Wooden front door

brianer81

Hi

The panels on my wooden door have opened, I presume due to exposure to the elements. Last year I filled in the gaps with a wood filler but this year the filler has cracked. Any suggestions on what to fill the gaps with would be appreciated.

The pictures are after I sanded and removed most of the cracked filler.

Citizen Six

Natural expansion and contraction. What do you paint/coat the door with?

brianer81

Hi

I use sandolin Burma teak. The original seal between some of the panels had opened up a few years ago

The Continental Op

OP I'm not sure you have "cracks" as such. The wood is moving but aren't you just seeing the tenon of the mortise and tenon joints?

Citizen Six

I'd just make sure it's well coated with your sandolin. It's currently contracted, but it will swell again in the winter with damper weather.

brianer81

Thanks for the replies. The reason I say it's cracked is because the seal between the panels on the inside of the door has kept its integrity, obviously it hasn't been exposed to the weather etc. I wonder should I try and fill it with something similar on the outside or would a good coat of sandolin do

The Continental Op

I'd clean out all the filler and get it a coat of something decent like the sadolins and work the sadolins into the gap.

If you are a masochist and want to clean it off completely I can recommend Deks Ojle D1 https://deksolje.com/products/sort-by-support/wood/7760-deks-olje-d1.html followed up with the sealer D2. I used the word masochist as while that will give you a really good finish it really is a lot of work.

brianer81

Thanks for the advice. I'm not feeling like a masochist but maybe next year, I think I will get the sadolin well into the gaps now that I have most of that filler out.

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554869#Comment_119554869

There are 2 doors.

The doors are hardwood Framed and Sheeted doors

The sheeting would be Tongued & Grooved, and chamfered internally and externally.

There are no timber Panels on the doors.

The timber is apparently Mahogany (or Iroko).

There are at least 4 Nr. Haunched Mortise and Tenon joints in each door. 2 Nr between the head rail and stiles, and 2 Nr between the bottom rail and stiles.

see photo

60230781-F042-41A8-9E48-56FFB699C175.jpeg

These 4 mortice and tenon joints are perfect, and the tenons are not exposed in any way whatsoever. It is not possible to see the Tenons when the door is closed.

It is not possible to see the Tenons in any of the photos by the OP.

There are no cracks apparent on the sheeting in the photos above.

dathi

"The timber is apparently Mahogany (or Iroko)."

it should be Sepele or iroko , in this case it looks like iroko as when he sanded the door he rounded the edges at the v groves and the yellow tone of the iroko can be seen . mahogany comes from south America and is Swietenia Macrophylla due to its high cost it is not used for joinery , Sepele is Entandrophragma cylindricum and is exported from Africa. and is used for joinery.

brianer81

Hi

So in your opinion I shouldn't worry about water getting into the door?

Thanks

The Continental Op

I've seen those doors made and some are made with an inner and outer layer of tongue n groove boards. I would guess yours are made that way with an inner set of boards that aren't drying out in the sun and aren't moving at all and an outer set that are moving with the weather.

A small amount of water will probably get into the tongue n groove joints but won't go any further. If you get horizontal rain like we do by the coast a little more will get it but thats a well made door engineered to keep water out and provided it gets a chance to dry out it will be fine. I have some of that door timber from the factory that used to make them and I've used it to make a bee hive thats been outside and untreated for 15 years and apart from bleaching in the sun the wood is as good as new.

As soon as we get wet weather the joints will seal up again and let nothing in. A sealer on the joints now will probably help keep the door sealed up as the joints expand again.

brianer81

The door is stepped in from the house by a couple of feet so it wouldn't get lashings of rain on it. Thanks for all the replies very much appreciated