Need Help w/Dentil Shelf on Entry Door

[mschrank]

The LOML and I just settled on a new entry door for the home. Real nice door with matching sidelights. We have the option of adding dentil shelves (sketch below) to the door and sidelights, but the cost increases by a bit over $200! I ordered the door yesterday, but didn't include the shelves. I figure I can make them myself for about $20 (for some clear fir) and a bit of time. Then I can easily justify putting $180 towards a tool

But I can't find a good example on which to base my design. I'm sure someone out there has on one their front door. I'd be most appreciative if I could get some ballpark measurements.

Specifically, the depth of the shelf and the depth of the dentil blocks. Also, I'd like the shelf to angle downward slightly to shed water....I'm thinking 15 degrees?

Finally, any suggestions on attaching it to the door? Gorilla glue, or do you think I need some kind of mechanical fastener (dowel, spline etc). This is a very expensive door, and I'm not keen on cutting dowel holes or a dado into it.

[crokett]

Why not build the blocks separate from the shelf, screw the shelf to the door then add the blocks to cover the holes? Add dowels or small M/T to the top of the blocks and underside of the shelf. Then when you install the blocks Gorilla glue the dowel joint and top edge of the block and toenail finish nails up through the bottom edge. You will never see the nails and the bllocks won't come loose.

[mschrank]

Great idea David...can't believe I didn't think of it myself.

[gmack5]

My only thought is that a 15 degree angle seems a little extreme to me.

I would think an angle closer to 5 degrees would be plenty. 'Course it's your door but you might want to do a Mock-up before making it permanent. Just a thought.

[JimD]

I would also do a mockup in scrap. To get the size, you could scale the picture if that is the design you want. You know the width of the door - probably 36 inches - so if you measure the distance with a ruler (metric works well for this but it can be normal inches) you can get a scale. If the width measured 3 inches, for instance, you would know 12 inches of actual width equals 1 inch on the picture. Now measure the dentil width and convert. You can probably get an idea of depth the same way. Looks about 1/2 inch and around 4 inches wide projections but I didn't scale it.

Jim

[mschrank]

I made the sketch on the right based on the photo on the left. I assumed the door in the picture was 36" wide, so it was pretty easy to come up with the width of the various components. But I'm not sure about the depths.


Thanks to all for your suggestions...I agree that the 15 degree angle is probably too much. And it should be easy to build a prototype out of 2x4 stock.