MC of wood for a Shed Door?

I'm thinking of using some AD ash to build 4 nominal 36" wide doors for my new shed. I know ash is a poor choice from a rot resistance point of view, but it's what I have and they will be painted so I'm OK using it. It's been drying for about a year and checks at 12 - 14% MC with my meter. The shed will be unheated, used to store my wood inventory actually. 12 - 14% MC is about the EMC for wood outdoors in the area I live.

My plan would be to build typical stile/rail exterior doors, maybe only 1-1/2" thick though, with floating panels made up of tongue and grooved boards rather than a solid panel. Are there any reasons using AD wood for the doors is a bad idea? Thanks.

John

I believe that air dried is the way to go.

If your panels are captured in a dado at the bottom, that's going to be a critical point for water sealing. If water gets inside the door and sits there, that's where rot starts. You might consider reversing that joint, so it is a tongue-and-groove with the groove up into the panel, and the tongue on the door rail.

Or bore some drainage weep holes to allow the groove to drain out the bottom.

Attachment 391351



There’s a great article in Fine Home Building issue 258 April /May 2016 .

I think your wood is still a bit to wet at 12 to 14% MC. And you mentioned one year of AD time. The rule of thumb is 1 year per 1” of thickness , so I’m guessing you should wait one more year.

Not knowing how you checked it , but assuming you used your meter in the wood surface , that you didn’t cut off 1” of wood and stick you pins in the end grain of that newly cut piece , I’m guessing the inner wood is wetter than where you probed it.

Thanks for the replies. Turns out you are right, Paul. I just cut a couple of inches off two of the planks and they read 16 - 18% inside. So I'm going to have to put it all in my drier. I was hoping to avoid that for the sake of time, but it shouldn't take more than a week or so to get it down to around 12%. That's some interesting door construction in the sketch you attached. I'd call that the belt and suspenders approach. I don't get why you would use pins and wedges with loose tenons, but to each their own. I have used the weep hole approach though, but I took the holes out the front of the door, hidden in the molding profile. Lots of benefits of going straight down as shown in the sketch though, and I may do that with these doors, unless I go with Jamie's approach which has the benefit of completely avoiding water going into the bottom rail.


Thanks,

John

Google Prowell Wood works , Charlies has a wealth of information on his website. It’s a educational site, if you are into wood working it’s worth the time to look deeply into his work and his opinions , or ways of doing what he does.

The guy, Charles Prowell , should write a book , really. His website is darn near a book actually. But it’s free to read IF you enjoy reading on a computer screen rather than a book you can hold.

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Originally Posted by John TenEyck

Thanks for the replies. Turns out you are right, Paul. I just cut a couple of inches off two of the planks and they read 16 - 18% inside. So I'm going to have to put it all in my drier. I was hoping to avoid that for the sake of time, but it shouldn't take more than a week or so to get it down to around 12%. That's some interesting door construction in the sketch you attached. I'd call that the belt and suspenders approach. I don't get why you would use pins and wedges with loose tenons, but to each their own. I have used the weep hole approach though, but I took the holes out the front of the door, hidden in the molding profile. Lots of benefits of going straight down as shown in the sketch though, and I may do that with these doors, unless I go with Jamie's approach which has the benefit of completely avoiding water going into the bottom rail.


Thanks,

John

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Charles is a gate builder , and for a entry door weep holes wouldn’t work , but you’re building wood shed doors from what I gather , so the weep hole idea could work for you.
I use it on gates I’ve built for clients.

Also using Ash for wood shed doors seems a waste of nice hardwood, but I understand the concept of using what you have on hand.

Thanks for suggesting Prowell Woodworks. There is indeed a wealth of info. on their website, and now I understand why they choose to use that joinery with their exterior gates.

John