During the overhaul of an apartment, it often becomes necessary to replace interior doors, and sometimes. In this case, you can either purchase a finished door, or make it yourself.
During the execution of work, you may encounter some difficulties. However, if you fulfill all the requirements and take into account the necessary details, the result will please you.
Replacing a balcony door begins with the dismantling of the old block. First of all, it is necessary to remove the platbands and the sash from the hinges. If the box is in good condition, you can leave it. Otherwise, the design should be replaced. This is a rather laborious process, but in most cases necessary. To free the opening, you need to make a slot on the jamb. A crowbar is inserted into the recess formed and, with the help of a hammer, the box is gradually knocked out of the wall.
After that, the walls and floor should be thoroughly cleaned of construction debris. It is better that the cleaning is wet with the use of special detergents. When the opening is completely dry, you can take the dimensions of the future product.
Preparing the doorway for installation
The next step will be the purchase of a door or its independent production. First of all, it is worth remembering the uniform aesthetics of the room. Therefore, the future should be in harmony with the overall style of the interior. It is also necessary to take care of the reliability of the structure, otherwise this dangerous door to the balcony can cause misfortune or injury.
The work is completed by installing a new box in the prepared opening and hanging the sash.
If you decide to make a door with your own hands, you should opt for wooden models, since it is quite difficult to assemble a PVC profile structure at home.
Advantages and disadvantages of wood products
Wood has many advantages, but this material also has disadvantages. Positive features include:
- ecological cleanliness;
- attractive appearance;
- long service life;
- sufficient isolation from noise;
- low heat loss;
- operational reliability.
The negative features are as follows:
- high moisture absorption;
- possible deformation.
All the disadvantages of wood appear only because of poor-quality harvesting and violation of technology. According to existing standards, to reduce absorption, the boards must be dried and treated with hot steam and special impregnations.
Work materials
The humidity factor should not exceed 10%. Additionally, the finished block is covered with stain with a protective layer of varnish on top or water-repellent paint.
Classification of wooden doors
It is useful for every owner to know how to make a wooden door himself. Before proceeding with its manufacture, it is worth deciding on the choice of the door unit. By the number of canvases, the doors are divided into double-leaf (2 leaves) and ordinary.
There are such types of products:
For installation on a loggia, any of the listed models is suitable. It all depends on personal preference.
The procedure for self-manufacturing a balcony block
Having decided on the choice of product, you can get to work. A detailed description of how to make a door from boards with your own hands will help you avoid mistakes in the manufacturing process.
First of all, you need to measure the opening. We pay special attention to the thickness of the partition. Ideally, the door frame should match the thickness of the opening. If the wall is unusually wide, decorative overlays on the box of the right size should be provided in order to visually remove this defect.
To determine the width of the canvas, you need to measure the distance between the two vertical partitions of the opening. At the same time, it is more expedient to take measurements at the widest point of the divergence of the walls. Use a plumb bob to check the angle of the partition. From the obtained parameter, we subtract the thickness of the box - usually 70 mm - and the gap for the mounting foam (about 30 mm). Then add 10 mm to this number for an allowance during installation. The value you get will be equal to the width of the canvas. If the total value exceeds 100 cm, only a double door will suit you.
To determine the height of the door, you need to find out the distance between the floor and the top of the opening at three points. From their minimum value, subtract thirty-five millimeters for the upper part of the strapping and another 15 mm for the gap from the floor. As a result, we get the desired number. If a threshold is provided, then from the total height of the opening it is necessary to subtract 75 mm for the box and 4 mm for the free opening of the sash.
In accordance with the measurements taken and the calculated dimensions of the door leaf, the required amount of lumber should be purchased. At the same time, it is desirable to buy forests more than required by about 15%. This requires the consumption of material in the process. Wood must be of high quality drying, without noticeable defects. It is desirable to choose boards that are even and smooth. Soft types of raw materials are optimally suited, as they are easier to process.
coniferous trees
From coniferous species, spruce and pine are most often used, and from deciduous species, birch and linden.
You will need the following tools to get the job done:
- roulette;
- Screwdriver Set;
- chisel and hammer;
- emery coarse and fine grit;
- hacksaw;
- plane;
- wood glue;
- screws (preferably with a flat head) of different sizes;
- mounting foam;
- clamps;
- anchor bolts.
Additional power tools may be needed:
- drill;
- screwdriver;
- electric planer;
- horizontal grinder.
With electrical equipment, your work will go much faster, and the quality of the finished product will be higher. However, the availability of such tools is not a prerequisite.
If you want to know how to make a door with your own hands, the video presented on our website will help to visually demonstrate this process.
Box installation
The door frame must withstand heavy loads. This system is installed in the opening, and then the door panel is hung on it with the help of hinges. The box consists of two vertical and one horizontal piece of grooved board. If a threshold is provided, two horizontal structural members must be used.
It is necessary to assemble the door frame on a horizontal plane. For this fit a large table. You can also assemble on the floor. On each board we mark the places of articulation of parts and the location of the connecting protrusions. Using a hacksaw, we cut the spikes and grooves. Thickly smear all attachment points with glue and assemble the structure, further reinforcing it with screws.
After the glue dries, we mount the finished box into the opening using anchors. When setting up a structure, do not forget to use a level to check the verticals and horizontals. If the box is placed crooked, then the doors will jam and they will not open. The gaps between the wall and the box are filled with mounting foam.
Installation of the door in the opening
The final stage is the fixing of the lower fixing board and the braces from above. This is necessary so that the hardening foam does not bend the box.
The paneled door is considered the most successful design. This model is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. At the same time, it looks presentable and will successfully fit into any interior. This design will last you a long time. The best option for a balcony door made of wood would be a combination of a deaf bottom and a glazed top of the canvas.
For the manufacture of a typical door, you will need to assemble a frame from two racks and three crossbars. The width of the boards should be about 120 mm. It is important that the distance from the bottom of the canvas to the panel exceeds the height of the upper and middle crossbars by 1.5 - 2 times. This will improve the appearance of the product and provide structural rigidity.
At the ends of the bars, grooves are additionally sawn in the places where the panels are attached.
To make a blind panel, you need to glue the bars and lamellas alternately. Between themselves, the parts are articulated using the thorn-groove method.
Tongue-and-groove connection method
After fitting all the wooden parts, you need to coat the joints with glue and fix the structure with self-tapping screws.
It is necessary to cover the joints of the parts of the product with glue
The product should be tightened with screw clamps - clamps to avoid deformation, and left to dry for three days.
We grind the surface of the dried sash if desired. It would be useful to cover the box and the canvas with stain and varnish.
The finished product is covered with a layer of varnish
It takes approximately 12 hours for each coat to dry.
Experts recommend installing the box and sash at the same time. To do this, we place a box on a table or other horizontal plane, apply a canvas and mark the places where the hinges can be hung. After inserting the canopies, we fix the box in the opening, as described above. After we install the finished door and fasten the hinges, observing the necessary gaps.
The next day after installation, we cut off the excess foam and insert the glass, fixing it with a glazing bead.
Knowing how to make a wooden door yourself, you can significantly reduce the cost of repairs.
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Preparing the doorway for installation Coniferous trees Materials for work Tongue-and-groove connection method
So, you have built a house, or maybe you are doing a major overhaul in your apartment? And before you the question arose of equipping the rooms with doors. So what to choose? Buy ready-made factory options or do it yourself?
Many consider the first option an impossible task, and therefore go to the store. But I want to note that this is far from the case. Even a non-professional can make a door with his own hands. The main thing is to have a great desire, the necessary materials and tools, and a little more free time. And how to make a door with your own hands, we will consider further.
At the same time, it doesn’t matter which door you need: interior or for installation at the entrance to the house - any of these options can be done independently. How? Let's figure it out.
So, you have decided that the best option is a wooden door with your own hands. It will be much easier to make this one, but first about the material for it. Many characteristics of your future system will depend on this factor.
For example, appearance, service life and so on. In general, the type of wood does not matter much. It can be both deciduous and coniferous. The main thing is that the source material should be qualitatively dried, without defects that affect its strength properties.
As an improvement in properties, you need to use special compounds that increase the reliability and aesthetic characteristics of the tree. In addition, your future door will be reliably protected from moisture, bacteria and other aggressive contacts.
This is with regard to the choice and preparation of material for the manufacture of doors, and now consider one of the simplest options for a door suitable for independent work.
Do-it-yourself interior and front door
For those who are not very well versed in terminology, the door is a wooden canvas that will be hung on the hinges of the door jamb. These two structures (frame and door leaf) form the so-called door unit.
- Let's start by making a box or a jamb. For this you will need a beam. The variant of the door block for the front door can only be of a closed nature. Their design consists of four bars, the size of which corresponds to a value from 75 to 120 mm. Connect them with spikes, either single or double.
- As for the doors located in the rooms, for them, in addition to the above option, you can use an open jamb. Its design is made of three bars and their thickness is slightly less than previously stated: 50 mm. These bars will be located on top and on the sides of the doorway.
- The lintel (beam located on top) needs to be made wider. This is necessary so that the protrusions have a reliable support on the existing masonry or other wall material. Usually, the jamb is assembled first. When performing these actions, you need to pay special attention to observing the exact dimensions, as well as the correctness of the angles (straight lines).
- After assembly, the jamb can be fixed in the doorway. To assemble, you will need brackets or pins that can be driven into the wall (masonry).
To hang the door leaf, you need to make special recesses on the long part of the bars for future hinges. You will also need to make another recess on the beam, designed for the door. If, after installing the jamb, small gaps and other defects appear, then they can be eliminated with the help of mounting foam. When the jamb is ready, you can start making the door leaf.
Door leaf
If we consider the manufacture of the door, it should be noted that the design of the option intended for entering the house and rooms will be different. This is due to the fact that the front door should be more durable and have enhanced properties of thermal and sound insulation. But interior doors may not be so impressive, for them the main aesthetics of appearance. Although the presence of soundproofing properties also does not hurt.
So, the door intended for the room can be paneled. Making one with your own hands is quite easy. This option meets the requirements of aesthetics, durability and affordable cost.
What is a fillet? This is a wooden shield. Its surface can be varied. For example, smooth or profiled. And there are carved options. This shield is located in a special harness.
- The design of the panel can be made using one or more boards. It all depends on the size you need. At the heart of the panel, as noted above, is the strapping. For its manufacture, bars that have undergone a certain processing are used. And, of course, it is desirable that there are no defects in the original material. The bars are equipped with special grooves in which the panel will be placed directly.
- The fastening of the bars is carried out with the help of spikes. For the manufacture of panels, in addition to boards, fiberboard or ordinary plywood can be used. If you wish, you can even replace these materials with glass or a combination of them. After the door is assembled, it must be hung on the hinges, which are fixed to the jamb with screws.
The door designed to enter the house is made a little differently. The reasons for this have been stated above. You can also make an entrance door using the technology described above, only in this case you will need a panel with more impressive dimensions. Its parameters must correspond to a value of 40 or more millimeters.
And, finally, a few words about the manufacture of door handles. For this purpose, you can use a solid wood blank. From it you can quite easily cut a handle that has a round shape.
You can fix such a handle model on the door leaf using a sufficiently long bolt and a pre-prepared hole. In order not to violate the aesthetics of the door handle, the top of the bolt, as well as the nut, must be disguised under special decorative overlays.
A diverse range of inexpensive doors made of MDF or plastic makes it easy to find a beautiful factory product with the right dimensions. However, such doors do not always meet the stated requirements for quality and practicality. For example, for outbuildings: a bathhouse, a shed, a summer kitchen or a shower, durable structures are required that are not afraid of temperature changes, moisture and strong winds. In this case, it is best to make doors from boards with your own hands.
Material preparation
Masters involved in the manufacture of furniture made of wood, argue that it is best to work with oak. However, the use of such wood for the production of doors is irrational, since it is very heavy, so pine is more often used. Spruce is used less often because of the numerous knots and exfoliating fibrous structure.
When choosing boards, you need to make sure that the surface is even and does not have blue. If there is no confidence in the correct storage of the boards, then they must be additionally dried for two months at a temperature of +25 degrees. The procedure can be accelerated using a drying chamber, but the maximum allowable temperature is +50 degrees. At high marks, the resin that holds the fibers flows out of the wood, and the boards begin to dry out. You need to select and prepare the material, following the following rules:
- it is worth buying commercial wood, which is characterized by a small number of small knots;
- residual humidity in the range of 12-15% is considered normal;
- having laid the boards using the “thorn-groove” method, it is necessary to check that they are not bent or bent;
- interior doors can be made from boards 2.5-3.5 cm thick, and entrance doors - 3.5-5 cm.
Production of a door leaf from an array
The procedure for creating a door leaf is determined by its type, and it is possible to manufacture three types of doors with your own hands. Massive is a flat surface created by joining planed boards. Entrance doors are made from cedar, oak and larch, and in a barn or bathhouse you can make a canvas from a pine board. To make them yourself, you need to follow these steps:
- An array and marking boards (short horizontal and long vertical) are laid on a horizontal surface.
- With observance of the right angle of docking, the marking of the joints of the boards is carried out. After that, spikes are cut out on long boards.
- A spike is cut along the long inner side of the short boards, and a groove is cut at the ends.
- The grooves and spikes are smeared with carpentry glue and fastened together. It is necessary to lay the boards so that the pattern of the annual rings looks in one direction.
- The assembled shield must be pressed from all sides and left to dry for 72 hours.
- The finished shield is processed with a grinder to make the surface smooth and hide the seams, and then the strapping is done. The number of crossbars is selected depending on the size and weight of the hand-made door.
Without professional skills, and wanting to make doors to a bathhouse or a barn with your own hands, it is better to cut a simple spike in half the thickness of the board. This work is carried out very carefully, since even a small gap can warp the canvas and cause a loose fit of the wood.
Making panel doors with your own hands
Paneled is a product with various decorative recesses that looks quite decent, but is rarely used in the exterior. To make panel doors with your own hands, you must first make a drawing indicating the dimensions of the boards and panels. In accordance with the drawing, bars for the frame and panels are alternately cut out. The latter should freely enter the grooves on the bars, so the thickness of their edges is made less than the grooves by 1-2 mm. After processing all the elements with an antiseptic and drying, the grooves are lubricated with glue. All parts are assembled on a horizontal surface in the following sequence: crossbars and panels are glued to a vertical beam, then mullions, the remaining crossbars and panels, a second vertical beam and framing glazing beads. Considering the principle of element-by-element assembly of such a door, the paneled canvas can be easily decorated with glass stained-glass windows.
Manufacturing of a panel structure
Panel boards are budget structures that are made from low quality boards, filled inside with edged timber or remain hollow. To hide the external "defectiveness" of this door, it is sheathed with decorative surfaces made of MDF or plastic. This is a simple and inexpensive option for arranging entrances to the basement, barn or attic. In principle, they will fit into the bath, but then you need to use high-quality boards and process them correctly. The production process involves the following steps:
- A timber of a suitable size is selected so that a strapping frame can be made, and after marking, spikes are cut into half a tree.
- After gluing the boards, dowels are driven into the grooves into the corners.
- If the door will be placed in the bath, then to increase its rigidity, you need to make two middle crossbars.
- One side is sheathed with a selected inexpensive material: a fiberboard sheet or a thin board shield.
- A filler is glued onto the bottom facing sheet, most often these are wood trimmings. But when making a panel door to a bathhouse, it is better to put the thickest possible layer of good insulation, for example, from mineral wool.
- When the glue is completely dry, the outer sheet of fiberboard is hemmed and a decorative design is created if necessary.
Making a frame with your own hands
After the door leaf is ready, making a frame for it is already as easy as shelling pears. It is enough to glue two vertical posts and two crossbars of the desired size using the tongue and groove method. For the door to the bath, the frame is also treated with moisture-resistant coatings after drying. It is attached to the wall with self-tapping screws so that the caps "drown" in the array.
When choosing accessories, you can stop at standard one-sided hinges and latches, which are in an affordable price segment. Universal hinges are more expensive, difficult to remove and, according to some sellers, they will hold together more than single-sided ones. The number of hinges depends on the weight of the leaf, for example, oak front doors may require up to four hinges.
Wood processing
Any wooden canvas made by hand must be treated with a protective agent. It is enough to cover the interior doors with varnish, and the entrance structures to the house or bath must be treated not only with antiseptics, but also with several layers of paint. A good choice would be a polyfluid that penetrates deep into the wood fibers and is highly water repellent. And the finishing decorative coating can be chosen, guided by personal taste preferences.
Wood as a natural material has been popular at all times. Its valuable properties as a natural raw material have been appreciated by many generations. The natural array is still actively used in construction: strong, safe and beautiful doors are made from it. Structures made for outbuildings, residential buildings are made according to the same scheme, they will differ only in the features of the cladding, the originality of fittings and reinforcing details. They differ in style and location. Do-it-yourself wooden doors are unique, interesting and original. To do them correctly, you should clearly follow the main stages of installation.
Solid wood doors are highly durable and well isolate the room from noise.
Wooden structures are made in the following versions:
- paneled;
- shield;
- deaf from the array;
- with stained glass windows.
Entrance and interior options are represented by canvases with a dull coating or with additional elements of tempered glass elements. These details play a decorative role. Paneled doors are used as interior samples. The top layer of wood is most often treated with varnish or veneer.
Preliminary preparation for work
You can independently make a door from an array by preparing a number of necessary devices:
- plane;
- hacksaw;
- a hammer;
- chisel;
- roulette;
- self-tapping screws;
- joiner's glue;
- sandpaper;
- screwdriver or screwdriver;
- Grinder.
Care should be taken to select quality wood. For these purposes, pine, spruce, larch, oak, ash are best suited. However, when choosing hardwoods, it is worth considering that it may be difficult to process them at home. Soft breeds are most suitable for self-production.
The massif used must be well dried, even, the presence of large knots and cracks is not allowed. In order for natural raw materials to acquire the necessary moisture indicators, in sunny and dry weather it is laid out on the street for a period of 14 days.
The number of strips used is determined by the type of canvas. So, a shield door requires a minimum amount of material, while a deaf variety needs to be increased.
Next, the opening is measured. 8 mm is added to the figures obtained if a threshold is required. After that, you can make a box on which the door is fixed. The opening consists of two vertical planks and the same number of crossbars. Their plane was created for the location of fixing spikes on it. With a hacksaw and a knife, openings are made with spike and groove fastening. Then they are fixed with glue.
The door leaf in its dimensions should be 3 mm smaller than the dimensions of the box. So the structure will open and close freely. For doors, a solid sheet of natural coating or fiberboard is taken. It is advisable to carry out the manufacturing process of the structure on a flat horizontal surface.
First, the dimensions of future products are compared. To make a box, a beam is used, the thickness of which is 5 cm and the width is 10 cm.
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This important detail is fixed to the doorway, it serves as the starting point for attaching the canvas. To give this element maximum strength, it is made of wood. It has the form of two vertical racks and the same number of crossbars. On their surface, the connection points and the locations of the connecting grooves are marked. With the help of a hacksaw and a knife, openings are made similar to a tongue-and-groove connection. After that, they are lubricated with adhesive and tightly connected. The finished canvas is inserted into a given space and fixed at the base of the wall with self-tapping screws.
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Door leaf manufacturing
If the structure is made of solid wood, you can buy it at a building supermarket, since in a residential area there will not be the equipment necessary for its production. It is made by gluing the beam and planks.
It is most convenient to carry out such activities on the floor:
- the prepared material is laid out on a flat plane, small vertical and horizontal lumber is also placed here;
- the connection points of the boards are marked with a pencil, the joining angle must correspond to 90 °;
- the longest parts are used for cutting spikes on their surface, you should be especially careful and careful in your work, the connection of the parts must certainly be smooth;
- a groove hole is made in the end part of small boards, a spike is made from the inside, the number of such elements can be one or two, it is most convenient for a non-professional to work with a simple spike corresponding to half the thickness of the tree;
- spike and groove joints are coated with an adhesive, then they are fastened with parts of fiberboard, taken in the amount of two pieces, as a result a multilayer structure is obtained;
- the existing parts are connected with 25 mm self-tapping screws;
- if necessary, the door should be dried for 3 days, a load is first placed on it, as it dries, the outer layer is treated with a grinder.
You can make entrance doors in the same way. The difference is only in the insulation of the device. For such purposes, thin plates of mineral wool are used. More reliable protection can be obtained by placing an iron plate inside such a device, the thickness of which corresponds to 2 mm. This is how armored wooden structures are made. After that, hinges and locks are attached to the canvas.
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Door insulation: features
The canvas from the array, if desired, can be insulated.
To do this, the design is made from the inside and outside. From the inside of the door, empty spaces are filled with any material of a porous structure. It can be glass wool, polystyrene, polystyrene, polyurethane foam. You can make internal insulation using the following components:
- a piece of foam rubber, the thickness of which corresponds to 1.5-2 cm;
- artificial leather 25-30 cm long;
- glue;
- large scissors;
- furniture stapler;
- special nails.
It is best to veneer such a door with an assistant. The foam rubber is cut out with a small margin, 8-10 cm more, then it should be glued to the canvas. The outer part is made out of artificial leather, while it is important to follow the same amount of material from all sides. The size of such a canvas corresponds to the dimensions of the door, from which 1 cm is subtracted. An assistant is required here to help stretch the material onto the surface of the structure. For fastening use a furniture stapler.
It is important to follow the tight stretching of the fabric, it should not have wrinkles and folds. The cut off parts of the leather substitute are stretched and fastened with staples along the edge of the canvas: at first they are simply fixed on the surface, then they are folded and nailed with furniture nails. The connection points of the vertical and horizontal strips are turned at an angle of 45 ° and fixed with nails.
Recommendation: to make the door handle slot look more attractive, a hole is made at the back of the door, then a cross-shaped slot is made with a sharp blade, which must be pierced in the center.
The door market is huge and natural wood is still a timeless classic. But not every door can be made by a beginner, so further you will find out which canvases an amateur can take on, and which ones are better to order in a workshop. After that, we will analyze in detail how to make a door at home, and in 2 versions and with all the subtleties.
Not every door can be made by a beginner
Making wooden doors yourself is not a problem, but first you need to figure out where you intend to put this canvas and what requirements are imposed on its aesthetic and operational data. After all, you must admit that it is one thing to have a pantry in the backyard and quite another, making doors with your own hands for rooms or your favorite bath.
Massive canvases
In this case, the term "massive doors" does not refer to either the size or the weight of the door leaf. This means that the doors are completely made of wood and there are no technological voids inside. Plus, such a canvas is assembled from solid boards and does not have any windows or other inserts.
Massive doors belong to an elite product
In stores, the price for such a product is one of the highest, and at the same time, making one-piece massive doors with your own hands is quite realistic for any home craftsman. The strength of such a canvas is the highest, only iron doors are stronger than massive ones, and not all of them, when compared with Chinese goods, it is better to make a door from a tongue-and-groove board yourself.
Making doors with your own hands from a solid board for a beginner is quite realistic
Of course, you should not immediately take on a solid canvas, shining with exquisite polishing, but we will tell you how to make doors with your own hands, for example, for a bath, in all details, but a little later.
Paneled canvases
Simply put, the term "paneled doors" means prefabricated canvases. That is, first a frame is made, and then panels (inserts) are inserted in certain places of this frame.
In classic paneled canvases, such inserts are made of wood. In interior panel doors, glass can be used instead of wood. The design is light and beautiful, plus it takes less material.
But we do not advise novice masters to take on this type of door. Firstly, in order to properly dock the frame planks and insert panels into them, you need a skill, and secondly, to make such canvases, you need a lot of good, including professional tools.
Inserts in interior panel doors can be made from different materials
Panel and frame canvases
From the point of view of the layman, panel and frame doors are not much different. It is believed that the panel door consists of a rectangular box, which is sewn up on both sides with solid sheets of fiberboard or plywood. At the same time, its frame sister is made of the same box, only stiffening ribs made of wooden bars are installed inside.
Professionals divide these doors according to other criteria, they distinguish between solid, hollow and small-hollow canvases.
- Solid canvases are the highest quality in this niche. Inside the box is filled with a wooden lath, which at times increases the strength of the structure. True, the quality of the rail is not the highest, often waste goes there. In part, this design resembles a solid array, only a high-quality tongue-and-groove board is used there, and here production waste;
- Small-hollow canvases - such doors differ from solid ones in that the inside of the canvas is filled in fragments. Roughly speaking, when they want to save money or there are not enough wooden slats for continuous filling, these slats are fastened with gaps, through one;
On the left (A) solid, and on the right (B) fine-hollow filling of the canvas
In panel sheets, the technology and existing GOSTs make it possible to use chipboard, MDF, polystyrene and even honeycomb cardboard as a filler in addition to wooden laths.
- Hollow canvases are the simplest and cheapest option for doors. Here, sheets of plywood or fiberboard are simply stuffed on both sides of the box. To make the empty box not so noisy, a filler is mounted there. The cheapest filler option is honeycomb cardboard, and the best is foam.
It is clear that it is easier to make simple doors with your own hands, so we will leave paneled structures alone and focus on massive and panel canvases.
Two options for assembling the door leaf
We decided on the types of structures, but before we make a door with our own hands, let's briefly go through the minimum set of tools and choose wood for our future work of carpentry art.
What tool do you need
There is never a lot of a tool, at the same time it is not always possible to buy a complete set, but since it will not work to make a door without a tool, we will go through the main positions.
Carpentry tools for making doors
- Hacksaw for wood;
- Electric drill;
- Square;
- Roulette;
- A set of screwdrivers or a screwdriver;
- Plane;
- A set of chisels;
- Level;
- Minimum 2 - 3 clamps;
- Metal hammer;
- Mallet (wooden or rubber hammer);
- Pliers;
- Awl;
- Emery or grinder.
If you want to make a really beautiful door with your own hands, you will have to fork out for a high-quality hand mill with a jig (a guide bed for the movement of the cutter). Without it, you will not make curly details.
You can't make a beautiful door without a good cutter
Choosing wood
When choosing a tree species, it is advisable to take into account several recommendations. So for a dry room, you can take any wood, but if we make a door with our own hands, it is better to refuse from strong species such as oak or acacia, they are difficult to process.
In damp rooms, for example, in a bath, it is better to take larch, aspen or pine, they are less susceptible to decay. But at the same time, only hardwoods are used for the steam room; at high temperatures, resin will flow from conifers. The most affordable option is linden.
For doors, you need the so-called "business forest". Unlike the usual one, there are fewer knots, and most importantly, it is well dried. Humidity of working wood should not exceed 15%.
Some companies offer timber impregnated with protective compounds in autoclaves, it costs a third more expensive, but then you don’t fool around with antiseptics, plus industrial impregnation is an order of magnitude better.
In no case do not buy curved boards, especially a “propeller”, no matter what you are told, it is no longer realistic to align a behaving board.
Option number 1. Solid wood doors
Making a door with your own hands begins with the selection of a board. The fact is that the basis of the canvas is a shield, typed from a tongue-and-groove or simply planed board. If you are making doors to the utility room, then you can take a regular board, it is cheaper. If the door is in a prominent place, then it is better to buy a grooved board.
The minimum board thickness for doors is 25 mm, but it is inconvenient to work with such a plank, so if you have a single-layer shield, it is better to use a board with a thickness of 40 mm or more.
A shield made of grooved board is an order of magnitude better
First, take the boards and connect them together on a completely flat table. The grooved board is joined according to the tenon-groove principle, so it can be difficult to assemble the shield “dry” the first time. At this stage, your task is to clean up all the burrs so that the shield connects normally.
When the shield is assembled, you number the boards with a pencil and disassemble the structure. Now alternately put carpentry glue into the groove of each plank and reconnect the shield into a single structure. This time, the first plank rests against some kind of hard ledge, and all subsequent boards, when joined, are tightly knocked out with a mallet.
So that the planks of the shield do not disperse during drying, they need to be pulled in 2-3 places with clamps from the sides, plus 2 even boards are applied from above and below and are also tightened with clamps. With this approach, the bars will not lead anywhere.
The shield is pulled together with clamps in 2 - 3 places
After a day, part of the clamps can be removed and the installation of the main retaining ribs can begin. Stiffening ribs are the easiest option for assembling massive doors, you can arrange them as you like, the main thing is that they securely hold the vertical planks of the shield and provide rigidity to the canvas.
The connection will be an order of magnitude stronger if you cut the stiffeners into the canvas mass, but here you have to choose the grooves for the stiffeners. Theoretically, such grooves can be selected with a hacksaw and a chisel, but only a master is capable of this, it is better for an amateur to take a cutter for such work or to refuse to cut the planks altogether, just nail them on top.
But there is another alternative, in which overhead stiffeners are not used. For this case, it is desirable for you to have a cutter. The scheme is approximately as follows: you assemble the shield, after which you cut a groove along the upper and lower ends of the shield and glue a tongue-and-groove board into it. Additionally, the connection is fixed with self-tapping screws.
The decor of massive doors made of natural wood is a separate big topic and it is best disclosed.
Option number 2. Assembling a panel door
If you have figured out how to make the doors yourself from an array, then it will not be difficult for you to assemble panel hollow doors. In this case, the most important thing is to assemble a solid frame. Often, for these purposes, a board with a thickness of 20 mm or more is taken.
The option of joining the corners is shown in the diagram below, but if you don’t want to mess around with cutting grooves, then you can do it easier, take metal furniture corners and select small recesses under them with a chisel, pull the body with corners. In any case, then all connections will be covered by a shield.
The most affordable box sheathing option is fiberboard or plywood, but the appearance will not be the best. If the appearance of the doors is important to you, then it is better to buy a ready-made laminated MDF board; among professionals, such boards are called door cards.
Usually an MDF card is simply planted on a good wood glue, but if you doubt the strength of the structure, then you can add a few self-tapping screws. Only in this case, the caps of the self-tapping screws will have to be covered somehow, for example, with stickers or plastic chips.
We do not recommend you to make a completely hollow door; there should be several stiffening ribs inside. And so that the empty box does not “ring”, the rest of the space can be filled with foam or mineral wool.
For insulation and sound absorption, it is advisable to fill the shield door with foam plastic or mineral wool
Now you just have to choose and cut the hinges and then install your new doors. You can learn about the intricacies of choosing and inserting hinges, and the door installation technique is shown.
Conclusion
As you can see, making a door with your own hands is not so difficult, in any case, a person who is not afraid of a hacksaw and a hammer can handle such a task. In the video in this article, the masters reveal their subtleties and give recommendations on arranging doors, so study our instructions, watch the video and do not be afraid, you will succeed.
