Durable doors

 I'd like to share an experiment in joinery detailing to keep maintenance to a minimum.

 Last summer's porch reconstruction just needed some doors to complete the work. 

There are three identical doors - two on the left to make a double door entrance, and a single one on the right leading to the woodstore. They're 2.35m high and 560mm wide.

The concept is a frame, rebated to take the glass, with a full width cover piece to the sides and top, and an aluminium 'sill' below. This drains the water away from the ventilated cladding to the lower part of the door. The 4mm toughened glass is dry glazed with a neoprene foam strip, squeezed in place.













The frame and cover pieces are made of  lengths of 120x27mm American Yellow Pine, beautifully straight-grained, hard and resinous. I cut the rebates and half lap joints on my radial arm saw, and glued up with exterior PVA without fixings. The inner frame is finished in Danish Oil and the cover pieces are left untreated. They are fixed with M6 stainless steel countersunk set screws, tapped into 5mm diameter holes. The lower cladding is untreated Douglas Fir, fixed to shallow battens over a breather membrane to created a rain screen cladding. Hinges are parliament hinges to get a solid fixing into the main frame. Handles are rescued samples.

I've waited a few months to see if moisture movement would be a problem with winding and binding but all seems surprisingly stable.  Goodbye putty and paint!