Unconventional Architectural Doors Bring A Touch of Class to

Designer Doors
Unconventional Architectural Doors Bring
A Touch of Class to Prestigious Projects
H
igh-end architectural
flush wood doors
featuring horizontal
grain veneer, sketch
face designs or lasercut inlays are being specified by
leading architects, woodworkers
and custom millworkers to achieve
exciting new aesthetics that push
the architectural envelope. These
contemporary face designs represent
the state-of-the-art in specialty and
custom 5-ply doors using only handpicked veneers that meet or exceed
the Architectural Woodwork Institute
(AWI) Section 1300 premium grade
standard.
The AWI defines premium grade as,
“The grade specified when the highest
degree of control over the quality of
workmanship, materials, installation
and execution of the design intent is
required. Usually reserved for special
projects, or featured areas within a
project.” Achieving this standard
demands extensive knowledge of how
premium veneer is made and processed into door faces,
as well as manufacturing expertise in precision laser
cutting and custom press technology.
Making an Impression
Just as designer clothing is about
making a statement, specialty and
custom doors are designed to stand
out from 5-ply flush doors made with
standard vertical grain veneer. And
like designer clothing, specialty and
custom doors are made to extremely
high standards using only the finest
quality materials. The extra time and
hands-on involvement required to
select and cut each piece of premium
grade veneer used to create custom
design faces demands a level of
craftsmanship only a select few door
manufacturers can provide.
All foreign and domestic species of
face veneer are used in manufacturing custom horizontal grain and
sketch face doors. Some specialty
door manufacturers have veneer
specialists on staff who personally inspect and grade raw veneer
for quality prior to purchase. In
some cases, the door manufacturer
is provided with veneer that has a special grain
pattern that was personally selected by the architect
at the veneer mill. Millworkers will often provide the
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manufacturer with veneer that
matches interior paneling or custom
casework.
Veneer is purchased in bundles of
24 to 32 leaves that are consecutively
stacked in the exact sequence they
were cut from carefully graded logs.
Nominal minimum width of face
components for premium grade
veneers is six inches for plain sliced
veneers, three inches for quarter
sliced veneers and six inches for
rotary cut veneers. Lengths can
range from three to 10 feet.
Using customized presses and
veneer flexer equipment, the veneer
& rail and flush doors with 1/42inch veneer to get a uniform or
sequenced look using the same log
of veneer.
Horizontal Grain Veneer
In recent years, requests have
steadily increased for specialty
doors with the wood grain running
horizontally, instead of vertically.
Case in point—more than 200
doors with plain sliced, white birch
horizontal grain veneer are being
installed at the Modern Wing of
the Art Institute in Chicago. Some
a comprehensive expansion of the
museum’s gallery and education
space, is scheduled to open May
2009. Another example: Societe
Generale, a corporate and investment banking firm, is installing 64
quartered walnut horizontal grain
doors in their Chicago offices.
A horizontal grain veneer door
may require between 20 to 24 leaves
of veneer to cover its face, compared
to six or eight leaves for an average
vertical grain veneer door. Since one
vertical grain veneer leaf can be cut
to yield three or more horizontal
grain leaves, there is minimal waste
involved in the assembly process.
Cutting against horizontal grain
veneer once it’s bonded to the door
can cause splintering of the veneer’s
edges, so both the core and face
material must be pre-cut to their
exact specified dimensions prior to
assembly. Horizontal grain veneer
leaves are cut on a “guillotine” to
their desired width, treated with
heat-activated glue on their edges
and joined together by a splicer.
After the horizontal grain veneer
face is bonded to the door, the
veneer should be sanded following
the direction of the grain. Wide-belt
sanders used on assembly lines for
vertical grain flush veneer doors can
be used with fine grit sandpaper,
such as 320 grit, to minimize the
cross grain scratches.
Sketch Face and Custom Inlays
leaves are glued edge-to-edge and
joined together in a splicer to make
the door face. A few specialty door
manufacturers make their stile
of these specialty doors measure
two inches thick, five feet wide
and 12 feet tall. The $300 million
project, which is the centerpiece of
Using laser technology and
customized presses, door manufacturers are able to create sketch
face veneer doors in practically
any design imaginable, including
diamond matches, starbursts and
even custom patterns featuring
corporate logos. At Hunton &
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Williams Law Firm in Richmond,
Virginia, for example, specifications
called for 88 sketch face doors with
quartered plain makore fields and
quartered sapele borders.
When specifying a sketch face
door, the architect or woodworker
will usually include a description of
the design with their purchase order.
The description is used by the door
manufacturer to create a preliminary drawing of the design using
AutoCAD® (Computer Aided Design)
or a similar software system. After
the customer revises and approves
the illustration, it is used to program
a laser cutting machine that’s accurate up to 1/1000 of an inch.
Intricate logo and specialty inlay
design work often requires pressing
individual pieces of veneer onto a
resin-impregnated paper backer to
create a two-ply material. The veneer
is fused with the 10 millimeter
backer under high temperatures in
a feedthrough press, then further
36 DOORS & HARDWARE £ NOVEMber 2008
processed in a veneer flexer machine
to make it pliable and easier to
handle until it is bonded to the door.
Since most manufacturing
assembly lines are designed for
conventional flush veneer doors,
much of the work on specialty doors
is performed manually. A minimum
of 25 percent more labor is required
to cut, assemble, sand and finish
sketch face and horizontal grain
veneer doors compared to standard
architectural wood doors. A four
to five week lead time for manufacturing these specialty doors is
required, although for an added
charge some manufacturers can
“fast track” a project and have it
ready in three weeks or less.
Construction Features
The direction or design of the
veneer on the face of the door has
no effect on its fire rating, which
is determined by the core mate-
rial used in the manufacturing
process. Specialty doors constructed
of either particleboard core or
Structural Composite Lumber (SCL)
core typically carry a 20-minute
fire door rating, while mineral core
is used for 45-, 60- and 90-minute
rated 5-ply fire doors. Custom 5-ply
doors with 45-, 60- or 90-minute fire
ratings have inner stiles and rails
made from Firestop™, depending
on the system required.
Engineered lumber is used for top
and bottom rails and inner stiles
on 20-minute 5-ply doors, as well
as the core for premium stile and
rail doors. Engineered lumber is
made from a network of hardwood
strands laminated together with
a waterproof adhesive to form a
single, solid piece that provides
increased stability and resistance to
moisture and warping. Outer stiles
are generally manufactured from
hardwood that can be matched in
most species to the face veneer.
Other construction features of specialty doors are
hardboard crossbands, which provide strength and
stability for veneer-faced doors, and outer stiles made
of hardwood that can be matched in most species to
the face veneer. Specialty doors are usually factory
machined for hinges, locks, card readers, concealed
vertical rod devices and other commercial hardware so
they arrive at the job site ready to hang.
All colors and finishes on specialty doors are custommatched to samples provided by the architect, general
contractor or AWI millworker. The door manufacturer
must precisely duplicate the color and finish on a piece
of veneer, which the customer approves before production starts on the doors. Final finishing is performed on
an assembly line or manually by the manufacturer, or
in the field where extra coats of lacquer may be applied.
Environmental Considerations
Premium door manufacturers are meeting the growing demand for environmentally friendly products,
which can assist in earning multiple credits in the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) rating system. Large areas in warehouses are
being dedicated to raw materials that are certified as
approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
FSC chain-of-custody certification ensures that materials used in manufacturing the doors are from an
FSC-certified managed forest. Specialty doors can be
manufactured with FSC-certified particleboard cores
and face veneers.
Particleboard and SCL core materials, as well as
adhesives with no added urea formaldehyde, are
routinely specified to meet LEED standards for lowemitting products, creating a safer building environment for individuals who live and work in them.
Factory finishing using water-based stains and solvent
free sealers and topcoats on specialty doors also eliminates volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions
form the interior environments.
About the Authors: Ed Hubert, production manager for VT Ideal Door
Division, has 25-plus years experience in architectural wood door manufacturing, specializing in AWI premium grade stile & rail and flush doors.
David West, veneer department supervisor for VT Ideal Door Division,
has more than 24 years experience with veneer and related equipment.
He is a specialist in grading veneer, laser inlays and custom sketch faces.
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