Cellar Doors

In several previous posts I mentioned that the cellar doors needed to be rebuilt.

It's pretty obvious that though they served us well over the past 10 years or so, it's time for them to be replaced.

We looked at commercially available doors, but no one makes them this big. We also talked with our contractor who suggested fabricating wooden doors and then wrapping them with sheet metal so they'd last "forever". That option was more expensive than I thought prudent, so we went for the DIY option.

They are in shade a good portion of the day, so don't always dry out quickly.

We were also a little slow getting them painted, which I'm sure didn't help.

I've spent the past couple of weeks building the new ones a little at a time each night and using the old ones as a pattern.

The underlying framing structure was fine, so it didn't need to be replaced. Only the exposed facing needed help. Mostly it is 1x6 tongue & groove with the smooth side exposed. There's a 1x2 that caps the right edge and a 1x8 that wraps the right side.

This time I put at least one coat of solid stain on all six faces of each piece before assembly. I also followed up with a second coat over everything. That should help with their longevity.

In addition, I built them from cedar, which is a better wood for exposed conditions.

We also picked a different color this time. Rather than a color that contrasts with the brick, we picked one that coordinates with it. The stain was a recommendation from our friends at Abbott Paint. I have some left over, so will be able to re-coat when necessary.

These should last at least 10 years.