Shadow Box Door

[Pappy]

We are remodeling room by room including needed wall repairs, paint, new doors and replacing the carpet with laminate.. Soon we will be moving into the living room and hallway. The new doors are matching 6 panel. Problem......The AC blower unit door is 32" x 56". No way to cut down a 6-panel door and make it look right. My thought is to build a rail and stile door out of 2x6. Instead of upper and lower panels I am planning to build shadow boxes about 6" deep. They will be sealed in the front and access to the shelves will be through lift out panels in the rear of each shadow box.

My concern is the door sagging over time. Any suggestions on how to reinforce it to prevent this. My only thought would be to assemble the framework (rails and stiles) with pocket screws but I'm not sure that will be enough.

[Black walnut]

Why is it you don't think good glue joints of cope and stick 2x6 construction will not last? I have seen lots of interior frame and panel doors that open and close often made from solid wood in homes of 90+ years of age. The door you are describing can be tightly fitted to the door frame which should support against diagonal racking forces. Since it will to open out the door frame can be made in such a fashion to support inward tipping forces. IMHO pocket hole screws would be overkill but what's the harm in over-building if it makes you feel better?

[Pappy]

I probably am overengineering. Even with a plywood skin on them, shed doors tend to have a tension rod to prevent sagging. Also, I don't know how much weight the shadow boxes and their contents will add. If the shadow box doors were on the front I could make the back panel solid to add strength but that ain't what SWMBO;d wants and you know how that argument is going to come out! I might put a small ramp/wedge under the knob side of the door for support when it is closed.

[mpc]

A small ramp/wedge as you mentioned would work. Tapered/pointed dowel pins on the backside that engage holes in the door stops would also add support.
What do you envision for the door stop/latch? One of those spring-loaded metal ball catches mounted to the bottom of the door or to the door opening would serve as a latch and as a support leg.

mpc

[capncarl]

Have you thought about building your shadow box door using simular construction as the double pane windows, that is, one large sheet of glass and grill overlays. The glass enclosed in a door frame with the grilles overlayed off the glass. A large sheet of glass I close in the door won’t allow it to sag.

[Pappy]

mpc, it will be hung on 2 standard door hinges and hall/closet passage knob will secure it. The idea is to make it blend in with the rest of the doors as much as possible.

Carl, I'm having trouble picturing what you mean. It seems the glass would have to be fairly thick/heavy to withstand the stress.

[leehljp]

Rail and stile doors, when properly cut and fit have plenty of strength. There are lots of doors done this way with glass, and our kitchen door is an old rail and stile door nearly 90 years old. the stress of glass is alleviated with 1. proper cut and assembly and then 2. glass fitting channels (don't know the proper term) have space for the shifting in a very similar way that solid wood table tops are assembled to frames with slip clips. The glass channels are roughly 3/16" to 1/4" wider and taller than the glass panes. Now-a-days there are small "spacer" rubber balls that are placed in the channels that support the glass panels evenly and allow for the give and movement of the wood.

[Pappy]

Reading through the comments I think I figured out the layout of the door and how to secure the glass. Lee, I hadn't thought about Spaceballs to cushion the glass.