Particularly if they come pre-glazed, you have to be superman to lift them, and an extra person doesn't help unless you have space either side of the door. I weighed up the chances of doing myself an injury, chickened out, and got a man in. A very strong, square shaped man, and even he puffed a bit. Despite the weight, these doors are about as "hard" as balsa wood, and the veneer breaks out when you plane the edges. My guess is that any sort of weather resistance comes from the finish rather than the material itself. Mine's in a porch, and painted, so I'm fairly confident, but I wouldn't install it in an exposed location. Similar doors I've seen in neighbouring streets appear to bear out my feeling that varnish wouldn't last long. Why didn't I get a solid wood door? Because I think engineered will be more stable. The original Victorian door went banana shaped long before my time and I'm determined to have something that fits the frame this winter
Some thoughts on hardwood engineered doors
Sep 30, 2009
6 Replies
Balsa is a hard wood!
Guy
-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Guy Dawson I.T. Manager Crossflight Ltd snipped-for-privacy@crossflight.co.uk
I know what you mean, I bought a pair of (solid) oak framed, 3/4 glazed french doors - setting them on their hinges was hard.
Odd, as I've handled larger sealed unit glazing, and larger solid oak doors, and neither seemed as heavy.
Glass and oak together must be a dark-matter attractor.
Extracted from Wikipedia: "Despite being very soft, balsa is classified as a hardwood, and is the softest commercial hardwood."
It may be classified as a hardwood but you wouldn't make an exterior door from it would you?
John
I might. If suitably encased in a stressed skin. They make surfboards from it..
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The Kon-Tiki raft was built from balsa and managed to sail across the Pacific.
Cic.
They look lovely though!. In Wickes today rummaging for an external door and came across their '1/2 hour fire resistant' doors. Just looked like one of those cheap plywood things, padded out with egg cartons. Couldn't lift the damned thing. I'm thinking they've filled 'em with concrete.
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