Veneer - but thicker?

[Tim S]

Hi,

Been looking at door frames in the bungalow.

We need to replace some doors (changing 2 to sliding and the 3rd door is a bit knackered) and the choice is for unpainted wood.

To match this, I'll be swapping the old knackered door architraves for whatever wood the doors end up being.

But - what to do with the door frames? I've got 3 perfectly solid frames and it is expensive and wasteful (and disruptive to the surrounding plaster) to change them. Not to mention my frames are 140mm deep and the standard now seems to be for 133mm.

What I'm looking for is some very thin wood sheet in a choice of hardwoods to glue and pin-nail onto the faces. Thinner the better as otherwise I'll end up planing the non-sliding door excessively to fit (they're set up for a standard 30" door). Almost like veneer, but more like 1/8" thick.

Is there a name for what I'm looking for?

Cheers

Tim

[Bob Minchin]

Your local woodworking workshop ought to be able to prepare this for you. 1/8" is a bit too thin for the minimum setting on many thicknessers but with a bit of mdf tacked to the table it is do-able. Won't be cheap as it is wasteful on wood and time consuming to set up but 'the customer is always right' provided he pays! Beware of splitting when you pin it. Cut the head off one of your pins and use it as a drill bit to get a tight fitting pilot hole for each nail. I'm not really looking for work at the moment but where abouts are you based? Bob

[Tim S]

Bob Minchin coughed up some electrons that declared:

Hmm. So might not be much cheaper on wood than replacing the frames then?

Perhaps 4mm veneered ply would be an option then. I really only want the veneer finish, but 4mm of ply would carry it over dents in the frame without taking much space off the opening. Wouldn't see the ply edges as I'll have architrave over all edges.

Sounds like a good tip - ta.

East Sussex, half way between Tunbridge Wells and Hastings on the A21 (or that's where the house I'm fixing is...)

Cheers

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes. Small planed timber boards.

We buy em regularly for model making, buta joiner can make em up for you.

If you fancy mahogany or walnut., SLEC do them in up to 4ft lengths.

e.g.

you are local enough to do a pickup, you can call em.

But for longer lengtghs I'd ask a joiner or timber vendor to run some up for you.

SLEC can do it, but they probably wont for a small order.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ah., I got some nice oak doors from Acorn doors near Winchester..if oak would do they would probably run up some scrap for a few quid.

Ring around any joiners who do hardwoods. Or use softwood even. If painting. Or tack on architrave.

Veneered ply is also a good option, if that serves.

[Tim S]

The Natural Philosopher coughed up some electrons that declared:

Yes - that's the sort of stuff. Now I've got a name, I can look to match the wood later - and if not, ply's the fallback. Thanks for that :)

Cheers

Tim

[Tim S]

The Natural Philosopher coughed up some electrons that declared:

I'll look them up - ta. Winchester's a good area for a day out :)

Ah - I've got the architrave sorted[1]. It's just the inside faces I want to cover to match.

I was just going to replace the frames, until I discovered the 140mm vs.

133mm problem (plus the bloody big nails holding it on to the wall). Then I thought "They're square and solid - why not be a bit less eco-unfreindly and clad them?".

I did consider making my own from PAR - till I asked the local wood merchant for a price on 140x32 (or whatever the nearest was) in oak as an example.

20quid/m caused temporary coronary failure :(

I'm replacing all the woodwork out of necessity anyway - so it's a chance to avoid painting. I'm going for a light finish that sinks in rather than sits on top. Should be easier to re-do when the kids have done their worst.

It's definately an option - a plan B.

Thanks

Tim

[Steve Firth]

If you're converting to sliding have a look for "Scrigno" (pronounced "screen-ee-oh") door frames. They're much higher quality that the rubbish previously sold in the UK. We have several doors of this type and I was surprised when I saw the stuff installed by a British builder which was wobbly and incredibly ugly by comparison.

I thought that Scrigno (and the competitor Eclisse) weren't available in the UK but a web search shows that they are both sold here. The big advantage (IMO) is that they are designed to take a standard door and turn it into a sliding door. Also there's no floor track to worry about, but despite that the door doesn't wobble on the track.

[Tim S]

Steve Firth coughed up some electrons that declared:

Ah - pocket doors if I'm seeing everthing I should on their site. They do look nice.

I did consider that, but I'm currently considering just a simple surface sliding arrangement with flat rectangular architrave on one side of the frame where the door slides and brush strip + overlap for blocking light.

Not as fancy and I'll need a pelmet to hide the top track, but it's easy and could be converted back to a regular door by the next inhabitant[1]. And the swinging and sliding doors will be the same design.

[1] Sliding doors are emotive. I'm doing it to save space (I hate getting a door in the back when I'm at the fridge) but some people can't stand them.

Cheers

Tim

[Bob Minchin]

I'm in west hampshire so a bit too far away. It seems like you have some ways ahead now anyway.

Bob

[Steve Firth]

I felt the same way, couldn't stand the things. But for several rooms they were unavoidable. I wanted doors between the living area, kitchen and the sitting room, SWMBO wanted the possibility of having it open plan. We looked at other options and the builder convinced us to try one Scrigno for another area - bathroom in a barn - where space was tight just to see if we liked it. I was astonished at the quality. When the door is closed it looks like a traditional door. So we ended up specifying them for the other options around the house.

[ARWadsworth]

The Eclisse do the motorised door I mentioned to you.

At £1200 and not even a Star Trek sound when they open and close then probably not.

Adam

[Duncan Di Saudelli]

Are you THE Bob Minchin, who Dave Smith speaks highly of?