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Thread: Do I need a crossbrace on a T&G plank style door

  1. #1

    Do I need a crossbrace on a T&G plank style door

    Greetings,

    I'm trying to recreate some very old doors from an old cabin, for my new cabin.

    Wood is cedar, it's been stickered in my shop for over a year. I took my time milling the pieces and set aside a lot of boards, so now I have a very flat plank door. The door is random widths, glued T&G joinery with a v groove on each joint. The plan was to clinch nails through the doors into a crossbrace, hoping to get a structural member perpendicular to the grain in the planks but with the ability to flex a bit laterally across the door. It's a long story but the clinching didn't work.

    At this point should I just hang the doors as they are? After all they are flat, plumb, and square. I put two coats of Waterlux on them and they have been sitting for a couple of weeks, they seem pretty stable.

    Or....will unheated winters cause these doors to go haywire even if they are well finished? If they need a crossbrace do I glue and screw it? I can't see how to add sliding joinery (like breadboard ends) without completely changing the design of the doors.

    Anyone else out there dumb enough to build a true plank door, if so I'd love to hear what worked (or didn't)?

    2017-04-18 16.54.20.jpg

    TIA

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Adjacent Peoples Republic of Boulder
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    Nails have to be bent to 90 near the tip before clenching. YouTube will show you the way.

    Z-brace it, one top, one at bottom. One long diagonal, and your hinging will determine which way.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    If the door is still flat I would go ahead and hang it. I think as long as the rooms on each side of the door are heated or cooled equally you shouldn't have a problem. If this were a door to an old cellar or an out side door I think it would change shape in some way. With both sides finished equally and both sides seeing essentially the same air you should be okay. If you like the appearance of horizontal members attach them with screws in slots.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Tasmania
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    The planks on a door are not glued to the frame. This allows the planks to move with the seasons. Don't fit them too tight when the timber is at its driest or it will bow. The v-joint makes the expansion/contraction gaps less noticeable. With bracing, the rule is that timber works best in compression, so brace from the bottom of the hinge side to the top of the lock side ie Z brace as Gene said. Cheers
    Every construction obeys the laws of physics. Whether we like or understand the result is of no interest to the universe.

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