Moulded Panel Doors

[gouda]

i know these moulded white panel doors are intended for interior use as they'd be easy to kick in and are not secure, but security isn't really a concern where I'd be using them, the staff in Homepro say these are for interior use only as they seem to think water damage from rain is a problem (didn't mention anything about security) , however I'm not so sure...

would a couple of coats of gloss be adequate, there is a 90cm eves overhang which also offers a bit of protection from sun/rain

cheers

[trogers]

i know these moulded white panel doors are intended for interior use as they'd be easy to kick in and are not secure, but security isn't really a concern where I'd be using them, the staff in Homepro say these are for interior use only as they seem to think water damage from rain is a problem (didn't mention anything about security) , however I'm not so sure...

would a couple of coats of gloss be adequate, there is a 90cm eves overhang which also offers a bit of protection from sun/rain

cheers

Most moulded door panels are made from compressed timber waste, like MDF. Moisture penetration usually occurs from the bottom edge up. Such door panels are known to fail when used in the bathroom. And you think they will make great exterior doors?

[kamalabob2]

My Thai wife is very flexible, forgiving and "Mai Pen Rai" on maybe too many aspects of life. But she is more unhappy with the HDF doors pushed onto us by a "bad" Home Mart in our province for our interior doors than ANY other item installed in this home. We do NOT live in Surin province. Even the cats can push open the doors in the dry season and in the wet season our daughter was "locked in her bedroom" by an expanding HDF door. See link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardboard

MDF is similar and in my opinion would have the same problems. Below is part of the Wikipedia posting on MDF

Drawbacks of MDF:

Denser than plywood or chipboard (the resins are heavy)

Swells and breaks when waterlogged

May warp or expand if not sealed

Contains urea-formaldehyde which may cause eye and lung irritation when cutting and sanding

Dulls blades more quickly than many woods

Though it does not have a grain in the plane of the board, it does have one into the board. Screwing into the edge of a board will generally cause it to split in a fashion similar to delaminating.

Subject to significant shrinkage in low humidity environments.

Trim (i.e. baseboards) comes pre-primed but this is insufficient for fine finish painting. Painting with latex paints is difficult due to rapid water absorption. Most finishes appear uneven and nail holes tend to pucker a bit.

Every one of our uPVC doors, HDF doors and FIBERGLASS doors was painted with top quality ICI Dulux primer and paint. Our wood doors were prepared and spray painted in our garage. ALL of the doors were stored in our dry home for over two months prior to any painting.

We have real wood doors from CITY DOOR (maybe not kiln dried for quite long enough), and medium priced FIBERGLASS doors for exterior doors. We had every door inspected by our carpenter prior to installation. Surin Home Mart was the dealer for the Fiberglass doors and they had a manufacturers Sales Executive, "Sermchai Thanasirithip, come on one days notice to look at two of the six Fiberglass doors which had slight flaws. The manufacturer authorized free round trip shipping and sent over two new doors with ZERO run around. No problems with any exterior doors in the 13 months they have been installed.

The funny part is that the uPVC doors we put in the shower and bathroom of the pool house (made by BangkokPVC)

http://www.bangkokpvc.co.th/index_e.html

http://www.bangkokpvc.co.th/product/polywo...00&view=Fit

have been perfect, look GREAT (not all PVC doors are 390 baht ugly doors) and if I had not already ordered wooden doors with glass inserts or the stupid HDF doors for the "dry part" of other bathrooms I would consider good quality PVC doors. Our shower doors are tempered glass. ALL of the HDF interior doors do the expansion and contraction every change of seasons. We had an EXCELLENT carpenter staff prepare, paint, hang and adjust our interior and exterior doors. We installed four top quality ball bearing hinges on each door. NO HAMMERS on screws (see photos), but the HDF doors that NEVER have seen a drop of rain, never a drop of shower water, are NOT exterior, do expand and shrink with the season.

You can contact English speaking staff at Bangkok PVC Group with your questions about doors at:

http://www.bangkokpvc.co.th/aboutus_e.html

The actual company that manufactures the good quality Fiberglass doors sold by Cement Thai HOME MART is

Entech Similan Co. The web site does not show their doors, but from my experience the "before the sale" and "after the sale" service is excellent. They in fact manufactured our EXTERIOR doors to a thicker specification (due to some imported door locks) than is normally sold for a slight increase in the cost.

http://www.entech-products.com/index.html

If you sit down in the office with the English speaking "owners daughter" of a good Home Mart, such as Surin Home Mart, they can guide you through the process of ordering good quality APPROPRIATE doors that will last and not be a disappointment like the HDF doors. Wooden doors are not cheap, and even relatively expensive doors such as CITY DOOR must be prepared and installed with some skill to last in my opinion.

I think it is a "great leap of faith" to believe anything told to you by a staff person at any HomePro.

Primer and two coats of DULUX gloss #7007 on the wood frames and two coats of DULUX gloss #2069 on the interior HDF doors did NOT prevent problems on the doors.

[gouda]

thanks for your replies

very nice doors you have there kamalabob.

have had these types of door for a bathroom back in the Uk and didn't experience any problems with it, but Thailand is a different story with the humidity and torrential rain in the rainy season.

anyway went shopping today and came across some basic wooden doors made with a thick frame and thin strips of wood running vertically. They were only just over 1000Baht so not much more than those moulded interior ones. I bought them already so problem solved.