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Exterior basement door
Would like suggestions for door construction.
I am in the process of building a house with a full basement. One end of the basement is at ground level and will have a door opening 8' wide by 7.5' high. This will allow access to the basement for my CUT and other items.
I want to construct two 4' x 7.5' carriage style swing doors. My original thoughts are to use a wood frame with 1" styrofoam insulation sandwiched between sheets of marine plywood. Then place decorative wood moulding on the outside to give the appearance of old carriage doors.
I am concerned as to door weight, insulation, security, and preventing warping. I am open to suggestions.
Dave
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Exterior basement door
I don't know if they're still available but you used to be able to get 4' wide insulated exterior steel doors.
They also offered a kit (Stanley did anyway) that was a pre-built frame and the hardware to mount to doors opposing each other. One door had a pair of heavy cane bolts and the lock hasp. The other door operated normally. By unbolting the second door you could open it to full width. In normal use you just had a regular exterior door.
The big advantage was that it used regular steel door magnetic weather stripping and was very weather tight.
Best of luck.
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Exterior basement door
My front door is 46” wide it came with the house, but you can have a door custom built to your needs, be prepared to pay the price.
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Exterior basement door
You can add up the weight of the materials required before you build so you would know if the weight would be a problem. As to the wrapping, a lot will depend on the frame and the materials you use. You could have a metal frame of tubing made and that would help prevent warpping and would not weigh as much as a frame made out of 2X6.
I made doors similar to what you are thinking about that are 10 feet high and 5 feet wide each. The frame is 2 x 6 pine and they weight a ton it seems. They are on tracks and work fine. When you get to hinges you need strong ones with bearings if possible.
You might check with salvage company for used doors from a plant. Some plants use large doors for fork lifts.
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Exterior basement door
Kyvette; We have a Stanley prehung unit such as you are looking for in steel that fit a 6 ft. opening, I'm not sure if they come any wider. ours have glass with the plastic grid that gives them a nice look. I've had a bit of experience with plywood doors. It did'nt seem to matter how well you sealed the edges the moisture would get in on the bottom edge then they went to pot pretty fast. Best of luck. Frank.
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Exterior basement door
At the risk of sounding hair-brained---how about a sliding door like what's on a pole barn? (Years ago I saw versions of this in factories and cold storage warehouses where the door track was inclined so that it automatically closed by gravity when unlatched) A modified version of this would not just simply slide back and forth. Since sealing is a factor it would act like a minivan or regular van sliding door in that it slides but fits closer to the opening where it could be latched. The frame could be aluminum or steel and still be insulated
Another option is a small overhead door providing you have room overhead to mount the tracks.
I've seen farmers remove their overhead door (folding or rolling) and replace it with a one-piece door that hinges at the top and is pulled up by an electric winch.
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Exterior basement door
"They are on tracks and work fine. When you get to hinges you need strong ones with bearings if possible" that sounds like the easiest, safest and most reliable way to set up good looking carriage-house style doors. You'll avoid sagging and can even go for solid wood construction.
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Exterior basement door
kyvette,
If want to seal the wooden home made doors you might could use fiberglass on the edges. You should be able to wrap the edges.
A concern here is if you get the bottom of the doors sealed and there is a place higher where moisture can enter, it is locked inside the door. A good wooden boat builder or repair person should be able to help here. I think corvettes use a good bit of fiberglas so you might can handle yourself.
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Exterior basement door
Thanks fellows for the input, I knew I could get some good ideas here. Earthwrks, I did consider a sliding "Barn" type door, and haven't ruled it out.
One of the issues is the local building codes. If I install an overhead "garage door" I am required to finish the adjacent interior walls and ceiling. The building inspectors consider it a garage. I may finish the interior in the future, but have no immediate plans now.
I'm trying to hold construction costs down so the wife can spend the money on fancy lighting fixtures, leaded glass front door, and high end plumbing fixtures, you get the idea.
I did see a carriage door constructed with a 1 3/8" douglas fir frame, insulated and a 1/2" backer board.
Kthompson, a fiberglass frame is another good idea that I will take a look at.
Thanks, Dave
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Exterior basement door
Boy building codes,
Here if you don't install the door for an open area it must be finished with ability to withstand hurricane winds on the inside walls. With door, only the outside walls.
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