Back door part II

[AbbottsManor]

As some of you may know from the previously highjacked door post, I am looking to replace the mobile home type back door of our '90 Skyline single with something else. I found a 30 by 80" wood door at a home surplus store. It is made of Douglas fir. It would fit well in the 32" wide rough opening, but I would have to cut it down to fit height wise. Does anyone have any experience or tips using wood doors on cutting the door in general? I feel a lot more confident cutting a wood door than a metal or fibreglass door.

Thanks,

Chris

[JD]

Hi Chris,

I have found that I cannot use the aluminum frame to a mobile home outswing door for a exterior wood door. The hinges and the frame itself is usually not strong enough. A pre-hung wood door is a good way to go. While the door blank can match up in size, the rough opening of the mobile home door is usually not wide enough for a pre-hung wood door, like you would find at the home stores. I am sure this is not always the case, but it has been every time I have measured. Usually installing a pre-hung exterior door requires some modification to the framing (rough opening)

If you do cut a wood door to fit, a crosscut blade for your circular saw would work best. These blades will have a high tooth count like 64 or more. I keep a 80T Freud blade just for those special cuts that must be clean. An inexpensive blade will work just as well for a limited amount of work.

To get an absolutely straight cut on doors and sheet materials, I use a home made rip board. The picture below is my 8 footer. I also have a 5 footer for cross cuts and cross cuts with a slight angle. When making the rip board, the plywood piece on the bottom was about an inch wider in both directions when I first built it. Then I run the saw down the plywood, using the white straight piece as a fence, cutting off the extra inch on both sides. Now I can place the plywood edge of my rip fence on the mark where I want to cut and just cut away. Always gives me a straight line and I don't have to measure off the width of the shoe to blade width and clamp down a straight edge. For most materials, I will use masking tape on the top side line of the cut piece to help keep from any chipping, even though with the right blade and cutting slow, you really shouldn't need it. Hit the edge with a fine sanding sponge and you should have a nice edge. Anyways, that is how I do it.

Hope this helps.
JD