Studio Build 7

Wonderful weather!  it's time to get the big scary door built.  The studio door can make or break a space.  It has to be solid, and have an tight seal.  So I started out with a salvaged fire door.

It had been sitting in a barn for a couple of decades, and had some surface rust.  So I hit the rusty areas with the palm sander and some 80 grit paper.  Then wiped down the surface with some paint thinner.

 There will be a panen of 3/4 inch cabinet grade plywood added to the door, to create another layer to seal against, so I painted all of the edges with Rustoleum Hammer finish in a dark bronze and painted only an inch or two into the face of the door.

The hinges are heavy duty commercial hinges from McMaster Carr, and what's cool is that the bolt pattern matches perfectly with the fire door!  and the screws fit perfectly as well!  WOOO!  love industry standards!

The hinge side of the door frame is 6x2 routed out to accept the hinges.

Then with the help of my wife Cathy, we muscled that bad boy into place with a 1/4" gap on either side.  That gap will be stuffed with some felt then caulked with some SilentSeal before the trim goes up.

This is the inner face of the door, it will get a coat of green glue, an sheet of Luan and then stained.  Next up is finishing the threshold, the drop seal and making the jam/gasket/jam/gasket combination.  But with the door hung and in place, that should be a breeze!

Stay tuned...