I want to tile a bathroom that has one of those lightweight veneered finishes.
Can these be cut by 10mm or so from the bottom.
I think this type of door consists of two thin sheets of ply seperated with a rolled strip or two of corrugated cardboard.
If so then the edges are probably just a lath of wood a few mm thick.
Has anyone any comments, suggestions?
Regards
HN
I assume you mean lightweight door that you want to trim. I also assume you want to tile the floor and so want to cut the bottom off the door.
I have, but I checked before cutting by drilling a 4mm hole up from the bottom in a couple of places to gauge the 'lath' thickness. My door 'lath' was about 35mm, so 10mm off was no problem.
I have no idea about your door, but I do know when I have looked at replacement doors, they are usually advertised as trimable.
So as I said above a couple of small holes should be enough to find the thickness of the 'lath'
Many thanks, I never thought of drilling to gauge the thickness.
You were quite correct with your interpretation incidentally. I really should read what I thump out on the keyboard before I post.
Regards
HN
I had to cut one in half once. After cutting (carefully to avoid splintering of the facias) I was able to glue a replacement lath in the now open bottom. It may even have been the original lath extracted from the sawn off bit, can't remember now. Been fine for the last twenty years.
Actually that's a good idea - and something I now remember doing myself a long time ago. I simply sawed (using a fine-toothed saw) the required amount off the bottom of the door - which proved to be above the width of the lath - and then just used a sofwood strip, that I cut to the exact size, which was glued into position. After lightly sanding around the (new) door bottom it was as good as new.
HN,
Yes you can cut these doors - check first that the bottom of the door hasn't been cut before, thus reducing the thickness of the bottom rail - this will usually be around 11/4 inches (35mm) thick. Note: if the bottom rail has been cut quite deeply, you can still cut the door and then cut and glue a new bottom rail in place.
If all is ok, mark where you want to cut on both sides of the door and then using a straight-edge, score the veneer quite deeply using a Stanley knife along (and just inside) the lines you have made. This will reduce (or even stop if you take care) the spalling of the veneer on the cut edge.
Use a fine panel saw to cut and cut just inside the line - and keep the saw as flat as possible when using (presuming that you are going to use a handsaw) - and then finish off with a nice sharp plane. Run a fine piece of glass paper along the bottom rail to get rid of any splinters that are left and just take the arris (edge) off the veneer.
Cash
You might just get away with 10mm.
Prolly MDF, but yes.
Trim it with a fairly fine blade & a circular saw. Google for 'sawboard' & make one up.
If you do cut the batten off, remove the MDF skin with a chisel & glue/pin it back in - done that a few times.
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