I live on the ‘wet’ (west) side of Washington state, we get quite a bit of rain here when we don’t have drought conditions. I want to build a exterior front door for my house. I’m thinking of using white oak, but are there other materials I should be considering besides mahogany? I have quite a lot of black walnut on hand, I could use that as well if it would hold up to the damp exposure.
I also want to replace my interior floors, replacing the carpet with hardwood. I’m thinking about using big leaf (soft) maple which is abundant in this area. Some of my friends think I’m wasting my time milling my own hardwood material for my floors as commercial products are so inexpensive. My thought is to buy my material rough sawn from a local mill I do business with and green and air dry it before milling it for my floors. For me it’s not so much a money issue, more in the sense of consistent look and the satisfaction of making it myself…
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White oak would be good for an exterior door.... so would mahogany. The bigger question is, is the door protected with a roof or awning?
If not, then you want fiberglass. Seriously.
If yes, have at it.
Milling your own flooring sounds like a huge money-saver. But it also sounds tedious and boring. Depending on the size of your home, you could be milling lumber for a very long time.
Soft maple is an OK choice for flooring. It will look great -- but it won't wear very well. Of course, styles change frequently enough that most people will "rip and renew" before the old stuff is worn out. So the softness might not matter.
Personally (and this is strictly my taste, my style) I'd use the white oak on the floor, and some pretty maple for the door.
Walnut heart wood is also highly rot resistant.
The heart wood of any of the three woods you mention will resist rot, and it is pretty easy to stave off. Make sure all six sides of the door are well finished. If your exterior doors gets Southern exposure even where you are, your problem will be UV light making it difficult to maintain the unbroken finish if you go with a clear finish. If you have seasons where the door will get lots of sun, go with fiberglass, or go with a lightish colored paint, a good oil based gloss enamel would work OK. If you go with a clear finish door, expect to do annual or in your clime perhaps bi-annual maintenance, in the form of sanding and adding a refresher coat of varnish. And, ONLY use the top quality true marine varnish, from a boating supply store--the $30 a quart stuff, and don't skimp on the roughly 6 coats (yes, all six coats) that the label directions call for.
There is an advantage to having kiln dried flooring. All wood, kiln dried or air dried shrinks and swells with changes in humidity. Very dry and the gaps open between boards, very wet and you can get buckling. But, it turns out that the process is not quite proportionally reversible. When a board has been brought down to 7% or so in the kiln, it expands a bit less when the moisture level increases so that the equilibrium level of the wood moisture is 12%. It's called hysteresis. So to at least some degree, you will get more stable flooring with kiln dried. If you use 2 1/2 or 3" boards, probably negligable, but at some point with wide boards it could become an issue.
Unless you have a real shaper with power feed, and equivalent ripping capacities, you will be paying your self literally pennies for the time making the flooring. Why not spend the time making some spectacular built-ins rather than essentially boring flooring?
Your door exposure has a lot to do with it, black walnut would be fine. As others have said- alcove? It makes a big difference. I live south of you 800' off the water with a direct south exposure on the front door. Here we get all the winter storms from 180 south. I have a well painted generic wood (properly built) front door thats withstood over 130 winds and 85 inches of rain every year. Its 34 years old.
Go for the Walnut - it would look stunning. Well dried big leaf wood be good also. I said WELL DRIED.
Show us when your done!
Boiler
I'm with you on the flooring idea. If you want to spend your time that way, you'll have a more satisfying product and experience. For me I think the biggest pain would be the air drying, more than the milling. You've got to build a flat base, stack, sticker and roof it outdoors (for the airflow) for the better part of a year . . .
Brian
Black walnut is wonderful outdoor wood.. My whole house has black walnut timbers and trim on the outside..
it is as decay resistant as any wood is but like any wood outdoors must be protected well to maintain it's beauty..
(use a great marine varnish like Epiphanes) and expect to periodically redo the wood varnish.
Second I milled my own floor myself and saved a ton of money.. however it does require a massive amount of work over simply banging in some store bought flooring..
That's a good/great thing.. I made random width planks on mine and instead of edge nailing them I face screwed them and then put plugs into the holes to completely cover them up..
If you work with your local sawmill you can get wonderfull wood for nominal prices..
To me the art of flooring is to make an interesting floor.. clear straight grain wood is boring.. it may as well be plastic.. curls and burls and figure in the wood define beauty to my eyes.
No, put that board over there where it catches the morning light, yeh,, that fiddle back piece should be highlighted right there next to the really wide piece. Hey just for giggles lets take a counterbore and put a plug right there.. No leave that knot there in the middle because the figure of wood around it is so great!
You can have endless debates with yourself over just what you want.. Should you include a border or inlays? or keep it all one wood? One wood or two? should they be similar woods just slightly differant or bold contrasting woods?
Those decisions really can't be made untill you finish planning the wood and see just what you have..
I want at least one room to have random width and random wood! maple next to black walnut by cherry and white oak.. Just for giggles!
If you'd like to look at pictures of my floors as I've done them so far.. 34866.1 &.5 should have some
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