SS

1. BT 152
ELEMENTS OF BUILDING
Lecture 6
Dr. Barbara Simons
Jan 2018

2. DOORS
• Doors, like windows, may be constructed from timber, steel,
aluminium and PVCu.
• The materials used for the construction of doors are
influenced by:
 The functional requirements that need to be achieved;
 Cost considerations; and
 Location of the door within the building.
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3. • External doors have different functional requirements to
internal doors.
• Many external doors and the majority of internal doors are
constructed from timber.
• Frames are generally supplied independently of the door and
may be manufactured of similar materials to the door.
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4. • This chapter will consider the functional requirements of
external and internal doors.
• It will then discuss the construction of timber paneled doors,
timber flush doors, timber fire doors and timber matchboarded
doors.
• Considerations will also be given to aluminium and PVCu
external doors and their associated frames.
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5. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF DOORS
• The functional requirements for doors will be dependent on
the location of the door in the building.
• External doors will have different requirements to internal
doors.
• External doors need to provide:
 Weather resistance
 Durability
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6.  Strength and stability
 Thermal insulation
 Sound insulation
 Fire resistance
• Because internal doors need to satisfy less functional
requirements than external doors they can often be made of a
much lighter construction and at less cost.
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8. TIMBER DOORS
• Timber doors may be classified into four types by their
method of construction:
 Panelled doors
 Flush and moulded doors
 Fire doors
 Matchboarded doors.
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9. PANELLED DOORS
• These may be of a single or multiple panel construction,
comprising a timber frame work encasing panels of timber,
plywood or glass.
• This type of door is mostly used externally, therefore if
plywood panels are to be used the plywood should be class 3
to provide adequate weather resistance.
• The joints used in the panel framing may be doweled or
morticed and tenon.
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10. • The dowel joint is more popular, due to its cheapness and
ease of construction, which is particularly suited to factory
production lines.
• Mortice and tenon joints tend to be more stronger.
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11. MORTICE AND TENON JOINTS
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12. DOWEL JOINTS
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14. KEY PARTS OF DOORS
• STILES: The upright or vertical outside components of a door
which at eggers can be of solid wood or veneered
construction.
• RAILS: The crossed or horizontal components of the door.
They include the bottom rail, top rail, lock rail and intermediate
rail. Lock rails are also known as cross-rails.
• PANELS: are made of solid wood, plywood or composite
material and they fill the frame formed by the stiles and rails of
a door.
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15. • MULLIONS: The upright or vertical components which are
typically larger than a muntin and are located between panels
or lites. Their function is similar to a cross-rail.
• MUNTINS: Used at glass openings. It is a shorter horizontal
or vertical member extending from a muntin bar to a stile, rail,
or another muntin bar.
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17. FLUSH AND MOULDED DOORS
• Traditionally flush doors have plain faces that are easy to
clean and decorate, being free of the mouldings that collect
dirt.
• Flush doors may be faced with plywood, medium density
fibreboard (MDF) or hardboard and may be manufactured for
internal or external use.
• For external use the facing to the doors must be of class 3
plywood and painted.16

18. • For internal use the doors may be painted or supplied with a
decorative veneer.
• Moulded doors have their facing material made from MDF or
hardboard that has been moulded under pressure to produce
a decorative appearance similar to that of a paneled door.
• Although the door is similar in appearance to a paneled door it
does not have the same construction as a paneled door.
FLUSH AND MOULDED DOORS CONT’D
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19. • There is no specified method of construction for flush or
moulded doors.
• Manufacturers have freedom of designs for different price
ranges.
• The method of construction for these doors tends to be of
three distinct types, related to cost:
 Hollow core;
 Semi-solid core; and
 Solid core
FLUSH AND MOULDED DOORS CONT’D
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23. FIRE DOORS
• The main requirement for a fire door in a house is where
access is provided between the house and an attached
garage.
• Such a door should have at least 30 minutes fire resistance.
• The most important criterion for designing the period of fire
resistance related to the passage of flame or smoke
through the fire door assembly is the size of the gap
between the door leaf and its associated frame.
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24. • This gap needs to be wide enough to enable the door to be
opened or closed easily during normal use, but not too wide
as to allow passage of smoke or flame in a fire.
• As with flush doors, there is no British Standard Specification
for the construction of fire doors,
 thus door manufacturers are free to design the door leaf as
they wish, provided it meets the requirements of fire tests laid
down in appropriate codes.
FIRE DOORS CONT’D
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26. MATCHBOARDED DOORS
• These doors are constructed to the requirements of BS
459:1988 Specification for matchboarded wooden door leaves
for external use, and are available in three specific types:
 Ledged and braced
 Framed and ledged
 Framed, ledged and braced.
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27. Ledged and braced
• The face of this door is constructed from 16 mm thick tongued
and grooved boarding, called battens, with edge chamfers to
form a ‘v’ joint feature between consecutive boards.
• The battens are clamped together to form a panel and are
attached by nailing to 95 × 22 mm horizontal timbers called
ledges, positioned in the middle of the door panel and also
152 mm from its top and bottom edges.
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28. • To resist the tendency for the door panel to drop out of
square, 95 × 22 mm diagonal braces are fitted between the
ledges.
• The braces are fixed to the ledges by means of mortice and
tenon joints.
• To further resist the tendency of the door to drop out of
square, three hinges, rather than two, are fixed to the hanging
side of the door.
• Tee hinges are often used on this type of door.
Ledged and braced cont’d
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30. ALUMINIUM DOORS
• These are constructed from extruded aluminium alloy sections
in a similar manner to aluminium windows.
• The doors normally comprise top, middle and bottom rails and
stiles of extruded aluminium alloy sections enclosing glazed
panels.
• The finishes to the doors are similar to those available for
aluminium windows.
• The doors are normally fitted into hardwood frames supplied
separately.
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34. DOOR FRAMES
• A frame is generally used for external doors, heavy doors and
fire doors.
• It consists of four members, an 85 × 57 mm head, a pair of 85
× 57 mm vertical jambs, and a 120 × 45 mm threshold or sill,
joined together by doweled, mortice and tenon joints or
combined joints.
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38. DOOR LININGS
• A door lining is normally used for internal doors.
• It consists of 25-32 mm thick timber boarding with joints
housed together, and a 35 × 12 mm planted stop fixed to
house the door in the closed position.
• Door linings are never built in, but are fixed into a prepared
opening by fixing them directly to the reveals.
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40. DOORSETS
• Traditionally door leaves were supplied independently of their
associated frames or linings, which were manufactured
separately.
• When doors were fitted into their frames or linings, there was
generally a need to plane the edges of the door in order to
ensure that they fitted properly.
• In recent years door manufacturers have been supplying
doors fitted within their associated frames.
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41. • These doorsets have the door fixed to the frame using rising
butt hinges, so that the door can be taken out of the frame
prior to the frame being fitted into the wall and hen lifted back
in position when the finishes to the wall have been completed.
• Because the door is delivered to site fitted in its frame there is
no need for subsequent planning of the door to fit it into the
frame when the door is finally installed.
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44. DOOR FURNITURE
• There are a wide variety of items that can be fixed to the door for
operational, security or durability purposes. The main items of
door furniture used in domestic properties are:
 Hinges
 Latches
 Locks
 Bolts
 Letter plates
 Finger and kicker plates
 Self-closing devices
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46. Thank you
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