Aquamac Door Seal Clearance

[PeatSmoke]

Hi All

I've been lurking around here for a few years now without really posting much. I did introduce myself some time ago, but I'll re-introduce myself now for those that may have missed it before. I'm English, but I have lived on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer hebrides for about 10 years and I've recently retired.

I live in a traditional 1 1/2 story Croft house, built with its back to the wind and all of the windows facing the other way, this will be obvious to those who have any knowledge or experience of the conditions here!! The house also has some unusual internal joinery, such as door frames made from 8" x 2" softwood (and they're not structurally supporting anything either) and they are cupped and twisted as you might expect. I find this wasteful use of resources odd, because we don't have trees here to provide all that wood. Unless, of course, they came from the Atlantic as driftwood (Did I mention the cupping and twists??).

I need to replace at least one of these fames in the near future and, because the house can be draughty, I want to incorporate some Aquamac seals into the frame rebate. I've looked into this online, and found some of the Schlegel information sheets confusing. So, what I'd like to know, is: -

a. which seal should i be looking to use (I'm assuming a "wiping" fit rather than "compression") When I said internal, I meant between the porch and the hall.

b. should I opt for a Wealdon or Trend router bit, or are the Axminster ones as good? This may not be the only frame of this type that I end up having to make, so the cheapest may not be the best option???

c. and possibly the most important, what clearance should I allow in the rebate to accommodate the seal? (I've been assuming 3mm)

I'm sorry if that's a bit long, but I wanted to reintroduce myself and also to make sure that I was making my question clear, I hope I've succeeded.

Thanks in anticipation to anyone who can advise.

Regards

Dave

 

[deema]

I would use the Aquamatic 21, I place it on the widest side of rebate I.e. Not the side that faces into the house which means that you don't need to worry about leaving a gap to accommodate it. I fit doors with 1/8" gap all around for external doors and 1/16" for internal doors. Internal doors will typically shrink due to central heating.

Place the seal close up to the outside of the rebate. If your using a weather bar on the cill that means you need to rebate the door (Aquamatic have a very good weather bar seal) make sure the AQ21 fits on the outside of the weather bar. Any water will then be directed out of the house.

 

[ColeyS1]

Hi Dave, we normally do this arrangement

usually allow the rebate about 1.5mm deeper so it squishes up when closed
Coley

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[katellwood]

Hi Dave, we normally do this arrangement

usually allow the rebate about 1.5mm deeper so it squishes up when closed
Coley

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I would question the use of aquamac 63 on doors as I consider it only suitable for casement windows, my reasoning is that it needs to be compressed to be effective and the only way it can be compressed when a door is closed is by brute force. whereas is a casement, casement fasteners are designed to create an element of pressure in their use via some form of cam action.

For doors a wipe seal is more effective as no force is needed to create an effective seal for an external door and frame aquamac 21 is more suitable

just my two pennies worth

 

[Drudgeon]

I cannot give you too much advice on the seal, I tend to use the Aquamac 21 wiping seal, I use an Axminster cutter and it is very good,

I am however very familiar with the buildings and landscape of Lewis as my family originated from there, and most still live there, my Auntie RIP has a wonderful croft house in TC, a quarter of a mile from the sea with the most amazing views you could ever imagine, except for the fact that when the building was constructed, (similar to yours) it was built with no windows whatsoever facing the coast, and putting new openings in through 24" thick granite walls is probably no easy task.

Where abouts do you live?

 

[ColeyS1]

Hi Dave, we normally do this arrangement

usually allow the rebate about 1.5mm deeper so it squishes up when closed
Coley

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I would question the use of aquamac 63 on doors as I consider it only suitable for casement windows, my reasoning is that it needs to be compressed to be effective and the only way it can be compressed when a door is closed is by brute force. whereas is a casement, casement fasteners are designed to create an element of pressure in their use via some form of cam action.

For doors a wipe seal is more effective as no force is needed to create an effective seal for an external door and frame aquamac 21 is more suitable

just my two pennies worth

I use the wiping seal on doors, and compression on windows

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[katellwood]

 

[katellwood]

Hi Dave, we normally do this arrangement

usually allow the rebate about 1.5mm deeper so it squishes up when closed
Coley

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I would question the use of aquamac 63 on doors as I consider it only suitable for casement windows, my reasoning is that it needs to be compressed to be effective and the only way it can be compressed when a door is closed is by brute force. whereas is a casement, casement fasteners are designed to create an element of pressure in their use via some form of cam action.

For doors a wipe seal is more effective as no force is needed to create an effective seal for an external door and frame aquamac 21 is more suitable

just my two pennies worth

I use the wiping seal on doors, and compression on windows

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

great minds and all that

 

[PeatSmoke]

Thanks to all of you that have posted replies, it's much appreciated.

So, Aquamac 21 it is then, and whichever it's from Axi or Wealdon that I next place an order will be the cutter supplier. I try to make the most of each order living here because postage/carriage can be a significant additional cost. Rutlands orders always hurt, especially when they advertise "free postage", but NOT you Dave !!!

BTW Drudgeon, if TC = Tolsta Chaolais, yes it does have lovely views to the west. I live on the other side of the island, in Aird Tong, which is north of Stornoway with views across the Minch to the Scottish Mainland (northwest highlands and Cape Wrath).

Cheers

Dave

 

[kebabman]

@ColeyS1 and anyone else
I am building my first exterior door and frame and would like to install aquamac draughtproofing. I have a hand held router and a router table, how best would I route out for the AQ. How should I support the work piece?
Many thanks

 

[katellwood]

Where are you based

 

[ColeyS1]

@ColeyS1 and anyone else
I am building my first exterior door and frame and would like to install aquamac draughtproofing. I have a hand held router and a router table, how best would I route out for the AQ. How should I support the work piece?
Many thanks

If it's a door frame then the wiping draughtstrip would be best. I've only got a spindle cutter for that type so can't really comment whether a router cutters available to do it.

Regardless of if there is one available I think I'd be tempted to bring the router to the work instead of trying to balance a 2m length on a router table. Providing the routers somehow bearing nicely I'd imagine it would give a better/safer finish. - that's of course providing they even make a wiping router cutter. Sorry I can't be of any more help

Coley

 

[tomf]

I've used both the seals and the cutters from here, both are adequate.
https://www.reddiseals.com/product-cate ... rFoamseals

If you are only doing one or 2 doors these bits are just fine.
https://www.reddiseals.com/product/clea ... uter-bits/

 

[kebabman]

I'm in East Devon
Thanks for the mention of the spindle tooling, I was looking at the photo above so was only thinking of router bits but I have a fairly basic Charnwood spindle moulder and a table saw too. However I have just found that I can't cut the frame rebate fully on the SM with my rebate block as I am making the frame for a wide door and so I don't think a spindle disc would work as I was thinking of putting a seal in the stop too.
Luckily I haven't cut any of the rebates yet as I think I need to be very careful to do the work in the correct order doing the work for the Aquamac first leaving some wood to support the router.
If things go OK I have several more doors to attempt and 18 windows but I see that the Reddiseal router bits are far cheaper than trend.
Trouble is I was thinking of a compression seal for my windows so that would need a different cutter but I would be saving a lot over having the windows made, but it's a very steep learning curve!
I was originally thinking of using the AQ48 for the windows as I was aiming for a 2 to 3mm gap and it only needs a slot to be cut with no additional rebate, but I am now wondering if the AQ 63 is better with a 3.4 to 5.4 gap tolerance. Please could someone help and explain to me whether if I still get a 2 to 3mm gap for my windows does that mean I could use the AQ63 if I rebate the seal by say 1mm? IE if I do a 1mm rebate do I deduct 1mm fro the 3.4 mm figure so making it 2.4mm, does it work like that?
Many thanks for the comments.

 

[katellwood]

East Devon, Doh

If you were closer I would have put the groove in for you

 

[kebabman]

@Katellwood, thanks for the kind offer.

 

[ColeyS1]

Instead of getting a new cutter for just one door frame, I'd be tempted to just use a bubble strip.

Tilt the saw over to 45 and voila ! Or a skilsaw tipped over with a fence. Just pay attention to the groove width. I think you need a 2.6mm kerf.

Coley

 

[kebabman]

ColeyS1, cheers for the idea.
I have a skilsaw, the blade seems to measure 2.4mm and my table blade 2.85mm thickness approx, not sure what the finished figure is. I am wondering if it is safe to cut the slot with the table saw, if I take off the guard, but replace it with an A4 sheet of lexan supported by my magswitch featherboard assembly, especially as I haven't cut away the main frame rebate yet.
I would like to do several more doors and all my windows but am trying to test everything out on scrap wood and think things through as I the Accoya was pretty pricey. So I think that I will order the Reddiseals cutters as they are way cheaper those from Trend or Axminster which seem a bit pricey too.
Thanks

 

[ColeyS1]

Apologies, I've only just looked at tomf's link. Those cutters should do the job nicely. You can never have too many options

Coley