3rd (and Final) batch of interior doors

[keith micinski]

When I am installing I do alter for obstructions and how hard the job is. I didn't realize no one else did it that way.

[mreza Salav]

The house is a larger than normal indeed (4500+sqf) and I am building it myself for ourselves. I do want to do it better than normal (R32 walls with spray foam while normal is R21, better insulation in the ceiling, better exterior work, better interior work, etc). I am also doing a lot of work myself for three main reasons: one I think I can get a better result than many trades I can hire *here*, two: the cost would be significantly different, and three: I like to challenge myself.
For instance, a good stairs/railing company who quoted me for the railings wants $15k+tax for 7 (yes seven) box newel posts that look fancy (this is the same company who did that house I posted pictures of earlier). Now, I can certainly build that same quality posts in my spare time for under $1k material for sure. So I have a hard time convincing myself shell out $15k for that. Railing is a separate cost.
Custom made interior doors: I said at the start of my thread on doors that a quote I was given for custom made doors was $700 for the slab plus $150 for the jambs (maple, stain grade). At 31 doors it comes to around $25k. My cost has been under $5k for the slabs and jambs and glasses (plus a lot of my own work).
Custom made entry door (which I built myself): I was quoted $25-30k depending on the style I wanted. Again, my cost has been under $4k including glass and hardware using a better built door I think (double floating panels, stave core, 2.25" thick). Then there are cabinets, I will start that project in a month or two. It's a big cabinet work (116 doors/drawer fronts). I have wised up and decided to get the doors made and only do the boxes plus some custom work (hood, posts, etc). I will post that in a separate thread.
The cost of flooring (pre-finished Santos Mahogany) is $9/sqf here ($40k in hardwood flooring for the whole house).
I appreciate all the comments/suggestions I get from the pros on this forum.

[keith micinski]

I'm the opposite. I would rather have the boxes made and do the doors myself. Don't know why but I get no enjoyment out of making a cabinet box but do get a lot of enjoyment out of face frames and doors. You are going to have a lot of yourself into this house when it is done and will probably enjoy that for a very long time.

[mreza Salav]

Keith, I wanted to do the cabinet doors as well but I simply won't have time I think. I have way too much on my plate (even though I had bought the tooling for doing this task). I have built enough cabinet doors that I think I can do it properly but time is of essence here.

Mark, I am not trying to cut corners or get things done cheaply, I want the highest quality (just because I'm doing things myself doesn't mean it is to do it "cheaply"). I have always wanted to build a house myself and I think this is a perfect opportunity to learn a thing or two and try new things.
Worst case, I hire a pro to fix up any boo boo I make. So far I don't think that is needed...

[Mark Bolton]

Keith, I wanted to do the cabinet doors as well but I simply won't have time I think. I have way too much on my plate (even though I had bought the tooling for doing this task). I have built enough cabinet doors that I think I can do it properly but time is of essence here.

Mark, I am not trying to cut corners or get things done cheaply, I want the highest quality (just because I'm doing things myself doesn't mean it is to do it "cheaply"). I have always wanted to build a house myself and I think this is a perfect opportunity to learn a thing or two and try new things.
Worst case, I hire a pro to fix up any boo boo I make. So far I don't think that is needed...

Never in any way thought you were cutting corners or going cheap.

[Sandra Mart]

As some of you remember, I am making 31 interior doors for a new house we are building. I have built two batches already (5+12). This is the final batch of 14 doors including 3 French doors. Previous ones:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ors&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ors&highlight=

All the previous ones were 32" but these last ones are of various sizes from 24" to 32"; they are made the same way as before (1/2" dowels with glued in panel). For the French doors I am doing traditional M/T joinery:

Attachment 282368

Here is a dry fit of one of them:

Attachment 282370Attachment 282369

and here is the glue-up:

Attachment 282372

and here are all the doors glued up and gone through the drum sander:

Attachment 282371Attachment 282367

And another french door with the moulding placed on top to see how it looks:

Attachment 282374Attachment 282373

All are beveled glass (the clear and the privacy ones).
It remains to hand sand them (ROS), cut to size and apply the mouldings, then I can move on to the next project for the house.

nice job

[mreza Salav]

UPDATE

We are getting to the finishing stage of the house. Started pulling out the doors from their storage location do drill the knob/lock holes and hinge mortises. Here are some of the tools used: a router setup with 1/16" round over to ease the edges, another one to do the hinge mortises with 5/8" radius, another one to do the lock plate mortises, and hole saws.


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Template to do the lock plate mortises, another one to drill the holes precisely after doing the mortise for the lock plate as well as some ball catch for double door closets.

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Plus one more template for door hinges.

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[mreza Salav]

I setup my drill press next to the bench to do the lock set holes.

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Today I managed to do 7 doors. Hopefully I'll do the rest in the next few days. I have also made the jambs earlier, soon should be able to move everything to the new house.

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[Peter Quinn]

Looks great, I'm loving that drill press set up. We built a three leg bench at the last shop that slips over the DP table and essentially does the same thing, it's amazing how much easier it is to pull that handle and get perfectly square lock holes than to push a hole saw in a jig through 40 hard wood doors! Bravo, can't wait to see them swinging in their openings.

[Justin Ludwig]

Have you weighed any of the doors? I'm curious how heavy a 3-0 in solid stock would be. I work with 3/4 thick maple all the time and it isn't light.

Lookin good!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Peter for all the advice so far. The DP setup takes time but works great. This particular holesaw bit is very hard on the DP as well. Things has happened to the DP that I had never had any issues (chuck come loose, the quill assembly come loose from the top, etc). It is very aggressive and one has to go very very lightly. But works great. I put a sacrificial board under and clamp the door, so I don't get blow out from the other as I drill all the way.

Justin, the doors weigh about 90lb each.

[Tom M King]

The house is a larger than normal indeed (4500+sqf) and I am building it myself for ourselves. I do want to do it better than normal (R32 walls with spray foam while normal is R21, better insulation in the ceiling, better exterior work, better interior work, etc). I am also doing a lot of work myself for three main reasons: one I think I can get a better result than many trades I can hire *here*, two: the cost would be significantly different, and three: I like to challenge myself.
For instance, a good stairs/railing company who quoted me for the railings wants $15k+tax for 7 (yes seven) box newel posts that look fancy (this is the same company who did that house I posted pictures of earlier). Now, I can certainly build that same quality posts in my spare time for under $1k material for sure. So I have a hard time convincing myself shell out $15k for that. Railing is a separate cost.
Custom made interior doors: I said at the start of my thread on doors that a quote I was given for custom made doors was $700 for the slab plus $150 for the jambs (maple, stain grade). At 31 doors it comes to around $25k. My cost has been under $5k for the slabs and jambs and glasses (plus a lot of my own work).
Custom made entry door (which I built myself): I was quoted $25-30k depending on the style I wanted. Again, my cost has been under $4k including glass and hardware using a better built door I think (double floating panels, stave core, 2.25" thick). Then there are cabinets, I will start that project in a month or two. It's a big cabinet work (116 doors/drawer fronts). I have wised up and decided to get the doors made and only do the boxes plus some custom work (hood, posts, etc). I will post that in a separate thread.
The cost of flooring (pre-finished Santos Mahogany) is $9/sqf here ($40k in hardwood flooring for the whole house).
I appreciate all the comments/suggestions I get from the pros on this forum.

This is kind of my reasoning for starting building houses for a living in 1973. It was a recession then, I was just out of school, and no good jobs to be had. I decided to build a house to see if I could sell it and make any money. I ended up doing that for 30 some years. After that first one, I never worried about what it cost to build something. I found out what it cost to build something by building it, and could always sell a house for more than double what I had in it, by me doing all the work. I'd start in the fall, have it closed in to finish the inside in Winter, dress up the outside in the Spring, sell it, and play on the lake in Summer. In 2006, I decided all the other builders had gotten smarter than me, so I started just working on old houses. HistoricHousePreservation.com

I think you did great by doing this work yourself.

[mreza Salav]

The last two days I was busy packing up the doors (passage doors and the entry door) and taking them to the new house more than a year after I started building them. I had to make two trips to take them (along with a work bench for myself to be setup in the new house). The pics should be clear. We have hung a few doors so far and everything lines up good so far. My finish carpenter (which I think does an excellent job) was very impressed with them. I made a small (1/16" deep, 3/16" away from the edge of the jamb) rebate so that the when you install the casing there is no visible gap between the jamb and casing. He loved this idea.

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[Bruce Page]

Looks great! I hope you're planning on giving us a home tour when you are finished.

[mreza Salav]

I will. I have to start building some arches and install those columns I built.
I am going to build a sander for sanding all those trims (baseboard, casing, crown, 5000+lf of them) as I don't have enough crew to hand sand them.
I hope it works or else I'd need an army to sand them for me...