3rd (and Final) batch of interior doors

[mreza Salav]

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:

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Here is a dry fit of one of them:

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and here is the glue-up:

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

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

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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.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Mreza, I have really been enjoying your posts on the doors. So much so that I am now thinking I can tackle the doors for my place. Thank you kindly, Patrick

[eugene thomas]

I am making all doors for my house at moment also. But have a total of 15. Am making the final 7 now. I used mortise and tenon for joinery.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Nice Job....I hope you made the doors with the leaded glass so you can take it out to repair if needed....

[Stephen Musial]

Nice Job....I hope you made the doors with the leaded glass so you can take it out to repair if needed....

Exactly. It looks like you inset the leaded glass as part of the door. They should have a dado for the glass to sit in, glazers points to hold the glass in place and then molding over the dado to dress out the door. The molding is only nailed in place (not glued) and either coped or butt jointed to facilitate easy removal (miters almost always break).

[Peter Quinn]

Looking good! Where did you source the leaded glass? Is it removable or captive?

[mreza Salav]

Thanks all.
The glass is a unit and has to be replaced as a whole even if one of the 15 pieces break. I thought about this possibility but decided to set it in the groove (like a panel) during the glue-up. Instead of cutting one side of the door to inset the door now I'll cut it if/when the glass breaks; that's not difficult to do using a router (exactly what I would do now). The moulding from that side will be pin-nailed in only for easy removal.

Peter, I went to a local supplier of doors and looked at their French doors and asked if I can buy the glass only. It turned out the manufacturer of the doors was a local (in-town) company and it was fairly easy/quick to get the glass units; they were around $100 each.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

What'd wood did you make the doors out of?

[eugene thomas]

$100 that sounds like good price. Did ya use tempered glass?

[Phil Thien]

They (as well as previous doors) all look fantastic.

So who is going to install them? I hope you have a good door guy, I'd hate to see any of them get butchered.

Or are you the door guy?

[mreza Salav]

Wood is maple, glass is no tempered AFAIK.
I will make the jambs (that's the easy part), bore the lever holes as well as hinges and install them myself.
Any suggestions/comments as I have never installed a door! (well, had never built a door either until these).

Here is a question: The floor will be hardwood. Should the jambs be installed 3/4" (or so) off the sub-floor or is it Ok to have the jambs installed on the sub-floor and have the flooring go around it?

[Jeff Duncan]

Nice!!! Looks like everything is coming along great!

That's a great price you got for the leaded glass, that stuff can get expensive quick. I did a cabinet several years ago for a client requesting leaded glass and the glass alone was something like $1500 or so. Of course custom is always more $$$…..not a great pic, but you get the idea….


I had a local Artisan do them and dropped off the unfitted doors/panels for him to fit the glass to. Worked well as you can see the lead running along the inside edge.

As far as the door installation goes…..I'd install them after the floors go in myself.

good luck,
JeffD

[Dan Neuhaus]

Great doors. I've hung a few dozen doors and you should definitely undercut the jambs for the flooring. Or as mentioned above wait till the floors are finished to hang them. Makes it much easier if the floors are site finished. There's some different ideas on hanging doors out there, Gary Katz has a couple good videos on the web.

[mreza Salav]

Hmmm... I will be doing most of the finish work in the house (or at least thats the plan) and that includes a lot of wood trim/work. I'd like to install and finish most of them (perhaps except the baseboards) before the hardwood floor goes in as it will be a lot less hassle (no need to protect the floor).
Jeff: those look very nice. I couldn't have the lead show on the sides as it was only about 3/8" or so of it on the edge and it went all in the groove.

[Peter Quinn]

You can hang the doors and let the floor installers undercut the jambs, most will own a jamb saw for the purpose. I've worked in lots of spaces with floors in before other finishes ( cabinets, doors, base mold etc) and the precautions are crazy, every trade on egg shells, homosote and Rosen paper ever where. You could also get some flooring pieces and tack shorts just to set the jambs, pull them, do flooring later. It's good if they can put a sealer plus one on the floors and plan for the last coat post production of everything else, but building schedules don't always permit. I've also worked where raw wood floors went in early, guys worked right on them with no protection, flooring guy sanded them out and finished, looked perfect, so if you are site finishing that can work. Did a kitchen last summer where the original appliance installers were gorillas and butchers, shocking the damage they did to the finished flooring, I say original because they were thrown off job and replaced, flooring guy fixed it all in his last coat, he was the last guy in on the punch list.

I love the glass but can't drive to Edmonton! I have a 10 lite door in mind for my study...actually "the pastors study".....I live in a former parsonage. Somebody along the line decided to scrap every door in this old bungalow. I envisioned either a 5 vertical glass panel or 10 lite with very thin bars, that leaded glass panel approach would be perfect. Here in US safety glass is required on doors, either tempered or laminated, if be surprised if your wasn't one of the two as well. Canadian codes are usually ahead of US on most safety and building envelope issues.