Shop doors - design and materials

[Cochese]

I have three shop projects I'm hoping to tackle this year if everything goes well - a floor cabinet that stretches the length of one wall, a Holzapffel bench, and to replace the doors to my shop.

When these doors were put on to the shed, they were constructed of a T&G plywood with some dimensional lumber to create the closing and locking lip. It was painted on the outside and is worse for being outside - the doors have bowed and require a rotating stop at the top to keep them more in line with the structure. The bowing is fairly significant - without the stop block and locked together, the bowing is about 5-6" out from where it should be. I think it's worse because there was no frame or structure to help keep it from bowing.

The dimensions of the opening is right at 5' wide, and 79" tall (I think I remember that correctly). While it would be nice if I could just throw in a 30-36" wide exterior door and frame it out, I'd like to retain the current width because I have the interior layout set up so I can crosscut larger sheets right inside the door.

Where I'm looking for help is in the design and materials. The design look I'm going for I can't decide between Z-brace, British X-brace or Craftsman carriage doors. I also can't decide if I leave them solid, with a small set of windows near the top, or a Dutch door. I can see the advantages and disadvantages of each.

More importanly I don't know what materials to use. I don't know how important using hardwood is if everything is properly braced - for example if I go with a Z-brace, could I use T1-11 plywood sheets. As much as I like the look of wood, I'm pretty sure these doors are going to be primed and painted white or a dark brown.

If you need pictures to help visualize, I can provide. Thanks in advance.

[Pappy]

The Playen door is 4' wide and simple construction. 2x4 frame with a plywood (1/4" I think) skin glued and screwed to the outside. It is painted and I haven't had any warping problem. It is now covered by an awning that was put up a couple of years after it was built.

I realized how old this piture was when I looked at it after posting. Still has the original 6x8 deck that I put the BT on to work!


The new storage barn has sliding doors that are 3' wide each. 2x6 frame with pocket screws and 1/2" ply set it a groove. This is only 6 months old so too early to tell if I will have any warp problems.



At 5' wide you might consider double (French) doors.

[pelligrini]

A Dutch door would look cool, but it wouldn't be useful unless you've got some toddlers or critters to keep out. It will also have more places to leak.

If you make the door out of sheet goods the bracing in the same plane and the panel doesn't really matter, Z, X or whichever. The sheet will provide more shear strength than any bracing could. To deal with bowing, you need to have a couple members with enough depth perpendicular to the panel. My shop doors were pretty rigid with a 1x4 along the latch side edge. There is some 2x material flat against the t1-11 framing the door. The 1x4 gives it the rigidity. Using a continuous piano hinge there isn't much need for a deeper member on the hinge side. It would also mess with the swing of the door too.

The piano hinge give a small amount of weather protection, but best of all it is very strong. I can hang a lot of stuff on the back of the door.

[Cochese]

The plan is for a double door of equal dimensions. I was thinking along the line of carriage doors, as this site has such a wonderful gallery and almost all of them would be aesthetically pleasing. I really like #8, #15, you get the idea.

http://www.realcarriagedoors.com/gallery.php

I wonder how conceivable it would be to build the doors R&S no matter which style I choose.

This picture is about two years old, but it shows the structure and what the doors look like.

[JimD]

My shop doors inside are 2X construction lumber mortise and tenoned together with a 1/2 mdf panel and shop made molding around the panel. I wouldn't use the MDF on an exterior door but with exterior plywood you could do this also. I used 2x6s for the stiles and top rail and a 2x10 for the bottom. Since they are interior I used the planner to take them to 1 3/8 thickness. Primed with Kilz and painted they are holding up very well.

Jim

[T...K21]

I like #8.

Is there an existing door frame and threshold? Or are the door hinges attached to the wall framing?

[JSUPreston]

I found this to be interesting. It's a lot of work, but looks good to me.

http://legacy.woodshopdemos.com/gar-dr-1.htm

[atgcpaul]

Check this out:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/30907/total-garage-shop-makeover

This shop was featured in FWW's Tools and Shops 2011 (FWW 216).

If you are an online subscriber, you can read the whole article here:

https://www.finewoodworking.com/Workshop/WorkshopPDF.aspx?id=33746

There are details on how he constructed the doors which was a hybrid of M&T and plywood. The M&T seemed like they were more for alignment and "just because" rather than for strength. It seems like the plywood base the frame is attached to does the heavy lifting of keeping the door from racking. He essentially made a large hollow core door which he filled with rigid foam insulation. Not a very complicated build but attractive, IMO.

Paul

[Cochese]

I like #8.

Is there an existing door frame and threshold? Or are the door hinges attached to the wall framing?

I'll explain with my best understanding of the terminology.

There is no threshold per se. The floor extends out to the outside edge of the exterior plywood covering of the shed. There is a lip on the frame to catch the current doors, and there is a (presumably) only decorative trim around the outside of the opening to dress it up. I'll post detailed pictures when I head out there in a bit.

I was most likely going to remove the trim and the lip.

[T...K21]

I apologize...I meant jamb and threshold. I think the window in the door(s) would be a good idea.

[Cochese]

Came up with a rough sketch.




2x4 construction, T111 and plexi. Thoughts appreciated.

I would probably use this for the panel. Don't know if I would do a T&G panel, or simply a rabbetted back and insert it in. The back of the doors would get a sheet of OSB to match the interior and to provide additional integrity. If I center the panel in the frame, it would give me some room to put in some insulated sheets, but I could do that the other way as well and just glue/nail the layers.

[Cochese]

Going to have to build these soon.