Using T&G cladding for cupboard doors

Make them in a ldged and braced design. I have two on a wheeliebin cupboard which I made 10 yrs ago. With your design there will be considerable expansion when they get wet. My design does expand but no by a huge amount

Malcolm

/I looking to make some outdoor cupboards and was thinking of using some T&G cladding (19mm) to construct the doors. If I glued the pieces together along the tongue, once dry, will the resultant sheet be strong enough for a door?

Not sure whether it makes any difference but I was thinking of running the T&G horizontally and the doors would be around 850mm high/ 600mm wide.

Thanks in advance/q

What sort of t&g cladding? Treated one would hope?

You need a stout frame for whatever panelling you want on show. Each bit of wood will tend to expand & contract at different rates so twisting & warping (and pulling any unsupported glued joints apart), frames are needed to resist these forces.

How about plywood?

Jim K

No - but if you glue them to a sheet of very thin ply it will be.

or run battens along the back - did a bath panel like that once and it was very strong - even with el-cheapo B&Q cladding.

If you mean using that frameless, I cant see it working. You'd have weak glue joints, affected by water if not epoxy. You'd have a recipe for shrink/swell/warp.

NT

You need a frame of at least 2" x 1" (depending on the size of the doors) to fix the cladding to. If it's just a visual thing to mask bins, leave gaps between the boards, which will ensure a good circulation of air

Personally I would normally go with ledge and brace and vertical boards, provides somewhere strong for hinges, and can use thinner / cheaper T&G. But if you were set on using the heavier stuff and want to keep the overall thickness down then I'd agree with Tim about thin ply. I think I would be inclined to screw and glue for ultimate long term strength. Ordinary WBP ply should be OK if varnished / painted.

No point having T&G in that case!

I quite like the appearance of rough sawn, pressure treated wood outdoors once it has weathered down. Good point about gaps for ventilation, if the application suits it. All depends on the smartness of the surroundings I suppose.

Not without a frame behind the T&G; you'll need something more substantial to attach hinges and - if needed - a lock.

I did something similar ages ago for a door on a under-stair cupboard (the stair was outside the house). In my case the door's frame was strong and rigid enough (for hinges and lock) but the T&G cladding was the very thin decorative kind meant for use inside a house, used because it was available... The overall door wasn't actually very strong at all, but it looked just as strong as properly-made doors elsewhere around the outside of the house.

Horizontal seems likely to have lots of ledges that water can sit in whereas vertical tends to encourage water to drain off.

Piano hinge works quite well for lightweight interior doors with thin edges

Thanks very much all for your replies. The full story is that I have a bloc k built BBQ which I am looking to clad the sides with cedar. Beside it I ha ve a sort of outdoor kitchen area and was thinking of making the doors out if the same material so it looks all the same. Ideally the doors wouldn't h ave a visible frame so it looks like a continuous run with obviously the ve rtical join between the cupboard doors. Hiding this vertical join would be perfect but me thinks impossible.

I guess I could minimise with very wide doors (the run is about 2.5m) but I was worried about strain on the hinges especially if I have a frame behind for strength.

Any cunning plans / ideas appreciated.

Thanks

Lee.