I’m building the “Better-looking Bulkhead Doors” featured in Fine Homebuilding, by Douglas Moore, September 2005. The article preview is at:
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/fh_173_060.asp
Question:
What’s the best strategy for coping with wood movement in assembling these doors?
I’m using a 1×6 western red cedar T&G (V-jointed) skin over a 1×6/1×4 cedar frame.
They will be above a humid root cellar on the south side of my house in western Maryland
where temperatures have ranged from -15 to 100 degrees, with dry winters and humid summers). Entire assembly will be coated with oil-based paint on the weather side and marine varnish on the cellar side.
Is it best to (a) glue and screw the skin to the frame (b) just glue it (c) just screw it (d) nail it (e) use a sliding dovetail or other fancy joint to “float” the skin on the frame (assuming my skills are up to it) ?
Replies
Did you read the magazine article? I believe you can buy a reprint from Taunton if you cannot find the issue in your library.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
That link that he posted has a link to buy the back issue.And here you can buy the invidual article for download.http://www.taunton.com/store/FHArchive/FHarch_Purch.aspAt least that is what I got, but I think that cookies might be used to specify the article.Start by clinking on the article archive button below the banner.
Tom, did you get the link bill posted above? for a copy of the article?A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Well, I have the magazine (FHB 173) on my coffee table in front of me.
The author said he used a specific marine epoxy, and to glue and screw the frame to the skin. What I'm asking is if everyone agrees with that approach. I'm not a very experienced woodworker. However, I've seen the unfortunate results of t&g pine that was glued and screwed too securely to a frame. Is cedar any different (especially if it's painted & varnished as the author recommends)? Or is the marine epoxy flexible enough to allow movement across the width of the skin?I'm thinking the best approach would be to glue each door skin to frame along the inside vertical edge only, then drive brass, round-head wood screws & washers through slightly oversized holes in the top and bottom rails and down into the skin. This would hold the skin snug to the frame, but still allow expansion in the width of the t&g boards.That cedar was expensive. Now that I've cut it all out I'm looking for a second opinion before I, er, screw it up!Another thing I'm after is a source for the nice-looking door stays the author used. No mention in the article.
In my opinion the cedar would be more stable than pine. However, the location of the doors might make as big a difference. The sun does some weird things to wood. Especially a wood door that is in the sun on one side, covering a potentially humid and cooler hole on the other. Have you tried talking to Taunton and maybe emailing the author for some more information. Alot of these guys in the mag are just like you and me...........well, at least down to earth normal human beings.
Having never done anything like you are attempting, I cannot offer any real world experience. I can offer the best of luck.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
As for the door stays, I designed them and had a buddy who is a retired machinist make them up. I can send you drawings, if you want. Just email me a fax number.
Doug
Hi Doug. Just wanted to let you know that I just completed building your design of the bulkhead doors from the "Better Looking Bulkhead Doors"article from the Aug/Sep 2005 Issue of Fine Homebuilding. I love the design and it turned out great. The two unfinished bits of the project are the copper flashing and the door stays. I know it's been 7 years since the article but if this post finds its way to you I would love see your design for the door stays if you still have them.
-Kevin Lynch
When I built the doors I edge glued (epoxied) the T&G skin and then I glued (epoxied) and screwed the frame to the skin. I painted the exterior of the doors with a good water-based exterior paint, and I urethaned the underside.
This far wood movement hasn't been too much of a problem. My doors are on a house that sits on an island in the middle or the Narragansett Bay in RI. The temperature and humidity swings here probably pretty much like what you have in MD. My situation is complicated by a wet basement, however, and when it's cold I often get condensation on the underside of the doors.
What I see for wood movement is that the doors get a little tighter when it's really humid, and a little looser as things dry out in the fall. I also see a little bit of cupping of the doors (maybe 1/8-3/16") in the late spring when the underside gets damp and the outside is dried by the hot sun. In all it hasn't been a big problem.
If I were to build another set, I'm not sure what I'd do differently.... Cedar is so soft, I'm not sure simply screwing the skin to the frame would be rigid enough.
Hope that helps.
Doug
Thanks, Doug!
My doors are out in the garage now, cut and assembled, and waiting to be finished.
Yes, I edge-glued the skin, too. I 've been a little uneasy about that, thinking it might have been better to secure the T&G to the frame without any glue along the edges of the T&G. I'm reassured by your comments.
I glued and screwed the outer frame to the skin, but only screwed down the center of the skin to the diagonal braces. Along those diagonals, I used #10 round-head brass screws with 1/4" washers (in Forstner countersunk holes), hoping this will maintain flatness while allowing slight movement across the grain. My doors are a little narrower than yours (45" total width) ; some minor bowing/cupping shouldn't be a huge problem.
What about the top and bottom edges? Did you apply something like a breadboard across those areas to prevent moisture entering the V-grooves? Or just caulk them?
This has been a fun project, and a good excuse to buy a couple of nice new tools. I bought the Festool circular saw and "multi function table" because I really don't have room for a table saw. I'll hoist the MFT up to the garage ceiling with a block and tackle when it's not in use. It worked great to trim and square up these doors.
To finish, I'll use Stulb's Old Village "Pearwood" paint in the water-based formulation. This is going to look great (much better than the existing PT slab doors) against the foundation of our pre-Civil War house. Thanks again for the nice design!
My reasons for edge gluing the skins was to insure they'f be water tight. It seemed to work.I did not do anything special on the top and bottom edges. Just painted them carefully.
Doug
Well, I installed those doors on Friday.
They looked gorgeous all weekend.
I was feeling pretty proud, as this was my first woodworking project, other than Shaker furniture from kits, that was much more ambitious than a birdhouse. Then under a hot sun today, they cracked.
Ha!
Could be the wood wasn't properly dry
(should've checked with a moisture meter).
Or maybe it was just the way the knots lined up on the one board.The crack does not go all the way through (yet). If it gets no worse, it'll be part of the character. Or else I'll try again next year!
I don't know what to say... Terribly sorry.What kind of wood did you use? I used clear vertical grain cedar, which is 'relatively' stable across the grain. You mentioned a knot. I wonder if the type/quality of wood you chose might have made a difference.Regardless, do you have pictures? I'd like to see how it came out. you can email me at: [email protected].Doug
I used Select Tight Knot Western Red Cedar, 1x6 T&G with V-grooves.
That's what was available from the lumber yard in my rural area.
If I decide to remake them (which may not be necessary at all),
I'll probably ask about special-ordering what you used.
Here are a couple of pictures.At this point the copper flashing is just cut to size and tucked up over the outside of the first course of cedar siding. It's there to seal a gap between the doors' pre-existing frame and the bottom of the siding, which allowed wind and a little rain to blow into the cellar. I know nothing about flashing procedures; might just leave it as it is, tacked down own the edges and caulked.Differences from the doors in the FHB article:
The rabetted board at the top is integrated into the door, instead of being attached to the frame as it was in Doug's plan. I added a latch to go into a mortise in the edge of the vertical batten (to draw the doors slightly down against rubber weather seals on the inside top edge, and as peace-of-mind in windy weather). Garage door weather seals are on the bottom to keep the cedar off the concrete. These are built as overlay doors, not let into a frame as in Doug's plan. And I have no nice metal door stays yet, just rope to keep the doors away from the stone surround (which seems to work o.k.) I worked some clear latex caulk into the edges of the stones, too, in case the ropes fail. Vertical crack is on the outside of the left door, near the batten. I loosened the brass screws all around after it happened; will probably sand, patch, re-paint.
Hi, Doug. I am grateful for your contribution. Thanks to the pandemic, my wife has identified a few areas of improvement around the house and I'm going to tackle this project next week. Would you mind elaborating on how you joined the three 2x10 top plates together? You write that you applied an angled 2x6 ledger. So I assume the ledger is fixed flat against wall and has an angle cut on the face to accommodate the top plate that runs across the top but how do top plates that rest on rake walls get integrated with the horizontal top plate to become structurally sound?