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DOORS 101 - Rail
& Stile Construction
There are many different methods
of construction for a door. We use the tried and true
rail and stile method.
When you look at a basic door
there are three basic components:
Rail
– Any horizontal piece of wood. Any door will
at the very least have a Top Rail and a Bottom Rail.
We make the Bottom Rail larger than the other rails
to reinforce the construction of the door. If there
are other Rails, the one closest to the where the
lock hardware is located is known as the Lock Rail.
Stile
– The outermost vertical pieces of the door
are known as the Stiles. The Hinge Side is the stile
that gets prepped for the hinges. The Latch Side is
the stile that gets prepped for the door hardware.
Panels
– Anything in the middle of the Rails and Stiles
are the Panels. If you count the number of panels
you have just described the door – for example
a One Panel, Two Panel, Three Panel, etc. These panels
are meant to “float” in the middle of
the rails and stiles and are not glued into place.
The Rails and Stiles are connected
using a mortise and tenon joint that is glued and then
screwed from the outside edge to hold the tenon into
the mortise.
Both the Rails and Stiles are mortised
out to allow the tenon of the panels to fit snuggly.
These panels will expand and contract throughout a season
dependant on the climate and amount of exposure to the
elements that the door is subjected to. Rubber spacers
are used in these joints to allow the panels to expand
and contract without breaking apart the rails and stiles.
The panels of the door should not rattle when closed.
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