Thoughs on tall vertical tambour doors?

[Trent Shirley]

I am interested in the idea of making a vertical tambour door for a bedroom where space is an issue and a typical pocket door will not fit due to corners.
I can see how I could do just about everything but wonder if I will ultimately have too much trouble due to the wood warping. Any thoughts on how to pull off something like this successfully?
I would love to be able to make the door pieces so that slide into locking grooves on each other like the tambour door router bits can create rather than having a fabric layer to hold them in place.
Are there better materials to use that are less prone to warp? Or maybe some small dimension square steel tube sandwiched between wood layers to keep it stiff?

This would be a perfect solution for my home if I can pull it off successfully. And perhaps a good straight grained wood will be fine and I can make up some extra slats to swap out any that do warp once in place with ones that remained flat. The slats can be wider based only on how tight I need them to turn in the angled wall or how tightly to roll up if I design it that way instead.

Thanks.
Trent

[Jamie Buxton]

Rather than inventing a tambor door -- a door that rolls up -- have you considered a folding door? Structurally, it is similar to a tambor door, but it has wider slats and fewer hinge points.

Here's a pic of a commercial one that's probably a lot of plastic, but I'm sure you could build a prettier real-wood one, or maybe buy a higher-end one.

foldingdoor.jpg

[Trent Shirley]

I currently have a two panel bi-fold in place with no good method for latching it. I have the accordion doors in other places and they are cheap plastic and tend to fall apart.
A tambour door does not need to be one that rolls up, there are many used in cabinetry that go sideways, I just have not seen ones as tall as a full size door and worry about warping being a problem.
I could probably assemble the slats as two plates cut from the same piece and turned back to back to help cancel out any stresses in the grain.

I wanted to do pocket doors but the walls are only 2x3 construction and have electrical switches and outlets just inside that door that would pose additional problems. It would also make the door slide in the wrong direction putting people entering more tightly into the corner rather than away from it. If I could make a tambour door it would go into the other side without the electrical problems and make the door more appropriate to the layout of the room.

Rather than inventing a tambor door -- a door that rolls up -- have you considered a folding door? Structurally, it is similar to a tambor door, but it has wider slats and fewer hinge points.

Here's a pic of a commercial one that's probably a lot of plastic, but I'm sure you could build a prettier real-wood one, or maybe buy a higher-end one.

foldingdoor.jpg

[Trent Shirley]

Wow, I thought there would have been more input on this. Whether anyone has tried something similar or not I though there would be more ideas on how to make long slats and prevent them from warping.

Anyone?

[David Thompson 27577]

Most horizontal tambours depend on balance to help with the lifting -- while the front is going up, the back side is going down, therefore helping with the pulling.

Full door height tambour doors are likely to be quite heavy in their track, and I'd bet it would cause problems while sliding them. In addition, I'd be concerned about racking.

One final note -- if full height tambour doors were a good idea, they'd be available at Lowe's -- or at least at higher-end dealers.


If you're not happy with your existing bifolds, research the market for better bifolds, or consider making your own.

[Lex Boegen]

Why not try a mock-up by making a few tambours the same width as you anticipate making for the door, then suspend them from their ends (say on a pair of sawhorses) and measure the sag at the middle. You could also weigh them and measure their installed height, then extrapolate that out for the completed door's weight. Tambours look nice, but are labor-intensive to make, so you don't see them too often. I once read an article (I think in Fine Woodworking magazine) about kitchen cabinets made with tambour doors instead of hinged doors. It looked really nice and another benefit is that you can have multiple doors open without flipping them back and forth to get at neighboring cabinets, and there's no danger of banging your head on an open door.

[Joe Jensen]

I think that friction will be a challenge too. Tall ones will be pretty heavy if stiff enough to not flex. Ideally you'd have some kind of roller bearing on the top of each slat so it roll easily. If on the bottom, the track will collect dirt and such and muck up the bearing. I think you also need to make sure the width is wide enough relative to the height so it doesn't rack (bind) when moving it.