Moisture content for exterior doors

[siggy_7]

I've got a couple of door building projects to tackle. The first is to replace a rotten 3' door on a brick shed; having never made doors before I'm starting with this one as the final item isn't required to be cosmetically or dimensionally perfect so will make good practice. I've already bought some fairly green larch to do this with, and reasonably happy that I know roughly what to do.

Once I've had the practice, I'm planning to make a pair of doors to go on the back of my garage, for a new opening which will be somewhere around 7'6 to 8' wide. This opening will be in place of the main source of natural light in the garage as it stands, so I'm going to make them with some glazing in the top section. Design-wise I'm not planning anything too extravagant (braced M&T frame with TGV cladding in-fill) but I'd like to make them in something like Iroko to give a smart looking finish. A friend made himself a painted front door recently from kiln-dried ash, and has had a fair few problems since with joints failing etc. When he asked around he was advised that he shouldn't have used kiln-dried wood because of the subsequent swelling and used something a bit greener. Is this common practice amongst those who do exterior joinery for a living, and if so how do you source the timber? All the hard wood suppliers I know of only supply air or kiln dried in most species, Iroko included.

 

[cornishjoinery]

The trouble with doors and windows alike, is that one half of the item is always outside and the other half is inside. One side exposed to the sunlight, rain/snow wind etc and the other side is left dry/warm. I always use air dried hardwoods (mainly oak) as on the exposed side its not going to take on a hell of alot of moisture and the otherside, the warmer side will dry out sighly but not to the extent that 'green' timber would. Your mate using ash outside not a good idea, ash is not an external timber. Always give your doors at least 5-6 coats of good quality oil (osmo).

 

[dzj]

When making doors it's always a good idea to rip and crosscut the pieces you need (add a few cm) and stack them up for a month, maybe two.
By doing this, kiln dried wood will reach EMC easier and it will also show any twist or cupping it has propensity for.

 

[siggy_7]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I'll try again to source some air-dried Iroko, if not then I'll just have to get some dry wood and wait for it to stabilise a bit. As they are going into a garage rather than into a living space, I'm hoping for a smaller difference in moisture between sides in the winter (although all my tools are in the garage, so hopefully not too damp!).