to back panels in the door? From either side they look like just a normal panel, but where the temperature difference between inside and outside can be great, this will prevent splitting due to that. We replaced a pair of doors, damaged by (student) vandals, in an old university building that were made like this.
Yes, I am familiar with this technique, though I have never felt the need to do this myself. I last saw this done by a carpenter type builder in the late '70's. I even saw people putting in tin-foil between the panels (!?!).
The logic is sound, but perhaps redundant. If a single proper panel is installed, with a tight fit into the plow, given the correct amount of room to move, correct glue for width, and properly finished, then there is no reason for the panel to split -unless it is glued inadvertently in assembly. We have a couple of proprietary tricks we do to prevent panel splitting, and have had no splits for the last 20 years - knock on wood.
Panels split (on glue lines) because the wrong glue is used, or they split because water intrudes and expands the panels, they have nowhere to go, so the fibers all crush just a little, and then when the panel dries out, it shrinks and splits. It is really that simple.
Putting two panels back to back is like loose tenons - more parts and pieces to deal with, more to go wrong. And shouldn't those two backs be finished?
Dave S
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