DOORS

Definition
A door is amusing part of a building and will be subjected to constant use and often abuse
throughout its life
Functions
The function of a door is to give access to a house, room or passage
Functional requirements
The door must be carefully designed and made from good material. It must also be
remembered that condition of temperature and humidity will often be different in rooms
or spaces on each side of the door, which will produce tendency for the door to warp or
twist. The material and design must counteract this.
a. Durability; proper maintenance allied to the choice of good material with good
design workmanship will ensure satisfactory durability throughout the life of the
building. Timber doors need special consideration in particular external doors and
regular painting or clear treatment is necessary.
b. Weather protection; with external doors it concerns the exclusion of air and water.
The top and bottom of the door is particularly vulnerable and special precautions in
the form of throttling and provision of weather bars should be taken. Outward
opening doors should wherever possible be set back into the opening. Where possible
the edges for the meeting stiles of doors hung in pairs should be rebated. Doors
should as far as possible be drought proof and the use of same form of weather
stripping at the rebate is a wise precaution
c. Sound and thermal insulation; with regard to thermal insulation the loss of heat
through a closed door is minimal. For good sound insulation doors must be solid with
tight seals at all edges. The passage of sound between the doors and frame must be
restricted. Where the specification requirements are high for both sound and thermal
insulation the two sets of door with an intervening space or vestibule will be
necessary.
d. Fire resistance; precautions in respect of an outbreak of fire fall into three categories
 i. Structural fire precaution; concerned with restricting the spread of fire within
the building
ii. Means of escape is to enable the occupants to leave the building in safety
iii. To restrict the movement of smoke throughout a public building
e. Strength and stability; the strength of the door is dependent on its method of
construction. In terms of stability a door is called upon to resist a number of stresses
that will vary according to its use and position. Normal closing and opening, barging,
slamming, bumping from articles being carried through and even kicking are to be
expected. In addition to these factors the door must withstand stresses due to the
variation in humidity that occur through changes in weather condition and artificial
conditions within the building
Classification of doors

Doors can be classified as internal or external. The reason for this is that external doors are
subjected to weather while internal doors are not. The entrance door of a house in an external
door, while the doors to rooms or passage are internal doors, a door opening must be large
enough for people to walk through with ease and to allow the passage of goods and equipment.
Therefore external doors are normally slightly bigger than the internal door

Types of doors

1. a). Flush door; it has a plain face which is easy to clean and decorate it is also free of
molding which collect dust. It can be faced with hardwood, plywood or plastic laminate.
Three of the more commonly used constructional methods are a;
i. Laminated solid timber core
ii. Solid core
iii. Timber railed
In every case the frame work is covered with plywood on both faces and a hard wood
edging strip 69mm thick on both long edges to protect the plywood

The strongest form of flush door is the solid core, often made up of longitudinal
laminations of precision planned timber butt jointed with resin based adhesive under
pressure. It has excellent fire check and sound reducing qualities
 Half solid flush door is cheaper and lighter. It is made up of a timber frame in corpora
ting horizontal rail not more than 63mm apart and the whole forming a 50% solid timber
core. In its strength it can satisfactorily accommodate standard ironmongery

Timber railed door is even lighter. It consists of horizontal rails not more than 125mm
apart. Used extensively in local authority and private housing where stringent cost limit
per rail. It is possibly faced with hard board.

b). fire check flush door; these doors provide an effective barrier to passage of fire for the
time designated by their type, but to achieve this they must be used in conjunction with
correct frame. Two types are designed by BS 459, half hour type door are hung using one
pair of hinges where as one hour type door requires one and a half pair of hinges.

2. Match boarded doors; can be used as external or internal door they are constructed in
three forms

i. Ledged and battened

ii. Ledged and braced
iii. Framed, ledged and braced
The ledged and braced door are for external use, however the framed, ledged and braced
doors are stronger and widely used as external doors possibly made of cedar

2. Paneled door; paneled doors are usually described by the number of panels which they
contain and which may vary from one to six. These doors are stronger than flush doors
and match boarded doors without frames. They can be used for external as well as
internal. They consist of stile and rails framed around panel of timber or plywood. They
are framed by joining the members where they intersect by dowels or mortise and tenon
Door frames

The function of a door frame is to provide a fixing and support for doors. A door frame consists
of three members i.e. two upright posts (jambs) which are secured at top by a cross piece called
head. Head usually projects 50 – 100mm beyond the post and these projections are called horns.
They assist in making the frame secure
Section sizes

Post on which the doors are hung must be large enough to enable the frame to remain rigid. The
section piece must be related to the weight and the size of the door they have to carry.

Types of door frames

i. Basic door frame; the simplest type of door frame consisting two jambs and head.

A C

X X

C C-C

Rebate

Doorstop A-A X- X
 ii. Ceiling height frame; this is a door frame with fanlight

Fanlight

Transom

Squaring strips and horns

In order to keep the frame rigid and square digging operation, transport or setting on the wall all
ordinary door frames bracing with square strips which are usually 18 x 50mm are cut into the
rebate while the horns protect the frame during transport

Ironmonger

Hinges, locks, door handles, fasteners, fixing e.t.c. which are used for doors and windows are
generally described as hardware or ironmongery.

Hinges; are used for hanging doors and window casements in their frames. Normally three
hinges are used for each door. Hinges are available in a very wide range, small and type. The
cheapest and most commonly used hinge is braced steel butt hinge

Fixing and fasteners; door frames and window frames are normally built into block or brick
wall. “L” shaped built in lug are used to secure frames into wall. The shorter arm of “L” shaped
lug is screwed to the back of the frame. When the door is placed to the wall horizontal openings
have to be chiseled for the longer arm. When the door is set to the right position the opening are
to be filled again with mortar. Fixing can also be made of hoop iron or nails. The frame should
be fixed into the walls with three lugs to each jamb. It avoids any unnecessary force on the
frame. The hinges of the door must be fixed at the same height to the frame as the lugs are fixed

Jamb

Wall
 Framed door
12mm thick plaster with plastic emulsion paint

A 215mm thick brick wall

215

150 100 x 50mm top rail

Insitu lintel (1:2:4)

100 x 50mm stile 16mm Ø m.s. bar

100 x 25mm braces 25mm quadrant mould

125 x 75mm frame

2100 25mm quadrant mould 100 x 50mm top rail

B B 200 x 25mm middle rail 75 x 25mm T & G battens

100 x25mm brace

100 x 50 mm meeting stiles

75 x 25mm T & G battens

100 x 25mm bottom rail 100 x 25mm middle rail

A 1640

FRONT ELEVATION
20 x100mm swd skirting

12mm thick plaster with plastic emulsion paint

25mm quadrant mould 100 x 25mm brace

125 x 75mm frame

100 x 50mm stile

100 x 25mmbrace 100 x 25 bottom rail

75 x 25mm T & G battens 25mm thick (1:4) screed

100 x 50mm meeting stiles g.lvl

215mm thick brick wall

Fixing cramp

25mm quadrant mould

SECTION B-B SECTION A-A

 Flush door B

B
2190 x 900mm solid Core flush door

300 x 300mm Glazed opening

A
A

Exterior flush door

200 x200mm insitu conc lintol

200mm thick solid conc block wall 200mm thick solid conc block wall

12mm thick c/s rendering 12mm thick c/s plaster

150 x 25 x 3mm m.s cramp 40 x 20m wrot h/wood architrave

100 x 75mm wrot h/wood door frame

45mm thick solid cored f/door

45mm thick solid cored f/door

40 x 20mm wrot h/wood architrave

Section A – A