Shrunken Door

[chiangrai]

I had a house built last year.

I had wood door frames put in and for doors I bought

wooden doors with no cladding.I hope I'm describing this right.

I bought the wooden ZZ shape of the door with no paneling.

 

This was the cheapest,the builders put some cheap paneling

on it and I left it for a year.Now I have come back to it to

sand and stain it and put some nice paneling on.

 

The door frame is now shrunk and all the joints are loose.

The slanted pieces of the Z are falling out.

I presume the Thais never let the wood cure before making the door.

 

What do I do.The only idea I have is putting right angled metal brackets in the corners.

 

 

[bankruatsteve]

Guessing it's a problem due to change in humidity.  In our case, the wood door frames are fine but the doors will shrink and swell somewhat from season to season and usually remedied with a minor adjustment to the strike plate.  

[chiangrai]

There is no strike plate on the door.There are no locks at all yet.

The door is falling apart.The 2 sloped lenghts of wood have fallen out.There is a lot of movement in all the right angled joints.

[Crossy]

Poor quality doors I'm afraid, nothing unusual

 

We paid premium prices for real hardwood (teak) doors, windows and frames (mai daeng), even so after 5 years we have some movement but nothing so bad as described by our OP.

 

If you can't be a--ed with costs and maintenance that goes with decent real wood, look at PVC or aluminium.

 

 

[chiangrai]

I don't mind a bit of maintenance with wooden doors,

I do mind the price though.

 

I'm going to try to save the day with corner brackets on the inside and maybe even some flat brackets on the outside.

 

Unless some one has a better idea

[Lamkyong]

for a more complicated fix  dismantle the door   reassemble with wood glue and   wood dowel 

the joints  even then still expect some minimal  movement  as Crossy mentioned even seasoned hard wood will move a little

[chiang mai]

You're probably paddling up stream with that idea but by all means go ahead and try any way, the root cause is a combination of very poor quality combined with extreme temperature changes. And whilst it's nice to see stained wood on doors, the only sensible solution here is to paint heavily with several coats of oil paint, a less strenuous solution is to install plastic/fibreglass doors.

[eyecatcher]

Tell me about it! I had a similar problem and I sash cramped them back together, re dowelled them. glued and screwed and 6 months on they are fine.

 

I had the advantage of doing it in the damp season whislt the new wood was drying out.

this forthcoming hot spell will shrink those doors even more so maybe the best tack is to simply brace them temporarily for now and address the problem when the wet season arrives.

Doing a proper job now may be undone when those doors expand again.

 

Iif you dont have the sash cramps for re bracing or the patience to do it then just call it a draw and treat yourself to something better.

[eyecatcher]

I actually thought we were going to be discussing one of these

 

[chiangrai]

Right,

The thing is the door is the third door in a set of 2 double doors.I have done the others and they are fine.

So plastic doors are not an option.

 

Dowels and glue was the better idea that I knew somebody would have but I will leave it off for at least until the rainy season.

 

I will try the brackets with long screws and the panels will strengthen it more.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

[grollies]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

Poor quality doors I'm afraid, nothing unusual

 

We paid premium prices for real hardwood (teak) doors, windows and frames (mai daeng), even so after 5 years we have some movement but nothing so bad as described by our OP.

 

If you can't be a--ed with costs and maintenance that goes with decent real wood, look at PVC or aluminium.

 

 

PVC or aluminum noo......

 

All ours teak window frames and external doors. No shrinkage in 10 years. You right about teak, get the best will last a lifetime.

[wayned]

I built my house 17 years ago.  All of the doors are wood.  The inside doors are the cheap hollow core doors and are stained and varnished.  I had the outside doors built to order, not sure of the type of wood.  After 17 years the inside doors look and fit the same as they did when they were hung.  However, the solid wood outside doors have finally dried and I can actually see daylight through some of the joints.  I don't have a problem with it though as I do not remember when the last time that they were closed, probably to keep the dogs inside when I took down the security doors to rework them a few years ago..

[Langsuan Man]

I don't expect anything I buy in Thailand to be bought, since everything is just rented since I know full well that in a couple of years it is going to have to be replaced

 

Get new doors knowing that they will have to be replaced since if the humid weather doesn't get them, the termites will 

[tutsiwarrior]

we have replaced the hollow core wood interior doors with PVC as needed, the original doors were cheap junk...the new exterior doors that we installed about 10 years ago have split and you can see daylight...goes with the local humidity and can't be avoided unless you pay a premium for quality wood...but I live inna beat shophouse so what the hey...

[David B in Thailand]

Well worth checking out the fiberglass or the UPVC doors offered at Home Pro or Thai Watsadu by Eco Door. A genuine step up in quality, while not much more money, than other brands of UPVC or Fiberglass doors I have seen in Thailand. Global House has some interesting steel doors that might be appropriate in many situations. Genuine Teak Doors may cost 9000 baht and higher for a standard 80 by 200 door in my shopping experience in Isaan. Any WPC or HDF or MDF or laminated door is just courting trouble in Thailand. UPVC doors need not be the  same as PVC doors. 

[Chuckles78]

Strange that they are shrinking... I have one door that is expanding