plans for building windows

Hello, we would be interested in any comments about the feasibility of the attached plan for building two doors 8 feet tall. Our concern is possible warping. The plan results in a 2 inch thick door; would it be better to use 3/4 inch plywood and have a 2 1/4 inch door? Each door (one 28 inches wide, one 32 inches) would be built from a single sheet of 1/2 inch birch plywood. The finish stiles at the edges would be true 2×2 inch pine (from old studs), with a 3/4 inch channel routed out for the plywood. The other stiles and cross pieces would be 1 inch poplar (true 3/4 in). Moulding would be bought from Dykes. Thanks! [Door_plan](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:da7a:door_plan.jpg.jpg)

Guest User | 3 years and 1 month ago

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andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago

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Keep something else in mind here. Plywood does not hold screws well. This is especially true in the end grain. These doors will be heavy and even though you plan on capping the edges with dimensional lumber, if those screw pull out, drlling deeper and into the plywood core is not going to be a good option. If this goes wrong, you will encounter the same issue people who buy “engineered” doors encounter.

Guest User | 3 years and 1 month ago

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thanks again

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago

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I just read what i said above. To be clear, we squeeze an epoxy joint down just not as much as a glue joint. We leave a line 1/32, 1/16 of epoxy.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago

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There is also a company in upstate ny that makes doors at a reasonable price. I think they are vintagedoors.com. i think.

A company in georgia makes staved door stiles and rails. You can doba google search for them.

Guest User | 3 years and 1 month ago

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thanks very much!

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago

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This is going to be very heavy. Most doors are made from pine staves and are lighter as a result.

If you took 1/2 birch and layered it to 2″ with glue in between, it will be nearly impossible to bend. The glue will not allow the pieces to move against one another which they must do to bend. Whatever you do, you must glue these on a flat surface. I used to lay an 8′ tall solid core engineered doir on my workbench just for this sort of thing.

You can build the stiles using yellow glue. Put enough of it so it squeezes out. You must have squeeze out on something like this. Instead of rabbetting out anything to put the edge cap on, just get west system g flex epoxy, thickened version, and use that. Do not squeeze the epoxy out like we do glue. If you cut the pine 2.5″ wide and press some epoxy out so you know it has filled the entire gap, plane and sand the overhang off and you should end up with a perfectly fitting edge with a perfect glue line. If you must fill anything with more epoxy either do it the next day or wait and cut into the void a little to open it up a bit and add more epoxy, overbuilding it and sanding the excesd off.

If you are going to make the rails out of poplar, use two 1xwhatever and lay them up with 1/2″ ply in between. To assemble the rails and stiles, get a dowling jig and drill opposing pockets into the stiles and rails, over lapping each drill (they make a jig just for this, i have one but cannot recall the name). You are making a pocket, say 1/2×4×4″ deep. On the bottom you want 6″ wide tenon.
Clean the pocket out. Make up some tenons to fit a little snug but not too tight in the pocket. I would assemble this with regular west system epoxy with a little fumed silica added to thicken it.

Be ware that plywood panels often bend in doors. You need to get that nordic style 8 ply plywood for the panels.

I have never made a ply wood door. Not for anything i cared about or permanent. Be aware the the joints where ply wood meets plywood may not be the best as i do not think plywood joins on end very well. The doors will not fail a part because of the tenons.

I would not do this for my house. I would make stiles and rails out of staves.