Gothic Church Doors

These Traditional Gothic Doors are of an interesting construction. You may notice on the inside view to the left you can see the middle & bottom horizontal rail, but on the outside view you cannot see these members. This is because only the Gothic styles (side frame members) are 1-3/4" thick. The horizontal middle and bottom rail are only 1" thick allowing the T&G vertical cladding to layer completely over these frame members on the exterior side of the door. This of course allows water to shed off the door like water off a ducks back. Great traditional design!

The challenging aspect of Gothic doors is not the door but the door jam. There are no shortcuts here. The construction of the laminating form can be very labor intensive in it self-not to mention the resawing, kerfing and clamping procedure. In the end the jam can easily represent half of the cost of the entire project.

The photos below show one half of a gothic jam pressed into its form. I use West System marine epoxy to laminate the layers. A closer look at a partially finished jam reveals the kerfed core material. This is an excellent way to build up the thickness of the jam and reduce the force applied to the form when clamping. Its old world method that still works well.