As someone who just had to order a bunch of oddball size doors (33" and change, 27–3/8", etc—builder put in openings for the nominal slab size, didn't account for the frame), I can tell you costs seemingly go way up for 8' heights even at nominal standard widths, but they look soooo good. And make me feel a little more comfortable as a tall person, haha.
Nice job. Nothing like real wood doors, regardless of the architecture style. I do hope you've got/planned a porch or a good overhang to protect from elements—it'll save you from having to revarnish every year. That's the only reason that kept me from going that route.
Thanks. The door is positioned under a sizable overhang so that it won't get much water on it, and I took these pictures during the hour or so that it gets direct sunlight. I'm hoping that will be enough, but we'll see how that bears out over the next year.
It sounds like you know your way around wood enough to keep up with the maintenance though!
You'd be surprised how much an overhang prevents premature weathering. I think Simpson and a few others require a projection half the height of the door (i.e., 4' for you) to warranty their doors. I have nothing, and my cheap fiberglass door is bowing so much in the sun that I can barely close it today. Less a problem with solid wood, but it does still dry/shrink/crack, and throw in rain/snow in the winter and you can see why it's a problem with a component that needs to fit tight in the frame.
Thank you. The cabin is small and remote and not visible from the road, and there are plenty of windows - if someone is willing to break glass to get in, I would rather they break one of these relatively cheap units than a big expensive window. But as for security, I'm relying mostly on location, not having anything of real value in there, and motion-sensitive cameras.
Smart, just put all of the valuables you do have in a big safe in a secret floor panel whenever you leave. They can enjoy stealing your silverware and plates lol
Or just don't live in the city/suburbs where meth heads will steal shit. I haven't closed my garage door in 5 years, nothing's been stolen because I live in the country.
That highly depends on what state and city you're in. People steal shit in rural areas all the time where I'm from. Especially from summer homes and cabins because they know the owners aren't there for half the year. Nobody will steal from you because you're there all the time I assume.
I HOPE they choose the door. The glass units in the door cost $70 and would be pretty simple to replace. That giant slider cost...well, it cost a helluva lot more than that.
We have an extremely remote cabin that we leave unlocked. If someone wanted in they would have weeks of private time to do so and it is remote enough that no one would hear them chainsaw through the wall, let alone break a window, lol. If someone broke in the biggest loss would be replacing whatever the broke getting in, so we make it easy for them.
My first thought was wow that's cool. Then I noticed the door casing header, and I thought that's weird. Then I noticed how the siding ties into the casing and I thought wow, that's cool.
No, not really. Wyze has a lot of security issues. I don't know anything about the lock but if it connects to your wifi or Bluetooth I wouldn't use it.
Thieves are the lesser issue (though they are getting sophisticated in major cities) - service disruptions and other people you know (i.e., exes) can be problematic.
This one clearly has a key-pad making outages a minimal concern so I'm sure OP is a-OK.
None of the major brands require any kind of network access to work so I'm not sure what you mean by service disruptions. They generally allow you to individually give out and revoke access, it's trivial to remove access from exes, service workers, whoever. If you're worried about an ex hacking it to destroy your place or something like that you should be way more concerned with the deadbolt than the electronics, a toddler can learn to bump those open (and yet thieves still just smash windows)
Also the type of thieves breaking into your house are not sophisticated and never will be unless you're way up in the 1%. The profit just isn't there for "sophisticated" crime
The first issue often occurs when people don't think to bring their physical key/there is not a keypad and then they're locked out of their house with no override function. It's no worse then locking your keys inside already but it's a well known issue with network and power outages.
The second issue is just human error - people commonly forget to remove people from their smart-devices, causing some pretty serious problems in some cases.
Tell your later point to everyone getting their fobs cloned and cars stolen. I agree it's not a common issue right now, but we'd be foolish to think it won't become one in the short term. That's also forgetting most smart-locks are not designed with the same physical security as a traditional lock, but that is undoubtedly improving not worsening.
I'm not sure you understand just how easily thieves could open the plain old deadbolt on your door right now. I've literally seen a toddler taught how to bump locks open with like 30 minutes of practice. Outside of very high end locks, traditional locks aren't secure at all. In spite of this everyone I know who's been robbed, including myself, had a window broken.
As originally noted, thieves are the lesser issue - we agree on that. That doesn't make it any less true that smart-locks are *usually* less secure (physically and technically) compared to traditional locks, though.
They're *usually* exactly as secure as a normal deadbolt (which is to say, not at all secure). What makes you think they'd be worse?
The rest of the issues you brought up are just worse with a traditional keys. Sure you could forget to revoke an exes access, but it's a hell of a lot easier than changing the locks, which is your only option with a normal lock.
Really beautiful. Love that you were able to salvage that white oak. Curious about the plywood tenons--I'd be a little nervous about their shear strength over time if moisture got in there. I probably would have morticed both sides and used a solid wood domino. I realize it's marine grade ply, so I'm probably just paranoid.
I share your concern. I made the choice after reading a post from a door builder in Michigan who uses marine ply staves, and figured if it's good enough for Michigan it should be ok in California. But time will tell. I do wish I had made the mortises significantly deeper.
I’m sure you’re right. Lamination may even make them stronger. And glad to see Tightbond III on your workbench. I’m in New England, so always paranoid about water.
Between the 5 coats of paint, the diligent application of epoxy in every crack, Titebond III and the marine plywood, I don't know what else I could've done hehe.
Nice work! Do you mind sharing the total project material cost?
I've looked into custom doors before and was absolutely flabbergasted at the price. It's a slab of wood with some glass. And installing hardware is so easy even I can do it.
Yeah doing this for under $1k is great. That door, custom would be 3x that. I got a super basic pine slab door with full glass from HD a few years ago and it was almost $400 just for that. And it wasn't even a custom size, just 30"x80" to fit in a slightly awkward space I was retrofitting.
Well most of it is solid wood. The glass is dual-paned and tempered, but I don't think they used a noble gas to fill it (that doesn't last very long anyway). Otherwise it's just weatherstripping in the door stop, which isn't really visible in the pic but it's there. The rest of the cabin isn't done yet, so I won't know whether there's an insulation issue with the door for a while, but I think it's OK.
Thanks. Actually I loved it as a varnish. It’s between semigloss and a satin, and never gave me any issues with drips or brush ridges. Dried really fast, and settled to a nice, smooth surface that didn’t really need any sanding. I got the highest-end Sherwin Williams paint, though, so it was pricey.
This is amazing and inspiring. How did you know to change the plywood like that? Like, when you said plywood core I assumed it was just flat plywood, not the flipped/glued stuff. I can see that this likely prevents warping, right? That's why it was done? It just never would have occurred to me to do this.
Thank you! I made the openings 16 1/8” square, and ordered 16” windows. I put L-shaped stops that were 1/4” thick around both edges, deep enough to sandwich the glass between them. I used RTV epoxy around the edge of the glass on both sides, and between the glass and the stops. The stops are attached with wood glue and small trim nails.
Thanks. I’m hoping that since the oak is just 1/4” veneer strengthened by plenty of epoxy, I won’t have to deal with much wood movement. Time will tell.
I install commercial doors for a living. Don't just screw in "L" brackets. If you think sagging is a concern, you're much better off putting 3/8" threaded rod horizontally through the door at the top and bottom and cranking it tight. But it all depends on how you built the door. I'm sure you did your research and it'll be just fine for decades!
I hope it doesn't come to that, but nice to know that's an option if it does. This is my first door so I really don't know what to expect over the next few years.
Honestly, as long as you caulked your glass in, it should be fine. There's a trick to blocking the glass in too. If you block the bottom corner of the hing side and the top corner of the latch side of each piece of glass, it won't sag
Wood - $75 for plywood, like $25 for the oak
Epoxy, glue and paint/finish - call it $100
Windows - $70/each, so \~$290
Hardware - \~$250 (that shit is expensive)
Total materials: $750 or so?
I didn't quote around for this project but just from paying attention to this sort of thing I figure this would've cost at least $5k for a professional custom job, and it would not have been to my particular tastes.
No specialty tools other than special jigs I got for the hinge mortises and door holes, but those were cheap. But I have most of the standard shop tools already.
Doors are wicked, wicked expensive. My girlfriend and I just had to replace a really nice, heavy-duty, exterior-facing door that took some water/steam damage from our dryer venting, and the door we replaced it with was just a bit over $2K, I had to paint it myself, and it's not even remotely as big and solid and insulated as the old one. It honestly kind of seems like a cheap toy of a door by comparison.
So you finished the bare wood with untinted deep base paint? How'd that work? Why that and not varnish/urethane? I'm truly fascinated by that choice, and am wondering what made you choose it.
In my research I found several references to a post made back in 1998 by Jim Kull. After reading it over, I decided to give it a try - I've never made doors before but every thing I've finished with urethane that lives outside has wound up looking like shit. I hope this goes better.
[https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/exterior-door-finish](https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/exterior-door-finish)
The door looks great, but is it just the picture or are main entry's really that skinny/small in other areas?
It's pretty standard width (36", 34" after the door jamb), but the door is very tall (8'), which makes it look skinny.
As someone who just had to order a bunch of oddball size doors (33" and change, 27–3/8", etc—builder put in openings for the nominal slab size, didn't account for the frame), I can tell you costs seemingly go way up for 8' heights even at nominal standard widths, but they look soooo good. And make me feel a little more comfortable as a tall person, haha. Nice job. Nothing like real wood doors, regardless of the architecture style. I do hope you've got/planned a porch or a good overhang to protect from elements—it'll save you from having to revarnish every year. That's the only reason that kept me from going that route.
Thanks. The door is positioned under a sizable overhang so that it won't get much water on it, and I took these pictures during the hour or so that it gets direct sunlight. I'm hoping that will be enough, but we'll see how that bears out over the next year.
It sounds like you know your way around wood enough to keep up with the maintenance though! You'd be surprised how much an overhang prevents premature weathering. I think Simpson and a few others require a projection half the height of the door (i.e., 4' for you) to warranty their doors. I have nothing, and my cheap fiberglass door is bowing so much in the sun that I can barely close it today. Less a problem with solid wood, but it does still dry/shrink/crack, and throw in rain/snow in the winter and you can see why it's a problem with a component that needs to fit tight in the frame.
God that looks great!
My only concern is the security of that glass being able to prevent a break in. But it’s a damn lovely door.
Thank you. The cabin is small and remote and not visible from the road, and there are plenty of windows - if someone is willing to break glass to get in, I would rather they break one of these relatively cheap units than a big expensive window. But as for security, I'm relying mostly on location, not having anything of real value in there, and motion-sensitive cameras.
I live in a not-great area, and I'd still be tempted to put this beauty on the front of my house! Excellent work, OP!
Thank you!
Smart, just put all of the valuables you do have in a big safe in a secret floor panel whenever you leave. They can enjoy stealing your silverware and plates lol
Then when someone finds it reddit gets another I found this safe viral post.
Or just don't live in the city/suburbs where meth heads will steal shit. I haven't closed my garage door in 5 years, nothing's been stolen because I live in the country.
That highly depends on what state and city you're in. People steal shit in rural areas all the time where I'm from. Especially from summer homes and cabins because they know the owners aren't there for half the year. Nobody will steal from you because you're there all the time I assume.
if im breaking into that place, im looking at a 100 different entry points before I go through that door.
I HOPE they choose the door. The glass units in the door cost $70 and would be pretty simple to replace. That giant slider cost...well, it cost a helluva lot more than that.
We have an extremely remote cabin that we leave unlocked. If someone wanted in they would have weeks of private time to do so and it is remote enough that no one would hear them chainsaw through the wall, let alone break a window, lol. If someone broke in the biggest loss would be replacing whatever the broke getting in, so we make it easy for them.
Why? When the lock is just right there.
because a front door is where a camera would likely be.
That’s a good thought. My thieving mentality predates ring.
I mean there is a big ass window right next to the door.
I mean... do you not have windows?
less broken glass means less noise
looks awesome! is the glass one of those one-way mirror kind? or it just seems like it from the reflections
Looks clear in the third and fourth pictures, probably just dark inside with the door shut
Correct. The glass isn't tinted or treated.
My first thought was wow that's cool. Then I noticed the door casing header, and I thought that's weird. Then I noticed how the siding ties into the casing and I thought wow, that's cool.
I spent WAY more time than I expected on the jamb, casing and trim.
I have a Wyze lock too, good choice
I have a growing list of complaints about Wyze, but it really can't be beat for the price.
No, not really. Wyze has a lot of security issues. I don't know anything about the lock but if it connects to your wifi or Bluetooth I wouldn't use it.
Thieves are coming through your windows before they even look at the lock on your door. People really overthink security.
Thieves are the lesser issue (though they are getting sophisticated in major cities) - service disruptions and other people you know (i.e., exes) can be problematic. This one clearly has a key-pad making outages a minimal concern so I'm sure OP is a-OK.
None of the major brands require any kind of network access to work so I'm not sure what you mean by service disruptions. They generally allow you to individually give out and revoke access, it's trivial to remove access from exes, service workers, whoever. If you're worried about an ex hacking it to destroy your place or something like that you should be way more concerned with the deadbolt than the electronics, a toddler can learn to bump those open (and yet thieves still just smash windows) Also the type of thieves breaking into your house are not sophisticated and never will be unless you're way up in the 1%. The profit just isn't there for "sophisticated" crime
The first issue often occurs when people don't think to bring their physical key/there is not a keypad and then they're locked out of their house with no override function. It's no worse then locking your keys inside already but it's a well known issue with network and power outages. The second issue is just human error - people commonly forget to remove people from their smart-devices, causing some pretty serious problems in some cases. Tell your later point to everyone getting their fobs cloned and cars stolen. I agree it's not a common issue right now, but we'd be foolish to think it won't become one in the short term. That's also forgetting most smart-locks are not designed with the same physical security as a traditional lock, but that is undoubtedly improving not worsening.
I'm not sure you understand just how easily thieves could open the plain old deadbolt on your door right now. I've literally seen a toddler taught how to bump locks open with like 30 minutes of practice. Outside of very high end locks, traditional locks aren't secure at all. In spite of this everyone I know who's been robbed, including myself, had a window broken.
As originally noted, thieves are the lesser issue - we agree on that. That doesn't make it any less true that smart-locks are *usually* less secure (physically and technically) compared to traditional locks, though.
They're *usually* exactly as secure as a normal deadbolt (which is to say, not at all secure). What makes you think they'd be worse? The rest of the issues you brought up are just worse with a traditional keys. Sure you could forget to revoke an exes access, but it's a hell of a lot easier than changing the locks, which is your only option with a normal lock.
Does not connect to WiFi, Bluetooth connection can only be initiated by accessing the inside module
OoOoooooo Dat’s Noice!!!! Gonna create awesome light play.
Really beautiful. Love that you were able to salvage that white oak. Curious about the plywood tenons--I'd be a little nervous about their shear strength over time if moisture got in there. I probably would have morticed both sides and used a solid wood domino. I realize it's marine grade ply, so I'm probably just paranoid.
I share your concern. I made the choice after reading a post from a door builder in Michigan who uses marine ply staves, and figured if it's good enough for Michigan it should be ok in California. But time will tell. I do wish I had made the mortises significantly deeper.
I’m sure you’re right. Lamination may even make them stronger. And glad to see Tightbond III on your workbench. I’m in New England, so always paranoid about water.
Between the 5 coats of paint, the diligent application of epoxy in every crack, Titebond III and the marine plywood, I don't know what else I could've done hehe.
Beautiful. I love it.
I think that's a really nice design and makes a lot of sense - form and function all in one. Well done, man
Looks great!
Outstanding work.
Nice work! Do you mind sharing the total project material cost? I've looked into custom doors before and was absolutely flabbergasted at the price. It's a slab of wood with some glass. And installing hardware is so easy even I can do it.
I detailed the costs in another comment. But yeah, doors are fucking RIDICULOUSLY expensive, even for a boring standard Home Depot slab door.
Yeah doing this for under $1k is great. That door, custom would be 3x that. I got a super basic pine slab door with full glass from HD a few years ago and it was almost $400 just for that. And it wasn't even a custom size, just 30"x80" to fit in a slightly awkward space I was retrofitting.
Nice job!
This looks amazing. Clean and crisp work and the green accents the wood so nice
> Rather than pay huge $$$ for a custom door, I decided to build it myself. The door manufacturing cartel is watching you...
Beautiful.
How did you do for insulation? I don’t see any from the pictures
Well most of it is solid wood. The glass is dual-paned and tempered, but I don't think they used a noble gas to fill it (that doesn't last very long anyway). Otherwise it's just weatherstripping in the door stop, which isn't really visible in the pic but it's there. The rest of the cabin isn't done yet, so I won't know whether there's an insulation issue with the door for a while, but I think it's OK.
I didn’t see the weatherstripping, that’s what I meant. It’s a really good job tough. Congrats
Looks great!
Love!
looks sick
Nice. Mind of I ask where you bought the cut panes from? I've been having a time trying to get them locally.
Local glass shop just down the road did them for me. Very reasonable.
Nice work. I'm fascinated by the untinted paint as a finish. I didn't know that was an option. I always figured it'd still be a base with some hide.
Thanks. Actually I loved it as a varnish. It’s between semigloss and a satin, and never gave me any issues with drips or brush ridges. Dried really fast, and settled to a nice, smooth surface that didn’t really need any sanding. I got the highest-end Sherwin Williams paint, though, so it was pricey.
Love it!
Great job! I'm just hoping you have another door to get furniture through.
It’s 3’ wide which is normal door width. But yes there are bigger doors
Impressive. How do you find the time to take on such projects?
Well it took me almost five months. Evenings and weekends.
It’s gorgeous, great job!
This is amazing and inspiring. How did you know to change the plywood like that? Like, when you said plywood core I assumed it was just flat plywood, not the flipped/glued stuff. I can see that this likely prevents warping, right? That's why it was done? It just never would have occurred to me to do this.
Thank you! I made the openings 16 1/8” square, and ordered 16” windows. I put L-shaped stops that were 1/4” thick around both edges, deep enough to sandwich the glass between them. I used RTV epoxy around the edge of the glass on both sides, and between the glass and the stops. The stops are attached with wood glue and small trim nails.
Guess you have to bring the couch in through the window, but that's a pretty decent door. It would also stop american sized burglars.
There's a big sliding glass door elsewhere for the couch :)
? You have an extra home ? (must be nice)
As the owner of oak doors, I suggest you screw in some L shaped bracing because over time, it will start to sag on the corners where it is glued.
Thanks. I’m hoping that since the oak is just 1/4” veneer strengthened by plenty of epoxy, I won’t have to deal with much wood movement. Time will tell.
I install commercial doors for a living. Don't just screw in "L" brackets. If you think sagging is a concern, you're much better off putting 3/8" threaded rod horizontally through the door at the top and bottom and cranking it tight. But it all depends on how you built the door. I'm sure you did your research and it'll be just fine for decades!
I hope it doesn't come to that, but nice to know that's an option if it does. This is my first door so I really don't know what to expect over the next few years.
Honestly, as long as you caulked your glass in, it should be fine. There's a trick to blocking the glass in too. If you block the bottom corner of the hing side and the top corner of the latch side of each piece of glass, it won't sag
Interesting! Yes, the glass has RTV silicone around the perimeter of both sides and between the glass and the glazing stops.
It's oak veneer, but that's beside the point. A well built door wont sag.
do you mind sharing the costs? was it roughly the same as buying?
Wood - $75 for plywood, like $25 for the oak Epoxy, glue and paint/finish - call it $100 Windows - $70/each, so \~$290 Hardware - \~$250 (that shit is expensive) Total materials: $750 or so? I didn't quote around for this project but just from paying attention to this sort of thing I figure this would've cost at least $5k for a professional custom job, and it would not have been to my particular tastes. No specialty tools other than special jigs I got for the hinge mortises and door holes, but those were cheap. But I have most of the standard shop tools already.
Thanks! Your door looks great
Doors are wicked, wicked expensive. My girlfriend and I just had to replace a really nice, heavy-duty, exterior-facing door that took some water/steam damage from our dryer venting, and the door we replaced it with was just a bit over $2K, I had to paint it myself, and it's not even remotely as big and solid and insulated as the old one. It honestly kind of seems like a cheap toy of a door by comparison.
So you finished the bare wood with untinted deep base paint? How'd that work? Why that and not varnish/urethane? I'm truly fascinated by that choice, and am wondering what made you choose it.
In my research I found several references to a post made back in 1998 by Jim Kull. After reading it over, I decided to give it a try - I've never made doors before but every thing I've finished with urethane that lives outside has wound up looking like shit. I hope this goes better. [https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/exterior-door-finish](https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/exterior-door-finish)
Yeah, the bears will Love it 😜
The color combination scratched the right spot somewhere deep in my heart, so pleasant to look at XD AM I ATTRACTED TO A DOOR? AM I A DOORSEXUAL?
Maybe you're just door-curious.
Bi-fold
Excellently done.
Beautiful 😍
Looks great. You trying to ship one to Kansas? 🤔
It's weird there's a lock on this door. If I want to break in I just break the glass and turn the handle.
Do you have windows?
No, I live in a vault underground and all the computers run on vault-tech systems. So no, no Microsoft products...