Making & Installing a Door Built with Recycled Pallets
Previously we took apart the pallets and used their boards as strapping on the NW wall. When we were doing that we also took apart enough to make a door and a few other things you'll see in the future.
This was the first time either of us had built a door, but given our experience in construction we had a good idea of how to make it perfect.
First things first we installed a 2x4 on top of the horizontal 6x6 framing the bottom of the doorway.
Then we cut a small piece out of the leftover silver tin and placed it on the outside over the two boards.
Now for the door.
We took a sheet of 3½ inch plywood to use as the body of the door. We didn't have to cut it since it was the perfect height and width.
Next, we framed the plywood with pallet boards to add strength and structure. Smaller screws work well for this since they won't be holding much weight. Three boards ran vertically in the center to create bones for the tar paper and tin to lay on.
(You can tell the dogs were helping.)
Next, we dressed the pallet boards with tar paper, one sheet did the trick. Then we trimmed off the excess with a utility knife.
I personally don't recommend doing this next step if you're using this article as inspiration; adding strapping on top of the tarpaper.
One of the reasons we did this is because the strapping would provide something to attach the tin too, but the wooden bones under the tarpaper gave us enough area in the end.
The other reason we did this is because it would guarantee that no water would become stuck between the tar and tin and cause problems. But the extra strapping wasn't necessary anyway since the tarpaper is quite waterproof on it's own, thus making it unlikely that enough water will seep through it to rot the plywood, at least in the lifetime of this structure.
The reason we later removed the extra strapping was because it made the door so dense that it wouldn't swing back and pin to the wall like we wanted it to, thus the extra strapping was later removed.
Now let's continue on.
We flipped the door over and installed two reused hinges. We later had to flip the hinges around in order to pin it back.
We carried the heavy door over to the doorway and placed it onto 3 staked pallet boards. This held it at the height we needed while one of us installed the hinges. The place of installation was too low to the ground to open because of the compacted snow, so we raised it and that fixed the problem.
This is where we realized that the hinges were on the wrong way, it was easy to correct though.
The next epiphany was that the strapping was in the way of the door opening completely, so we removed it. While we were at it we cut a strip of 3½ inch plywood for the hinges to sit on to help give the hinges some space from the wall so it could swing open properly.
Now the easy part; installing the tin. Only one cut was needed and then it was installed. Like I mentioned before the wooden frame provided adequate attachment area for the screws.
With all that fiddling out of the way we added some decorative pieces, that also help prevent weather damage, win win!
First we added a strip of black tin along the edge of the plywood strip the hinges sit on.
Second, we made a small awning to go over the door and prevent water from running into the grain of the vulnerable plywood.
And finally we installed a kickplate on the inside of the door made of the same tin as on the 4th wall.
(As you might see above, we outlined the overlap on the door with a pencil to know how big the kickplate should be.)
Here's what it looks like from the inside with the door shut.
To satisfy us all, here's a view of the back of the coop.
🏔
On the next page we will be adding a Whale latch, talking about ventilation and more!
This was the first time either of us had built a door, but given our experience in construction we had a good idea of how to make it perfect.
First things first we installed a 2x4 on top of the horizontal 6x6 framing the bottom of the doorway.
Then we cut a small piece out of the leftover silver tin and placed it on the outside over the two boards.
Now for the door.
We took a sheet of 3½ inch plywood to use as the body of the door. We didn't have to cut it since it was the perfect height and width.
Next, we framed the plywood with pallet boards to add strength and structure. Smaller screws work well for this since they won't be holding much weight. Three boards ran vertically in the center to create bones for the tar paper and tin to lay on.
(You can tell the dogs were helping.)
Next, we dressed the pallet boards with tar paper, one sheet did the trick. Then we trimmed off the excess with a utility knife.
I personally don't recommend doing this next step if you're using this article as inspiration; adding strapping on top of the tarpaper.
One of the reasons we did this is because the strapping would provide something to attach the tin too, but the wooden bones under the tarpaper gave us enough area in the end.
The other reason we did this is because it would guarantee that no water would become stuck between the tar and tin and cause problems. But the extra strapping wasn't necessary anyway since the tarpaper is quite waterproof on it's own, thus making it unlikely that enough water will seep through it to rot the plywood, at least in the lifetime of this structure.
The reason we later removed the extra strapping was because it made the door so dense that it wouldn't swing back and pin to the wall like we wanted it to, thus the extra strapping was later removed.
Now let's continue on.
We flipped the door over and installed two reused hinges. We later had to flip the hinges around in order to pin it back.
We carried the heavy door over to the doorway and placed it onto 3 staked pallet boards. This held it at the height we needed while one of us installed the hinges. The place of installation was too low to the ground to open because of the compacted snow, so we raised it and that fixed the problem.
This is where we realized that the hinges were on the wrong way, it was easy to correct though.
The next epiphany was that the strapping was in the way of the door opening completely, so we removed it. While we were at it we cut a strip of 3½ inch plywood for the hinges to sit on to help give the hinges some space from the wall so it could swing open properly.
Now the easy part; installing the tin. Only one cut was needed and then it was installed. Like I mentioned before the wooden frame provided adequate attachment area for the screws.
With all that fiddling out of the way we added some decorative pieces, that also help prevent weather damage, win win!
First we added a strip of black tin along the edge of the plywood strip the hinges sit on.
Second, we made a small awning to go over the door and prevent water from running into the grain of the vulnerable plywood.
And finally we installed a kickplate on the inside of the door made of the same tin as on the 4th wall.
(As you might see above, we outlined the overlap on the door with a pencil to know how big the kickplate should be.)
Here's what it looks like from the inside with the door shut.
To satisfy us all, here's a view of the back of the coop.
🏔On the next page we will be adding a Whale latch, talking about ventilation and more!
- Next page: Cross Ventilation In Our Coop
- Previous page: Installing Strapping & Tin on the NW wall
G'day.