Type of wood for external door

[MetManMark]

All
Last year we had a stable door made for our kitchen. It was a bit of a disaster - it has twisted and also swelled badly. This year we need to replace our back door and are prepared to pay more than we did last year for the kitchen door. We have gone to two recommended local companies - one of them will email his estimate but said that for oak (including locks and handles etc) we would be looking at ~£1k + VAT. The other joiner quoted a similar amount for oak but suggested Iroko as an alternative at ~£800 + VAT. I have done a bit of a web search and understand that the Iroko is sourced from Africa whereas the oak is likely to be European and therefore potentially more ethically sourced. The boating community seem to rate Iroko and use it for all sorts of job. What are people's thoughts on this forum. The joiner actually suggested that it is more stable then oak and could potentially cause fewer problems. I am particularly interested in people's thoughts on suitability , durability etc rather than aesthetics or ethics (ethics are important to me but I have done a fair bit of research on this already).
Thanks
Mark

 

[88v8]

Unless your door is an odd size, and perhaps even then, you will find a profusion of old doors at salvage yards and on eBay, and some of course will lend themselves to being enlarged or ensmalled.

As to a new one, oak is extremely durable if suitably seasoned and properly put together with through-tenons & pegs, using suitable glue, although glue is not strictly necessary if an oak door is well made.

Iroko has, as you say, ethical problems. The weathered finish is comparable to teak. It is very oily and vigorously throws off woodstain, varnish, etc., but will take teak oil if you do not wish it to weather to the usual soft grey.
It is hard to glue. Normal pva glues are not successful, but a Resorcinol resin such as Cascophen (think it's called something else now) will answer.
The dust is highly irritant. Do not combine sanding the door with scratching your bollocks.

I would not choose iroko over oak for the sake of a trivial saving. The competence of the joiner and their ability to select suitable wood of either genus will in the end determine the outcome.

Ivor

 

[MetManMark]

Hi Ivor
Thanks for that view. I asked how the door would be finished to make sure it is durable etc and the chap suggested that he typically applied a couple of coats of osmo (which I thought was a good idea. The rubbish kitchen door that we had made last year was ash finished with Danish oil. So far it has been a pain in the backside which is why I am keen to learn from that mistake. The one we had made last year may find it's way onto ebay as it is doing my head in...
Mark

 

[Flyfisher]

We've had two stable doors custom-made, both substantially larger than a standard door. One was made from Sapele and has been in place on a north facing aspect for about 3 years, maybe 4. It is painted black to match the other doors and windows on the house. It has not warped and only moves slightly in the wetter months, as evidenced by some paint being worn away at one place on the door and frame.

The other was made of European oak and is currently enjoying its first summer, so time will tell how stable it is. This one has been finished with osmo polyx oil.

We paid about twice the prices mentioned above, though they are large doors and also included new frames.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

I've made external doors in oak, redwood, douglas fir, red cedar - but the greatest of these is oak. Nothing comes close for sheer toughness and inherent durability. From an environmental point of view I'd much rather know that my timber was coming from Europe than out of some tropical forest. If you favour a lighter construction then good, tight, clear douglas fir makes a good job.


Finishes are a minefield. I'd always recommend paint on the outside - I've never used a clear finish that didn't need frequent maintenance, the lack of which leads to inevitable failure. On the inside face it's Osmo Polyx every time for me. My current favourite 'paint' is Sadolin Superdec, an erodable opaque microporous stain available mixed in all the RAL colours.

I've stopped using traditional through tenon construction as I've found that with wide stiles (over 4" say) there can be an unhelpful build up of tension across the joint due to seasonal movement. This can lead to either the joint opening, the tenon protruding, or the stile splitting. Instead I use tenons housed in mortices extending approx 2/3 the width of the stiles. A further advantage of this method is that the glued joint is protected from the possibility of water penetration through the end grain of the tenon which can be an issue with the traditional construction. I don't use pegging or wedging, relying on good fitting joints and the fantastic performance of modern adhesives.

For stuctural gluing of joinery items such as doors I use polyurethane glues. As well as being completely waterproof they are also very slippery when first applied, so act as an assembly lubricant which aids clamping up. PVA's and aliphatics can have a lot of initial grab which works against you when doing a complex assembly. You do need to find the pU's with long open joint time - not the 5 minute stuff from the builder's merchant.

I went to visit a house recently which has an oak door I made 10 years ago as part of an Arts & Crafts remodelling. It still looks like new, and hasn't suffered any distortion or detectable dimensional change - that was well dried European oak. The external finish was Sikkens solvent based stain - which goes against what I was saying about clear finishes. However, the owners have been good about keeping it touched up.

Hope this helps.

PS: Ash and Danish oil was never going to work. One for the woodburner perhaps.....

 

[Flyfisher]

Finishes are a minefield. I'd always recommend paint on the outside - I've never used a clear finish that didn't need frequent maintenance, the lack of which leads to inevitable failure. On the inside face it's Osmo Polyx every time for me. My current favourite 'paint' is Sadolin Superdec, an erodable opaque microporous stain available mixed in all the RAL colours.

I used International yacht varnish on the front door of a previous house and it was in good condition when we moved about 15 years later. I know 'varnish' tends to be frowned upon for period properties, but I thought I'd mention its durability (it was a 1950s property, so hardly period).

I've also used a lot of Sadolin Superdec though I have to say I'm not overly impressed. Perhaps because I've used black and many of the windows and weatherboarding in question are south facing, so bear the full brunt of sunshine, but some areas have needed a second coat after only a few years. Fortunately, it's easy to apply, but it's still a bit disappointing.

The sapele stable door and frame I mentioned above was painted with aluminium primer, dulux exterior grey undercoat and two coats of dulux exterior black gloss and is still in very good condition - certainly better than the Sadolin-painted windows.

I've recently painted some new west-facing fascia and soffit woodwork with three coats of black linseed oil paint and it will be interesting to see how durable this proves to be over the next few years.

I agree that finishes are a minefield!

 

[tobydog]

Although wood type and finishes are mentioned here, we have noticed that one of the key areas of attention is very much the application of the finish. Although our extension has some oak sills and surrounds, the windows and doors are painted softwood (can't recall what). The point is that the decorator applied F&B exterior primer with eggshell finish (all waterbased) and applied incredibly thin layers. 4 years later they still look as good as new. One of the door panel trims has needed a tiny bit of filling where it distorted slightly but other than that we're very happy. I should add that the extension gets the morning and afternoon sun but never full on.

 

[Keithj]

I'm still researching!

I was told, years ago, that Sadolin is the ultimate. Having repainted some south-facing windows in the Norfolk place every year for the past five, I've decided that was bad advice and have started trying other finishes. The latest painter chap is advising on what to use. We'll see, next spring.

The Church door is said to be close to 1000 years old, and isn't painted at all. It's a lovely dark grey, with all its iron reinforcements.