Hi Folks,
I have just finished building a front door for my house out of quarter sawn white oak. I wanted some advice on an exterior finish. I will stain the oak with minwax stain and need advice on what exterior finish you folks recommend and how many coats. The door will be protected by a wooden exterior storm door. Also, there will be a stained glass panel in the upper part of the door. I intend to seal it in place with clear silicone caulk on the inside and a molding made up of a 1/4″ bead and querk to hold the panel in on the interior side. The panel is separated from the exterior safety glass which will be installed in the same way as I have just described for the stained glass panel by a 1/4″ tall by 1/2″ wide piece of white oak which will in essence give me a 1/2″ air space between the the pieces of glass. Can I expect any trouble with this setup. If so, what suggestions would you have to prevent the possible problem. Also, the oak in this space will of course be finished with the same finish that you folks would recommend. Thanks in advance for any advice that you can offer, I truly appreciate it.
Replies
Regarding the air space in the your glass, there will be condensation in between the panes under certain weather humidity situations. Depending upon how well your assembled glass panel is sealed ('mudded'), there could even be moisture rolling down the inside and puddling on the spacer between art glass and primary glass.
Here in the Midwest, the preferred way is to piggy-back the art glass to the inside of an insulated glass panel, with about 1/4' to 3/8" space in between. There should be no sealant on either side of the art glass panel, and there should be sealant on both sides of the insulated panel. There will still be condensation on the insulated glass when it is very cold outside.
If you do choose to use a storm door, avoid making a solar collector. Dark doors behind a full glass light with sunshine will approach 200 degrees - opening joints and failing finishes. All storm door people advise a gap at the top and bottom of the door to let air in and out to prevent this.
Your first reaction is the same as everyone's. Yes, this will let the warm air out, cold air in. Hence the futility of a storm door in most cases. If a good wood door is properly fit and hung, weather stripped and hardwared, there will be no need for a storm door.
Dave S
http://www.acornwoodworks.com
Just a note on storm windows or doors.
I lived in Wisconsin for a while and heard a program on home insulation or winterization.
The author was from the Wisconsin university. People in Wisconsin really get into this stuff.
He made the point that storm doors or windows need to breathe a bit.
The main focus of the storm window is to keep the washing or scrubbing effect off the window.
Even a slight breeze will move air pretty quickly away from the outside surface of your door or window.
the storm door just keeps a pocket of air in a fairly calm state outside the door or window, but it should breathe a bit.
You can adjust how much it breathes depending on how much your window or door leaks. If there is condensation in between, open up the vents a bit. Some are adjustable.
"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
The further North you go, the more serious things are on the storm door debate. Not always possible, but the design should shelter a door from sun with generous overhang, wind by recessing in from the plane of the wall by a few feet, and building a 2-1/4" or thicker door, with full thickness panels. While I understand the data, my opinion is that a storm door is redundant and superfluous. Most storm door folks want to protect the primary door, then they build/add the storm door, then end up protecting it, and so on.... For the bulk of our work, our people want function over form, and that we deliver, with as much utility as possible. In storm windows, I have for 30 yrs drilled 3/8" holes at the bottom of the bottom rail, and filled such holes with brass wool for an insect free vent. This keeps condensation to a minimum. Painters will immediately seal the holes, then leave the 4 edges unpainted - 'to let the wood breathe'. A lot of breathing going on...As for heat, where I apprenticed, I was early on given the task of replacing plastic plant-on molding assemblies with wood. The plastic was all sagged as if melted in a fire. After several of these I commented that there seemed to be a lot of fires. It was explained to me that these dark painted moldings sat upon dark painted steel doors that had storm doors over them, making a de facto solar collector that generated enough heat to melt the plastic - over 240 degrees. Insulated glass shops can sandwich an art glass panel, but several things happen: No warranty from your insulator, anything that comes loose from the art glass (mud/sealant) will attach itself to the glass by some sort of magic or static, and the pane may rattle upon any movement. Movement will exacerbate the likelihood of mud coming loose, as well as failed seals. The art glass will also sag in the void, prevent tight margins and showing daylight at the perimeter. The unit also will get close to 1" thick, which is hard to handle with conventional sticking, so bolection molds must be made. We will make bolection moldings, but like to piggy-back the art glass with an air gap so it can somewhat easily be removed for cleaning. People also like to touch the glass for some reason. Being a custom shop, we can do whatever anyone wants, but certain things have evolved over time, and I try to use them as 'standards' as much as possible. Most folks have never evolved it as far as we have, therefore the methods we developed appear to be best current practice.Dave S
I believe that one of the local glass shops in my neck 'o the woods will sandwich stained glass inside a regular insulated glass envelope. Keeps it sealed and you don't get the condensation/dust/grime problems between the glass that way.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
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