veneering a steel door

Just wondered if anyone had ever tried to veneer the inside of a steel entrance door. Getting ready to install new french doors on the back of the house and was thinking of veneering around the glass also changing the moulding holding the glass. I was concerned about possible movement of the steel during really hot or cold days distorting the veneer. Thanks in advance for your responses.

Reply to
denmar27
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I would suspect the steet movement would prevent any wood from staying attached for long. Dave

Reply to
Teamcasa

You should look around in the following forum, then post if you don't find anything.

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someone asked about veneering the inside of a car door. His problem was getting the veneer to conform to the door panel curve. I wonder if he thought about heat?.

Mitch

Reply to
MB

In the automotive trade, they "veneer" steel with vinyl that looks like wood. Used to make cares out of wood. I would think that, if the veneer were one single skin, it would work fine with the contact cement used to affix plastic laminate to make countertops.

The heat ed steel will similarly heat anything bonded to it and both should expand and contract in relative unison. No?

Reply to
Gooey TARBALLS

Different materials expand in contract at different levels.

Reply to
Locutus

Is the door insulated? if so, I wouldn't think the interior of the door would be get too hot or too cold...

Reply to
Locutus

If the steel door expanded and contracted much at all with temperature, it'd bind whether or not it was veneered. Ergo, it doesn't expand and contract all that much, or you don't have the necessary clearances as it stands now. Steel's coefficient of linear expansion is something like 20 parts per million per degree, so even a hundred degree swing (I sure as hell hope you're not living in a house that has a hundred degree temperature swing!) would only be a tiny fraction.

Don't worry about it.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Uh, I do. Not in a day, but in a year the outside can easily see that much of a swing in many parts of the country. I've seen 120 degrees swings in a year with a very cold winter.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

For what it's worth: My office building has a steel door (facing east) as part of the rear entrance. The direct sunlight on the metal door would force it to warp so badly it wouldn't close and latch properly. We had to install a super magnet at the top of the door to force it to close and latch on sunny days. Point of this is that metal definitely moves - as much as wood it would appear. Doubt that wood veneer would work with metal.

My 2 cents.

Gary in KC

Reply to
Gary A in KC

The OP wants to veneer the inside of the door.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

I suspect there is something else at work with that door Gary, rather than the steel door moving great amounts. Have you ever noticed how little car parts move? Steel is quite stable at the temperatures we're talking about.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Right. Here's an example I shamelessly ripped off from some web site:

Example - Thermal Expansion of Heated Alloy Steel

100 feet of alloy steel pipe is heated from 32 to 212 F. The expansion coefficient is 8 10-6 (inch/inchoF). The expansion can be expressed as: dl = (8 10-6 in/inoF)(100 feet) (12 in/ft) (212 - 32 oF) = 1.728 inch

So for 100 feet of steel and a 180 degree change in temperature there's only an 1 3/4" of movement. Say the door is 3', that would give a

1.75/33, or .05" change over a 180 degree temeprature swing. That's less than 1/16". It's not a concern with the veneer. R
Reply to
RicodJour

Well... actually... I did veneer a metal door for a client using a door skin.

While is doesn't freeze much down here, it does get hotter than hell. I did not put the veneer on a french style door, but put it on the inside of a smooth interior door that was in need of dressing up.

I put the door on the horses, and sanded off the primer and paint to clean metal. Then I used 3M contact cement as usual. Trimmed the veneer with the same belt sander. Finished as usual. No problems at all.

If I were looking at changing the molding on the glass, I really think you should reconsider. That is part of an insert package, purchased by the door manufacturer. Most are made to certain specs to maintain a desired "R" rating and to keep the water out. If you have double paned glass, you should really leave it all alone since the glass insert is made to fit the moldings, which are made to fit the door. You don't want to take a chance on screwing that up, believe me.

Paint the moldings a complimentary color to the new wood veneer finish and call it a day.

My .02, anyway.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Think we're probably talking apples and oranges here. Sheet steel forming a hollow core door has a lot of surface area and little support structure to it. The heat most definitely is what warps it out of shape. Didn't do it during the winter or on cloudy days - but when the sun hit it on summer days, it definitely moved and warped. Was really quite noticeable. I suspect it might have something to do with the uneven heating of the metal (outer skin versus inner skin).

Gary in KC

Reply to
Gary A in KC

I think what Mike was saying, and what I agree with, is that there is a problem with that particular door.

I can give you one example of anything, but that doesn't mean that that example is typical or common.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

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