Idea

After many years of harsh punishment, the shed in the back was needing a lot of work. Every surface and storage area was covered in rat shit, it smelled like something died in it, and the things stored in it were forgotten and rusted over. It was time to clean it up but it desperately needed a new door to keep animals from coming in and out.

Build

Replacement doors aren’t cheap. Not only are they not cheap, but if you want a door that fits unique dimensions, then be prepared to pay significantly more. So I thought, "How bad could making one be?"

I grabbed a bunch of pine, outdoor deck stain / sealer, and some long screws from Home Depot. After ripping out the old door and getting glass chunks everywhere, I measured and searched pictures of doors on Google Images to see what doors should look like. It wasn’t long before finding that ‘rustic barn door’ was my favorite.

I trimmed the boards down to their expected height and joined them down flush. While dry running the door assembly, I realized there were a few boards missing. Turns out that 1×6" boards are actually 3/4" x 5 1/2" . This was my first lesson as a new woodworker and it will never be forgotten. So I head back to Home Depot and bought enough wood to put together three doors to compensate for other newly discovered lessons.

It was a fairly simple assembly – cut, glue, screw, stain, let sit. Even installing the door handle was easy. Just make sure you read the instructions, measure, and get yourself a hole saw .

The door still holds up to this day. I should post about the rest of the shed someday…

Lessons

The three most important lessons in woodworking: Measure. Measure. Measure.