May 8, 2015

How to Make Garden Shed Doors

Like most homeowners, I have an endless list of repairs and projects that need to be done. Making a new set of garden shed doors has been on mine for several years. I am not sure when this tool shed was built, but I would guess 30-35 years ago. It’s a great storage space and is well constructed, but the doors have been falling apart for a long time.

I have made temporary repairs on them three times, which now seems like wasted time and effort. In each instance, I had to remove the doors, cut away rotted boards, add new fasteners, sand and repaint. The process took a weekend. I could have easily made new doors in about the same amount of time!

Yes, you can make garden shed doors for under $100!

If you stick with simple construction materials and methods, it’s surprisingly affordable. Here’s a breakdown of my costs:

2×6 x 8′ boards (6): $27.42
1/4″ sheet of plywood: $27.72
Quart of paint: $21.95
Pocket screws $5.47

Total: $82.56

The lesson for me is to evaluate home repair jobs carefully to determine if my time is better spent fixing or building.

Cutting the boards

I used three, eight foot long (244cm), 2×6 boards for each door. These are actually 1.5″ x 5.5″ or 38mm x 140mm. I bought construction grade Douglas fir boards. Like 2x4s, the long edges are rounded over a little. In order to get a nice tight fit when assembling, I like to cut the edges off of each board to square them up.

I cut the four long side pieces to size using my miter saw. I measured the first one, then used it do line up and measure the rest. This is a much better method for making repeated cuts, rather than measuring each one with a tape measure.

To cut the eight short pieces (the horizontal frame boards) all the same length, I set up an extension fence on my saw and clamped a stop block to it.

Then I butted the boards up to it so they all cut identically.

Assembly

Using my Kreg Jig, I drilled two pocket holes in ends of all the short pieces.

I began the assembly by screwing the top and bottom pieces into place.

To position the two middle boards equally apart from each other, I cut two scrap boards to use as spacers. This is much more accurate than trying to measure and mark where each board should be.

Routing profiles

I used my router to cut a rabbet (ledge) along the inside edge of each of the frames. For this, I used a rabbet bit.

On the front side of the doors, I routed out a decorative Roman ogee profile.

The panels are 1/4″ (6mm) plywood. I cut these to size, and then glued and tacked them into the back side of the doors, resting on the rabbets.

Installation

I lined the doors up to where the old ones were, marked the hinge positions, and screwed them in place. This can be a time-consuming process. Dealing with hinges is one of my least favorite things!

Once everything was working properly, I removed the doors and painted them with a quality exterior latex paint. It’s important that all surfaces get painted in order to protect the wood from the weather.