External Door Dimensional Stability

[mruther]

Chaps,
I need to replace my back door! When I look online at ready-made doors, they are 1/ expensive, and 2/ 'engineered' ie multi-material construction. My question is this: I could make my own door, out of say solid Sapele, but after all the effort, is it likely to be a problem that it shrinks and grows with the dampness/seasons (ie so there's a small / big gap between door and frame in Winter/Summer)? What is the best approach here? Thanks,
Matthew Rutherford

 

[AndyT]

Well yes there is a problem but it's been that way for a long time! Trad design minimises the effect of seasonal dimension changes but there will still be some differences. Afaik the approach has always been to allow enough clearance so that it's not a problem - so don't make your door too exact a fit. If it does stick, plane a bit off. You could add or design in some compressible draught stripping if you were concerned about too big a gap.

The other alternative could be a reclaimed door which you could overhaul - plenty of suppliers but also available through Gumtree, eBay, TradeIt etc.

 

[Steve Blackdog]

We had some external doors made from Sapele and you'd be surprised how much movement there has been. To such an extent that we had to increase the gaps in our t&g boards on the garage doors, as over a large door the movement is magnified.

 

[ProShop]

The advantage of making your own door is you can play around with the tolerances and as long as you seal the door properly you'll minimise the expansion & contraction, ie seal the top edges, bottom edges, sides, both faces, lock insert & handles holes, behind the hinges.

You could go the whole hog and make yourself a euro style door & frame then you'll have all the draught seals in place and multipoint locking and not a draught or gap in sight.

 

[mouldy plane]

We have been using a new timber product of late called "accoya" it's not the prettiest of woods, and we use it for painted work, but a big plus is that it has little to no movement, and carries a 50 year unconditional guarantee against rot or insect attack. the colour of the wood is not unlike canary white wood/ poplar, but acording to the suppliers it will take a stain.