I'm helping someone refurbish sliding closet doors. The doors themselves have a simple groove routed top and bottom to accomodate the guide strips which are nailed into recesses in the closet frame.
Questions:
- Would it be best to fabricate the new guide strips of a hardwood like red oak or is a softer wood the better option?
Note: the doors themselves are faced with ply. I have not determined what wood composes the gooved portion of the doors. If that determination is necessary, please let me know. If it comes to speciating the slotted wood in the doors, more guidance may be needed.
- As I'll be making new ones, are there any suggested fractional clearance intervals between sides and top of the guide strips and the door slots?
- Should the strips or slots be left denuded of paint? If paint is wise, a list of kinds and names would be welcome. What can be had here under air-quality regulations is another thing. Would another coating or impregnation of the strips or slots be advisable?
- Along its inmost contact surface with the slots, the old molding has a low, roughly convex profile. How much of that owes to wear, only 70 years could say. To be honest, my hasty look at the doors didn't leave me with a memory of the slot profile, although presumption would think it rectilinear.
If there is a default profile for the inmost surface on the new molding--or there are outstanding questions for me to resolve--I'd appreciate direction.
Lastly, I'm happy to chase down the answer on the net-- and will. However, if someone has actual knowledge ready to leap from their brains to the keyboard, I'm all ears in the lotus position.
Regards,
Edward Hennessey