Exterior Hangar Door Construction
#6
So I'm on this adventure of building a pool house when I have free time (it's been 1.5yrs so far) and I'm starting to build the hangar doors on the front. I've priced custom doors and all of that, but it's not happening at the quoted prices. I can basically build my own including all wiring, motors, etc. for 1/40th the cost of manufactured ones.

Doors will be where the two blue tarps are currently on the photos. The cmu columns will be stone veneer once the doors are in. 

These will be just a wood frame work with plexiglass panels (maybe tempered glass) for maximum view and light into the building.
I have everything calculated like the steel angle frame, wheels, brackets, hinges, motor, cable, operator, everything; except the best wood for the doors.

Thought about aluminum, but that's a crazy price as well. I had settled on using pressure treated to use 2x's with hardwood dowels and epoxy as glue. However, the 2x's warp and twist terribly, so getting something square and true isn't likely to happen. I don't' have a jointer big enough to make this work, nor the space to joint them.

I've thought about pt plywood which I can laminate to 1.5" (3 layers 1/2") and basically create mortise and tenons with the layers. Planning to use Loctite PL Premium for the laminating and joining. This would be weather proof and paintable when finished. These large sections will experience some flex as the doors operate, but angles are set to distribute stress and operate smoothly.

I'm wondering what others have experienced with the pt plywood and PL adhesive and how it's held up in the weather. Should I use a different adhesive or an epxoy?

These doors only get wet occasionally on a driving rain but the tarps stay mostly dry year round. Wind is a bigger factor really.
I don't want to build these again for a long time.


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#7
I wouldn't use PT plywood.  I don't see any advantage and plenty of downside.  All that exposed end grain on every edge, warpage when drying, poor glue adhesion, and more.  Solid wood has been used for centuries.  The many doors still in existence are working proof.  Sure, mahogany, or one of its substitutes would be best, but Douglas fir, white pine, cedar, and several other woods will last for many decades if well-constructed and painted.  I built the doors for my shed a few years ago out of ash for the stiles and rails.  Not a great choice but it's what I had.  Mortise and loose tenon joinery with epoxy glue.  I used 1/2" MDO for the panels.  They were primed and painted before installation.  They still look as good as when I installed them with no warpage, etc.   

John
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#8
(01-18-2023, 04:09 PM)jteneyck Wrote: I wouldn't use PT plywood.  I don't see any advantage and plenty of downside.  All that exposed end grain on every edge, warpage when drying, poor glue adhesion, and more.  Solid wood has been used for centuries.  The many doors still in existence are working proof.  Sure, mahogany, or one of its substitutes would be best, but Douglas fir, white pine, cedar, and several other woods will last for many decades if well-constructed and painted.  I built the doors for my shed a few years ago out of ash for the stiles and rails.  Not a great choice but it's what I had.  Mortise and loose tenon joinery with epoxy glue.  I used 1/2" MDO for the panels.  They were primed and painted before installation.  They still look as good as when I installed them with no warpage, etc.   

John

Thanks for the great input. The exposed edges were a fear of mine as well. I have been considering hardwood or something, my issue would be jointing and flattening several 12ft boards. 

Do you think a wood edge banding would help at all, or just lipstick on a pig?
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#9
(01-18-2023, 05:13 PM)jamesglenn Wrote: Thanks for the great input. The exposed edges were a fear of mine as well. I have been considering hardwood or something, my issue would be jointing and flattening several 12ft boards. 

Do you think a wood edge banding would help at all, or just lipstick on a pig?

Yes, solid wood edge banding, well glued, would help to minimize water getting into the edges of the plywood.  But that still leaves a host of other potential problems.  

I would contact a local mill shop and inquire about them machining the stiles/rails for you.  How are you even going to move doors that large?  

John
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#10
(01-18-2023, 07:09 PM)jteneyck Wrote: Yes, solid wood edge banding, well glued, would help to minimize water getting into the edges of the plywood.  But that still leaves a host of other potential problems.  

I would contact a local mill shop and inquire about them machining the stiles/rails for you.  How are you even going to move doors that large?  

John

I should've thought about a local shop to surface them, well played John. Thank you.

The hangar doors will be horizontal bi-folds, so folding in the center and hanging to the exterior. A winch mounted to the ceiling and long corded operator down inside the wall will pull them up. Rafters were set for this and the header is (2) 20" deep osb (1.25" thick) sitting on the cmu piers, with a 4x7x3/8 steel angle horizontal and bolted to a 3x6x3/8 steel angle vertical which is in turn anchored to the cmu columns.
Basically oversized, but I ran the calculations to support steel doors and the wood is actually lighter.

Cable pulls up on the bottom and the door folds outward at the hinged middle (slightly off center) and wheels let it roll up the steel angle columns. 

I didn't think making the doors from wood was going to be my hardest part of this.
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