Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

4/28/19, 12:05 AM #1

Tom Norton
Guest

Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

Tom Norton

I have an upcoming project I have had in the back of my mind for sometime. I will be building a new front door for our home. I have built a number of doors in the past so there are no questions there.

My exterior wall is 11.5" thick. I want the door flush with the interior. Currently I have a prehung unit that is set to the exterior so it only comes "in" part way. I want to remedy this.

The challenge is,as I see it, is the threshold. I want to use white oak. But factoring bin the slope, approximately 10°, and the exterior protrusion. I am thinking it would be roughly 13.5"-14" wide. So I am concerned about movement. This will be a northern exposure.

Would appreciate your advice.

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

4/28/19, 5:04 PM #2

Keith Newton
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3,299 posts

Registered: 6/29/05

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

Keith Newton

If you are planning to use a single plank, I’d be sure to use QS, which should cut the seasonal movement in half of what plain sawn would be.

Beyond that, I would saturate it with a penetrating epoxy. It might not have have as much effect as it would on a softer wood but it couldn’t hurt.

If you can’t find any wide QS locally, get back to me, I’m pretty sure I have what you need

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

4/29/19, 2:54 AM #3

Bill Houghton
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Registered: 1/1/70

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

Is there enough height to do it in two layers - a base layer that makes up some of the width, with another, narrower layer on top, both shaped to make a walkable threshold?

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

4/29/19, 11:33 AM #4

Tom Norton
Guest

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

Tom Norton

That idea gas been running through my mind. One concern would be the transition and it creating a trip hazard.

I have actually done this on 2 other doors but they have the aluminum thresholds that taper down to just 1/4" or so. I am not sure about doing that with white oak.

Re: Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

4/29/19, 1:07 PM #5

Kneale Brownson
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1,031 posts

Registered: 8/1/07

What about a threshold seal?

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I’m a fairly spry 82-year-old who had been a reader/participant at WoodCentral since the demise of Badger Pond. I started visiting BP to learn something about finish for a project I’d completed and became hooked on internet forums as a way of increasing my knowledge about all sorts of topics. I have been a moderator for a couple other forums on subjects I enjoy. My interest in woodworking began in the early 1970’s when my wife and I had contractors add to our house near Traverse City, MI, and I ended up doing the trim work to reduce mounting costs. I had no tools. I bought a P-C skilsaw, hammer, screwdrivers and one of those wooden miter boxes with a backsaw. I made trim for windows and doors from one-by lumber and started my woodworking career. At the same time, I started a 50-year career as a ski instructor. I got onto the night shift at a mental hospital so I could ski days, and spent my 30s and 40s with that schedule. I eventually replaced the PC-upside-down-in-a-board with a real table saw and began the purchase of enough equipment to fill a jam-packed 40-foot shipping container we used after we sold our property in Michigan. The ski instructing had taken us to Colorado and we were spending too much on maintaining utilities for two homes. A couple years ago, the dozen years spent at 10,000 feet of elevation was making my body produce too many red blood cells, so we had to leave my “forever” home in the mountains and we moved back to Michigan. Now I have to find myself a shop space for all those tools in the container.

Deep exterior door frame assistance needed

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