It really depends what you want the screen door to look like.
I went to Home Depot and they had a pile of utter crap made out of
pieces of thin pine stapled together. Fortunately none of them were big
enough for my house where the front door is 40" by 84" or the wife
would have bought one.
What I did instead was get some 2x4 lengths of mahoghany that was
intended for making decks (probably seple) and ripped one in half to
make the rails and made the stiles out of full width boards. I used
mortise and tennon joinery and a standard window sash making set from
freud to put an ogee flute on the inside surfaces.
The result is a door that is not overpowering despite the size and
weight, the rails are 1 1/2" wide but 1 3/4" thick so there is a lot of
strength there which you need if you have such a big door.
Main hassle I am having is working out how to keep the screen door
material installed on the lower half despite the efforts of the 4 year
old to pull it out. I am trying to work out how to retrofit additional
bracing into the lower panel this winter.
Of course as soon as I finish it I discover that what she really wanted
is central air conditioning for the whole house.
On Thu, 19 May 2005 08:20:31 GMT, the inscrutable rock
<[email protected]> spake:
>Can anyone point me to info on building wood screen doors. Websites,
>mag articles, books... My searches have turned up mostly main doors.
"Building Doors & Entryways" by Craig Weis has a chapter (11 page
section) on a tenoned screen door. Sterling Pubs. 0-8069-8168-7
You could probably substitute a screen frame in the free plans for a
storm door from PM here:
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_improvement/home_improvement/1275581.html>
Then if you have any more free time, consider this necessary project:
http://www.woodturns.com/articles/projects/bananas/ ;)
------------------------------------------
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And Wood magazine had a plan a few years ago too. I used it to built a
screen/storm back door out of quarter sawn white oak to match an
original (or at least very old) front door on my 99 year old house. It
was my first real use of mortis and tenon joinery and raised panels and
has held up very well. I put the panels on the bottom so the dogs
wouldn't scratch the screens and used an interchangable screen and
storm window on the top.
Art
Rossmoor Galoot wrote:
>Workbench magazine volume 53 #5 has the plans that I built my door to a
>number of years ago. I substituted solid panels for the screens on the
>bottom. Plansnow.com has the same article available for $5.95 if you
>can't get your hands on the magazine.
>
>
>
http://www.plansnow.com/door.html
Should be able to figure it from the pic - or pay the 5 bux for the plans.
"rock" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Can anyone point me to info on building wood screen doors. Websites,
> mag articles, books... My searches have turned up mostly main doors.
> Thanks,
> CHARLIE
I build one sort of by eye once. I saw a really cool looking screen door on
a house I rented on Jt John USVI. My wife thought I was nutz for taking
about 30 digital pictures. From those pictures I made my door. Not too hard.
What kicked my arse in the design was the necessity for curved screen
moldings. What a PIA. The original was teak with an oil finish of some sort
and bronze hardware. Mine was fir and painted (To fit with rest of
building). But the overall design and construction was similar.
Good luck.
"rock" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Can anyone point me to info on building wood screen doors. Websites,
> mag articles, books... My searches have turned up mostly main doors.
> Thanks,
> CHARLIE