Coffee House doors advice

[Bob Johnson]

A client whom I have built some maple ladder desks and shelves for wants me to build some flat panel maple doors with double action hinges to block the view into the kitchen. He wants two doors approximately 75 inches tall. I have several considerations that I can use some advice on.

Problem 1:
The finished plain, uncased door opening is 35.5 inches wide by 81 inches high. The sides of the opening are 18 ga. steel studs covered by drywall. I have not worked with metal studs, but I thing that this is not strong enough to attach swinging maple doors to, I envision the drywall starting to crumble under the hinges in short order and the screw pulling out of the metal stud. I think that the opening would have to lined like a door jamb with 3/4 pine or poplar and have normal door casing applied. I think I could use construction adhesive and screws and apply the boards over the existing drywall. Or should the drywall be removed down to the steel stud first? I don't see that there would be any real advantage to removing the drywall other than gaining back one inch of width, certainly more work.

Assuming that I get problem 1 solved, I plan on using these double acting hinges
http://wwhardware.com/catalog.cfm/Pr...D/SP070%20SPB3
Are there better choices?

After lining the door opening, the width is down to 34 inches, and allowing 5/8 for the hinges and 3/8 gap between the doors I'm down to 33 inches.

Design consideration 1: The doors will be 16.5 inches wide. Should I really use one door rather than two? I think two doors work OK.

The doors will be frame and flat panel with mortise and tenon joints. The hinges limit the stile thickness to 1.25 inches.

Design consideration 2: Should I reduce the rail and stile thickness to 1 inch to reduce weight?

I plan to use 1/2 inch plywood for the flat panels and to glue the panels in place to make a stronger door, 2 panels per door.

Design consideration 3: Any reason I shouldn't glue the panels in place?

Design consideration 4: I'm planning to make the rails and stiles 3 inches wide, except for having the bottom rail 4 inches wide. Should they be some other width?

Thanks for your assistance,
Bob

[Per Swenson]

Hi Bob,
I have done this job before. The hinges you selected are fine.
I did however remove the sheetrock and corner bead.
2 reasons, rarely is a sheetrocked passage both plum and square
enough for a door fitting. I made my jambs out of !/2" stock shimmed and
cased both sides. I am not fond of the trim head screws for metal studs
but I used them in the center of the jamb, where they are less obtrusive.
I glued and clamped the casing in place.
The second reason is the hinges are pretty powerful and they need
to be attached to something solid.
I hope this helps.
Per