Posts: 12,685
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Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Lewiston, NY
Mahogany doors often are painted. I know, it seems like it should be a criminal act, but mahogany is super durable and a painted one doubly so. Lots of painted doors in older houses on the east coast are mahogany underneath, and still working well after a couple hundred years.
But that door has problems, for sure, and I, too, wonder what glue was used. Despite what people think about TB III being a great product (which it is in many aspects) it is not a good choice for panels on frame and panel exterior doors, especially if the door is painted a dark color and gets any direct sun exposure. I don't know what glue was used, but it sure looks like glue failure and TB III is prone to failure in that application. It's on them if they used the wrong glue, didn't use properly dried wood, etc. On the other hand, if the door gets much direct sun and the shop warned you about the possibility of panel failure but you said go ahead, then that's on you. Do you have a storm door over this door? If yes, it is vented? If there is an unvented storm door over a wood door and it gets any amount of direct sunshine then it's just about guaranteed to have problems. But a knowledgeable door maker would know this and advise you against a storm door or insist on a vented one if you wanted one.
Who painted the door? If the paint job glued the panels to the frame then that could be the root cause of the panels splitting, but not the mid rail. That gives me more concern than the panels, actually, and I'd be wanting a whole new door because of it.
The problem with doors with captured panels is there's no easy way to fix them. And if the mid-rail has a split in it then it just got even more difficult. I'd want a new door. Actually, I'd want my money back and I'd buy a new one from someone who knows what they are doing.
My thinking finally caught up with my writing. It starts with the presence of a storm door and sun exposure. Everything else flows from whether there is or isn't one, and, if there is, if it gets direct sunshine.
John