Shed Door

[snowman]

The Pine would be the door itself. Basically, I would take six 12"x1"x6' Pine boards side by side, nail them all together with three 1x4x6 (or so) boards lengthwise, maybe add some time for looks, and that would be my door that I would hang.

My concern was, in looking over the pine board, and without much knowledge, that the pine may be too susceptable to absorbing moisture or breaking down in sun and wind (the door on my shed will have sun exposure 100% during the day and is facing westerly, which is where most of our wind/rain/snow/sleet comes from).

However, it appears that pine is perfectly acceptable for this use and so that is what I'll use. Seems light enough too, which was also a large concern.

 

[rancar]

snowman,

I've made doors exactly as you describe. I have found that they don't last long...about 10-12 years or so before they start to deteriorate and rot due to impact of rain and wind. I have started to replace these doors with pressure treated pine boards as I mentioned in previous post. I would highly recommend going with pressure treated rather than common pine.

Bob

 

[snowman]

Bob;

Thanks - I'll look for the PT pine at Home Depot this morning.

I will probably paint the entire shed (it stands out now; I figure that painting it a dark green will let it blend into the background a bit better). If I went with common pine, I assume that painting it will help prolong its life.

 

[Ozarker]

Mine is in the open and facing west as well. Threat whatever you decide to use with a clear or stain sealer with UV protection.

I am going to replace my door soon but not because it has warped or looks bad. I am going to replace it because I got my hands on a stack of 1"x6"x6' Cedar boards from a fence I tore down for someone else. I think the Cedar will look great as a door.

When I first got the wood I wasn't sure it would be very useful because they were badly weathered and had never had any sealer on them at all. But I cleaned a couple of them up with my pressure sprayer, sanded them and used them for an indoor coat hangar and shelf project in the stairwell to the basement and they look great.

I love free wood. Especially free Cedar. I also have some 6"x6"x4' Cedar posts from the same job. Haven't figured out a use for them yet.

 

[patrickg]

Some folks like the way cedar weathers naturally, I don't.

I made an "L" shaped shed with 4x8 ft sliding doors at each end. For each, I used a 4x8 sheet of siding that was made to look like vertical cedar boards and trimmed it with 2x4 redwood all the way round with a horizontal piece in the center and a diagonal across both the top and bottom halves. A lot of redwood. I could easily have used 1x3 or 1x4 redwood but had some rough 4x4 posts so I ripped and milled them a tad. I glued and nailed redwood (maybe red cedar???) battens over the imitation joints between the vertical imitation cedar boards of the pattern on the siding. I used redwood stain on the siding and the trim boards.

These weren't real light but did not warp in 10-12 years when I redid the stain, darkening it and painted the redwood dark blue to color coordinate with the house trim (heresy right, painting redwood dark blue..) and are still fine after 15 years. To make the doors lighter they could be trimmed out with lighter wood than I used. I suspended them from a Stanley brand track hung from a redwood 4x4 over the opening and put a facia of the siding to hide the track and gap at the top. Looked really good.

I had some pebble grain aluminum in 4x8 ft sheets which would have made a warp free door and could have been trimmed in 1x2 or 1x3 pine. Would have to be careful to prime the aluminum properly to accept some sort of barn red paint to get the same look. This would have definitely been warp free and way lighter.

Sorry for my laziness in not taking the pix out of the binder so one is sideways but you get the idea. You can see both doors. Makes my back and knees hurt just to see the courtyard paving, I cast every one of those pavers out of cement that I mixed on site. At least the grouting was easy. Mix up premade mortar mix with no water and dump out on the courtyard. Sweep into cracks with a broom. With the hose adjusted to a fine mist, wash off the tops of the pavers. the water runs in the cracks and sets the mortar. After it starts to set, you can add more water without washing the grout out and voila, you're done. I wasted an hour or so with a itsy bitsy trowel trying to mortar the joints before "getting wise".

Good luck to you however you solve the door issue.

Patrick

 

[rancar]

snowman,

If you went with common pine and painted it, you may get a an extra 2-4 years out of the door. But, if the door is facing west and gets hit by rain and wind, it will soon suffer from these impacts. I would spend a few extra dollars and buy the PT pine. I've already made a couple doors and window frames out of PT pine and it works great.

Bob