6-Panel Doors (#showerthoughts Monday)
4Ever wonder why interior doors (even composite) have a 6-panel design? Me too.
There are SEVERAL theories and legends as to why; i.e. warding off witches (which I KNOW is BS) to accoutrements of a devout monotheistic household (again, personally not really … correct).
I’ve even heard the strict engineering answer! Which I like MOST but wouldn’t explain the 6-panel allowance for linear expansion of a wooden composition.
So I’m putting it to The Forum: WHY IS IT LIKE THIS?! What legends have you heard about this or HAVE you ever wondered about this?
Yet again bringing #showerthoughts out into the public domain and asking for help … as is my style.
- 10 comments, 10 replies
- Comment
Aesthetics.
/image four panel door
/image nine panel door
I’m thinking it’s more about aesthetics. Break it up so it’s not just one gigantic visual slab.
@narfcake yep.
/image luan slab door
Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of slab doors in shall we say … “budget-oriented” housing. Very astute observation but why is THAT aesthetic so prevalent?
Yup, I was going to say they same thing, because they are pretty!
I always thought these doors looked like a weird lego person with a head/body/legs.
I also never thought why so it’s interesting to learn about it.
I would guess both aesthetics and tradition, and tradition stemmed from construction techniques. So you have your good big lumber, maybe a foot wide, maybe narrower, so you figure out how to build a strong frame out of that and then you fill in the panels with thinner wood that wouldn’t be strong enough for the whole door. Or maybe even windows in some cases. Plus all the trim work around it lets the carpenter show off his skills and the homeowner show off their taste. Then the neighbors have to have a door like Doris and Harold got, and it just catches from there.
Skip to the 20th century, and someone invents a machine to just knock the whole thing out by the dozens. They’re going to go with the door everyone wants, which is the door Harold built for Doris in 1683.
That’s just my guess, though. I’d be curious to see the door designs that didn’t become popular.
@djslack that seems pretty reasonable.
@djslack
Probably penis doors
@djslack @Ignorant
sorry, I’m not seeing it…
@Ignorant one down, thousands to go.
@chienfou @djslack @Ignorant LMAO. This wouldn’t happen to be in Belgium or the Netherlands would it?
My guess is the glass design guy wanted to make a face. The woodcarver guy thought “all I need to do to make it a penis is…”
@mehcuda67 I believe it’s in Paris.
@Ignorant Paris. Well that makes sense, too. In Belgium, they call condoms “Parisienes.” I suspect it isn’t a compliment.
Porte de pénis?
Not sure how many panels this one is, but I’d say its a bit more creepy than something designed to ward off witches…
@ybmuG Anticipating the perrenial question “Would you give me a hand with this door?”
@mehcuda67 @ybmuG
User hint… do not bump door closed with your butt…
This is what happens when you only have horizontal panels…
Getting a slab large enough to build a door out of is extremely expensive. But getting planks the length of a door is fine. Breaking the door into smaller panels allows for multiple planks/boards to be used with a clear aesthetic boundary between pieces, so that there’s no weird break at glue lines.
Newer hollow core doors are just pressed and painted cardboard. The only reason to have panels on those doors is aesthetic.