Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am still trying to decide how to build my doors. Initially, I thought I'd laminate 2 sheets of 15/32 together for my doors. Now I'm thinking about just buying a sheet of 1" ply and then routing my seal edge off of it instead. Anyone done this or have an opinion about building doors this way? I am limited to 1" thick doors...

Any comments or suggestions appreciated-

Jess

I made mine with a 3/4" frame, 1/4" skin on the outside, 1/8" skin on the inside. I am certain that a 1/8" skin on both sides would have been adequate. That's how they build luan hollow core doors for houses.

Cliffmeister2000 wrote:I made mine with a 3/4" frame, 1/4" skin on the outside, 1/8" skin on the inside. I am certain that a 1/8" skin on both sides would have been adequate. That's how they build luan hollow core doors for houses.

Ditto for me and filled the voids with 3/4" pink foam insulation. I plan to hang them this weekend.

stomperxj wrote:I am limited to 1" thick doors...

If 1" is the limit I'm in trouble. Mine are 1 5/8".

Cliffmeister2000 wrote:I made mine with a 3/4" frame, 1/4" skin on the outside, 1/8" skin on the inside. I am certain that a 1/8" skin on both sides would have been adequate. That's how they build luan hollow core doors for houses.

Toytaco2 wrote:Ditto for me and filled the voids with 3/4" pink foam insulation. I plan to hang them this weekend.

Do you guys have any pics of the naked frame for your doors? I'd like to see how you did it...

Thanks!

Its not a very difficult job. Just be sure you have suffiecient internal support for hinges, window frames, and whatever handle/latch setup you use. Hope these help:






Notice this last pic shows a little bigger corner/diagonal brace in the left corner right under the window opening because this is where the handle/latch will be located for the passenger side door.

Good luck!

Mike

Jess...most builders use the same construction on the doors that they did on the walls..that way the doors are the same thickness.

Whatever you do:

1. Make sure you have reinforcement for the hinges and handle
2. Seal the edges good, I used epoxy
3. Assemble on a flat surface so you don't get an inadvertant wow in the frame

I had to redo a door because of Number 3 when assembling with pocket screws.

Alright thanks for the pics and advice guys... I'm going to do some testing with lamination this weekend and see how feasible framing out of 1x4s is too...

Juneaudave wrote:Jess...most builders use the same construction on the doors that they did on the walls..that way the doors are the same thickness.

One question. Doesn't the doors need to be slightly narrower to account for the door seal?

planovet wrote:
One question. Doesn't the doors need to be slightly narrower to account for the door seal?

I put an internal frame around my doors, allowing at least 3/4" overlap. I did not allow for a seal. Now, I am going to remove the frame, build a second frame out of 1/4" luan that has the inside dimension equal to the doorway, and sandwich it between the frame and the doorway. this will allow for the seal that I neglected originally.

Cliffmeister2000 wrote:I put an internal frame around my doors, allowing at least 3/4" overlap. I did not allow for a seal. Now, I am going to remove the frame, build a second frame out of 1/4" luan that has the inside dimension equal to the doorway, and sandwich it between the frame and the doorway. this will allow for the seal that I neglected originally.

That's what I was thinking of doing. I have built an inside frame similar to yours but I have not installed it yet. I figure your way would be easier than trying to build a narrower door.

planovet wrote:
That's what I was thinking of doing. I have built an inside frame similar to yours but I have not installed it yet. I figure your way would be easier than trying to build a narrower door.

Another way I have seen that looks pretty good is angle aluminum frame inside the doorframe, offset 1/4 to 3/8" to allow for weatherstripping.

Follow this link to Joanne's Desert Dawg. About 1/3 down from the top of the 3rd page describes this very well. This link should take you directly to the correct page.

http://www.asolidfoundation.com/dd_shell_3.shtml

That's an interesting way to do it but I like my (and your) wood choice better.

One more question. Do you do the seal all around the frame the same way? Does the hinge end of the door scrape it off?

planovet wrote:That's an interesting way to do it but I like my (and your) wood choice better.

One more question. Do you do the seal all around the frame the same way? Does the hinge end of the door scrape it off?

Good question, especially as I haven't actually done it yet. I'mm planning on using a folded type under the hinge.



I'll use the same thing Joanne used on the other 3 sections.