Gates and Door Project
Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 8:53 pm
I thought I would take the liberty of talking about a wider range of exterior work. Photos from other folks would be a good addition.
I had a couple jobs this year that took me out of the shop, one was building an interior gate for a noodle restaurant, the previous one that I basically modeled after, had rotted out. The posts on the side of the gate had both deteriorated at the bottom, so I replaced that portion with some stone, which was the owner's idea. Nothing special, but such a straightforward job is cool once-in-awhile. An outfit nearby sells Western Red Cedar lumber, which was stained. I've rebuilt a few exterior things for this restaurant in the past, a stairs in the rear, it's an attractive structure. The architect that designed the place is a friend of mine that does very nice work.
Some folks bought what had been a second home in the area, and did a lot of work on it to make it their primary residence. I got to know them and suggested having me make them a front door. They wanted a Dutch door, something that I had never made. I would have liked to have redesigned the whole entrance way area, including the window above the door, but budget prevented for the time being, so aside from squaring up things and some parts replacement, left it as it was. The balance of the area above combined with the door kind of bugs me, but the clients are happy with the arrangement. I used the old existing locks that were on the earlier door, which was a pita, just had to get a bolt to lock the upper section to the lower. Our local Chestnut for the door framing, the interior panels are a type of heavy Oak that we also have growing abundantly. The finish is some Perilla oil mixed with a little Urethane.
Dutch doors are pretty cool, the house sits in a location where having the upper section of the door open and looking out from where the resident's dining area is located, allows a view of the woods across the way without the road in front of the house interfering, an unanticipated benefit. Once again a pretty straight forward build, but getting everything squared up with consistent gaps between the sections was kind of a hassle, the weight on the hinges produced a bit of sag, plus there was some wood movement factors that came into play initially. Later the lock wouldn't lock or the door was too tight, necessitated a few adjustments. I thought that the stainless steel hinges that I purchased were good ones and were listed to carry the weight, but some nylon bushings between the pins suffered, so I replaced the bushings with some steel ones that I turned on my metal lathe and miraculously got them right. The door doesn't seem to swing any harder on all steel. In retrospect, ball bearing hinges would have been the better choice, but they cost an arm and a leg.
I had a couple jobs this year that took me out of the shop, one was building an interior gate for a noodle restaurant, the previous one that I basically modeled after, had rotted out. The posts on the side of the gate had both deteriorated at the bottom, so I replaced that portion with some stone, which was the owner's idea. Nothing special, but such a straightforward job is cool once-in-awhile. An outfit nearby sells Western Red Cedar lumber, which was stained. I've rebuilt a few exterior things for this restaurant in the past, a stairs in the rear, it's an attractive structure. The architect that designed the place is a friend of mine that does very nice work.
Some folks bought what had been a second home in the area, and did a lot of work on it to make it their primary residence. I got to know them and suggested having me make them a front door. They wanted a Dutch door, something that I had never made. I would have liked to have redesigned the whole entrance way area, including the window above the door, but budget prevented for the time being, so aside from squaring up things and some parts replacement, left it as it was. The balance of the area above combined with the door kind of bugs me, but the clients are happy with the arrangement. I used the old existing locks that were on the earlier door, which was a pita, just had to get a bolt to lock the upper section to the lower. Our local Chestnut for the door framing, the interior panels are a type of heavy Oak that we also have growing abundantly. The finish is some Perilla oil mixed with a little Urethane.
Dutch doors are pretty cool, the house sits in a location where having the upper section of the door open and looking out from where the resident's dining area is located, allows a view of the woods across the way without the road in front of the house interfering, an unanticipated benefit. Once again a pretty straight forward build, but getting everything squared up with consistent gaps between the sections was kind of a hassle, the weight on the hinges produced a bit of sag, plus there was some wood movement factors that came into play initially. Later the lock wouldn't lock or the door was too tight, necessitated a few adjustments. I thought that the stainless steel hinges that I purchased were good ones and were listed to carry the weight, but some nylon bushings between the pins suffered, so I replaced the bushings with some steel ones that I turned on my metal lathe and miraculously got them right. The door doesn't seem to swing any harder on all steel. In retrospect, ball bearing hinges would have been the better choice, but they cost an arm and a leg.