An Exterior Door with Lites

[jteneyck]

I'm making a house door with lites and thought you might like to see how simple a door can be to make.  If you've wished you could make a door for your house but think it's too hard, it's not, you can do it with the basic jointer, planer, table saw, and router equipment most folks here have.  Joe Grout showed "A Simple Door" I think he called it, several months ago.  This door is constructed in much the same way but might be even simpler.  In any case, it's a very doable project.  

This is the basic design of the 1-3/4" x 36 x 80" door.



Stiles and rails, 2 mullions, 3 floating wood panels, and 3 lites.  The stiles and mullions are made from a stave core of poplar, edged with solid stock, and then veneered on both sides.  Here's one of the mullions after I plowed dados on both edges to hold the floating panels.  This door is white oak on the outside and white ash inside, which complicates it a little, but it doesn't have to be.  I use a bandsaw to cut the veneer, but you could use nothing more than your TS to cut 1/4" veneer 6" wide, then run it through your planer to clean up the cut side to 3/16" which is what I used.  The stiles are only 5-1/8" wide on this door, so 6" wide veneer will cover them fine.  And you could edge glue two or three pieces together for the top and bottom rails.  I had to edge glue two pieces for the 12-1/2" wide bottom rail. 



I used an LVL core for the top and bottom rails because I had a piece left over from the last door project; otherwise, I would have used poplar.  Or use LVL for all of it, it's less work. 



You see the same solid stock on the edges as I used on the stiles.  The ends of the rails have a stub tenon that fits into the dados I plowed in the stiles and mullions.  Both the dados and stub tenons were cut on my TS with a stacked dado.   I cut the mortises for those big 5/8" x 3" x 5" loose tenons on my slot mortiser, but there are alternatives that are just as good.  You could use dowels as Joe does, or you could cut 1/2" mortises with a router and shop built jig; probably other options, too.  

The floating panels are just 3/4" BB ply with veneer on both sides for a total thickness of 1-1/8", which defined the width of the dados in the stiles and rails. 



I did the veneering in a vacuum bag, which is convenient, but it can be done in a mechanical press of plywood, cauls, and clamps, too.  If you use epoxy for the glue you don't need much pressure at all to assure a good bond. 

Here's what the joinery looks like:



The floating panels are housed in the dados, but I added some 1/2" x 1-1/2" x 2" loose tenons as well to improve their resistance to being kicked in.  They will be glued only in the stiles and mullions so the panels can float. 

The ends of the mullions have 1/2" tenons that fit into the top and bottom rails. 



With the joinery done the door looks like this:



More to follow when I've made some more progress.  First I have to finish those floating panels, the downside of captured panels. 

John

[Cooler]

Are you going to use safety glass or tempered glass or acrylic?

[jteneyck]

Are you going to use safety glass or tempered glass or acrylic?

I'm using a patterned glass so it will be tempered.  I was going to use sealed insulated glass panels but it they would have to be triple pane because they can't seal to the patterned glass.  The patterned glass would have to be in the middle of a sealed unit made with two smooth panes, like how you see leaded glass insulated units made.  I got the quote back yesterday and $500 is a budget killer so I think I'm going to just use two panes of patterned glass and vent them like old style storm windows (including my Pella's).  This door sits behind a storm door so it's not the first or only thermal barrier. 

John

[Cooler]

I'm using a patterned glass so it will be tempered.  I was going to use sealed insulated glass panels but it they would have to be triple pane because they can't seal to the patterned glass.  The patterned glass would have to be in the middle of a sealed unit made with two smooth panes, like how you see leaded glass insulated units made.  I got the quote back yesterday and $500 is a budget killer so I think I'm going to just use two panes of patterned glass and vent them like old style storm windows (including my Pella's).  This door sits behind a storm door so it's not the first or only thermal barrier. 

John

My front door has three small (5" x 5") lites.  The door is almost certainly original to the house which was built in 1953.  It almost certainly is just plain glass.  There is a size threshold below which regular glass can be used.  I don't know what that is.  

Acrylite in the thicker sizes is bullet resistant (level 2--same as police vests).  I would consider using 1/2" thick acrylic for these.  Since they are protected by the storm door they should remain clear and scratch-free for a long time.  

Any glass would be easily shattered by an intruder and with the knob right there it is an easy reach to unlock the door.

If you hinge the other side it becomes a more difficult reach.  

The 1.3" material is bullet proof.  Half inch would probably  be fully intruder resistant.  Just a thought.

https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plas...gJM-fD_BwE

[jteneyck]

The deadbolt has a double cylinder, meaning it requires a key to open from both sides.  Not my choice, my client's.  So no one is going to break in by smashing the glass unless they are home and leave the key in.  Do people really try to break in through the front door, in full view of the street?  Were I a burglar I could think of several better and easier places to make an entry.  Besides, isn't that why you have a home security system with broken glass detector?  Actually, they don't have a security system;  I do.  Laminated glass would be more break-in resistant but you can't do that with patterned glass, so you are back to a 3 pane unit, or a laminated pane outside and a tempered sheet of the patterned glass inside.  I would never consider acrylic even though it's very tough.  It scratches pretty easily and just doesn't look or feel like glass.  I understand why some might choose it; just not for me.

You are likely right about the glass in your door just being normal glass.  I don't know when the regulations requiring tempered or laminated glass in all passage doors came into force, but I've seen lots of old doors with nothing more than regular glass in them.  When I change my old front door I plan to smack the glass to see how it breaks.  Built in 1961 and it sure looks like regular glass.  

John

[JGrout]

larger than a softball requires tempered glass. 

I have seen acrylic units  used and while it meets lots of specs for impact the reality is it does discolor in a short amount of time

So, when cost becomes a factor and the unit has captured decorative glass I will use laminated glass. 

You pay for tempering glass based on a minimum sq inch unit and that is why small units get expensive fast. 

Joe

[Cooler]

I guess I'm lucky.  My front door has a 102" deep covered porch protecting it.  I've even considered just an interior door for this application as it never gets wet.

[GNP]

Looking good.

[JGrout]

My front door has a 102" deep covered porch protecting it

Few houses have that amount of cover over the front door 

IOW you are lucky, I wish every door I ever made had that sort of cover; I expect even in the super high end homes I have done doors for maybe 1 in 20 was designed with even half that amount of cover, in fact I can only recall 12~ that come close to your overhang.

[Phil Thien]

You mentioned in your post so you know, but the fact that you can make this door w/ only a 6" jointer is really kind of impressive.

I'm definitely subscribing to this thread.