The door is made the same way as the rest of the structure, a frame with ply screwed to the outside. Here you see the inside of the finished door showing the frame, which is made of the same 47×50 timber as the main structure. It is made from two uprights joined by three horizontal struts. Originally I was thinking I could simply glue the struts to the uprights, but I have realised that the glue I am using is not secure under these conditions. So the joints are glued and were clamped in sash clamps while the glue set and corner plates screwed over the join to add strength. I only have two sash cramps, so the centre strut is screwed through with 3-inch screws, and is supported with T-plates.
Here is the door closed. The ply is cut to fit the hole, and overlaps the right-hand side frame. The door is hung on rising hinges. These have, I think, two advantages: 1. They cause the door to close naturally, and 2. the door can be lifted on and off easily which makes the fitting of the door that much easier. Allowance has to be made for the rise or the post on the hinge side hits the top of the frame as it closes. The pins are slightly in front of the front of the door, and with a thick door this has to be allowed for by insetting the post on the lock side slightly because the inner part of it swings outwards slightly as it opens.
The door is fitted with a standard mortice lock. My door is thicker than a standard door and this produced a problem. The bar, which joins the two handles (and which comes with them) and operates the latch, was slightly too short. Fortunately a dig through my tool box revealed an old one which was both a little thicker and a little longer than the original. It worked perfectly. (Fortunately I never throw anything away.)
10th October 2009