Here is a door style that has peaked our interest for a new front door. But need some advice regarding the "panel". Solid seems like a potential problem.
So advice would be great.

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Are you a commercial woodworking operation or a home owner? Are you looking to build doors like this or find out how reliable this door would be for your own home?

BH Davis

I am a finish carpenter/woodworker and this will be for our home

Tom - First off, buy a copy of my book. Maybe two - one for the shop and one for the home.
I am no longer producing, but a few years ago, the door only in H Mahogany would be about 1900.00. Another $1700 or so would get the frame and two sidelight sash. Includes 5" ball bearing hinges. Excludes - glass finish, and transport. About $6,000 to your door. So to speak

We are a door factory in China. From our production and project experience, for exterior doors we usually do not recommend full solid wood panels. While solid wood offers a premium and natural appearance, it can be sensitive to temperature and humidity changes, which may lead to warping or cracking over time.

To ensure better long-term stability and performance, we typically suggest more stable structures such as engineered wood core, steel doors with wood grain finish, or WPC (wood-plastic composite) doors. These options can achieve a similar visual effect while providing improved durability and weather resistance.

Monica - You apparently don't have the skill required to make split-proof panels for wood doors. A 5 or 7 ply panel, reasonably made, will not split.

Why doesn't somebody answer the man's question. He didn't ask for a price or info on Chinese doors. His occupation does not matter nor does he need someone pushing the sell or their book. Advise him on how to best fabricate the panel.

Dave - While multi-layered structures can indeed mitigate some of the internal stress in wood, the edge banding process and the weather resistance of the adhesives are often crucial in outdoor environments exposed to UV radiation and direct rain.

Our cautious approach stems from the need to ensure the product remains unchanged for decades across different latitudes. Do you have any unique insights into edge banding and waterproofing for multi-layered exterior doors?

Thanks to Wally for the reminder. Returning to Tom's focus on solid wood door construction, besides the multi-layered structure Dave mentioned, these three points are crucial for ensuring stability:

1. Moisture Balance: The moisture content of the wood must be treated to match the average annual moisture content of your local area.

2. Floating Panel Structure: Physical expansion joints should be included in the door panel design.

3. Comprehensive Edge Sealing: Not only the surface, but also the top and bottom of the door panel must be rigorously waterproofed to prevent moisture from entering.

Feel free to add your suggestions.

Tom, since you ask for advice, before building a unit like this, I would consider David's recommendation to buy his book. That would be $45.00 I think well spent, and maybe save many hours of frustration yielding a door that doesn't have issues in the future. I have found David's advice to be very helpful on several of our shutter projects.

I guess Tom, what equipment do you have available to make a door like this? Have you ever made an exterior door before? If you haven't made one before, gets Dave's book and start playing around with some junk materials to see how its done. Once you've gone thru a few mistakes ( we all make them learning new techniques and styles) then you can decide if you want to spend a good chunk of money on top quality materials to build your own. Don't skimp on the material quality, it will only make you angry in a few years.

I have built a number of exterior and interior doors. But this design intrigues me but the panel has me stumped!
I think getting Dave's book is a good move.

Thanks for the support folks.

Re the OP - I see that panel as a plastic door company's amalgam of a raised panel with a v-joint board panel. This a very telling point that will not only date the door, but tell anyone with a discerning eye that this is a fake.

It is a compliment to our heritage as woodworkers, that our competitors can do no better than poor copies of what you and I have been doing for centuries.

One way or the other, folks, you can't have it both ways. "Raised panel" or "boards"?

Were you asking me about what to do, I would first say that raised panels are a historical strategy to get a thick board to fit into a narrow plow. Merely a practicality - a thicker board provides better insulation and security. "Rasied" is also a misnomer of sorts. "Thinned" might be more accurate description since the edges of the board/panel must be reduced in thickness in order to fit inside the surrounding frame. "Fielded" panels is an apt though rare description.

Thinner board(s) will fit within the plow, and are considered less formal, less expensive, but 100% serviceable solutions. The V-joints disguises a tongue and groove joint, with the v's adding a bit of a crush zone to accommodate hygroscopic movement.

The panels made for Acorn Woodworks exterior doors consisted of a stable core - water resistant MDF, or plywood, with a layer of the door species running vertically on each side of the core, with each layer being the exact same thickness, MC and type of cut. Then a layer of cross banding runs horizontally on each side, and finally a face veneer. Again, same species, cut, thickness, direction and MC. Epoxy being the favored adhesive.

Not only will this provide a split proof panel, it makes a plywood panel that can be glued into place if so desired. We used a silicone sealant when we could (applied moldings, etc). While this seems to be an untenable amount of work, once you do it a time or two, you get better (definition of the term 'craft'), more confident.

A 7 ply panel as described will also afford the maker the ability to match grain patterns within each panel, panel to panel, and even door to door. I liked the thicker veneers from Certainly Wood for the faces.

Any professional maker willing to adopt Acorn Woodworks' methods for panel construction and doors in general will find themselves doing the finest work in the area, with little or no competition. However, loading doors into shipping containers for shipping from one part of the world to another is never a good idea.

Respect yourself and your craft, and charge accordingly.

Photos: Tall pair are raised panels (small, no risk of splitting) with bolection molding. Single door is with v-joint boards, hand planed with bolection molding.

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Thank you for sharing your idea. That style can look absolutely stunning as a front entry door.

Regarding the panel choice, a solid panel can definitely offer a modern, bold appearance and better privacy, but there are a few things to consider before making the final decision:

Pros of a Solid Panel Door:
Better privacy
Improved insulation & energy efficiency
More secure feel
Clean, modern aesthetic

Things to Keep in Mind:
Less natural light entering the home
Dark entryways if there are no sidelights/windows nearby
Depending on material & color, heat expansion can sometimes become a factor in strong sun exposure

A great middle-ground option many homeowners choose is:
Decorative glass inserts
Frosted/privacy glass panels
Slim vertical glass accents
Fiberglass doors with insulated cores

These options maintain the modern look while adding light and reducing the “heavy” feel of a completely solid panel.

At Castle Door & More, we usually recommend selecting the panel style based on:
Your home’s exterior style
Sun exposure direction
Privacy needs
Desired natural lighting

Feel free to share a photo of your current entryway or the exact door style you’re considering — we’d be happy to give more tailored recommendations.

I think a straight V joint panel to the weather is not a good idea. It’s a channel to run water into the bottoms of the rails. That never ends well. We machine a flat in the edge of the panel to avoid this. Sort of a raised panel…
Plank doors have been popular in my area for years. For paint grade man made material such as Tricoa is a good solution. Most entry’s I do are solid finished wood.
On planks I use 2 panels back to back. Sometimes with insulation between. Panels are T&G together with TB3. (Gasp)
European tooling is used for both doors and windows. The tooling puts in drainage channels in the cold air space, a calking groove in the edge of the sticking for wet glazing and panels are installed same as IGU after finishing. This way panels are sealed all sides. Instead of glazing packers around the panels we use panel buddies to allow for expansion. Before the moulding goes on the inside the top portion of the cold air space is sealed off with inexpensive caulking. After assembly the outside is wet glazed and tooled with Dow 795.
This has been a proven way for these type doors in my area.

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Also Check for wooden fire door from Packsound.

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