making doors out of existing walls

[AstonHill]

A fundamental question has to be how do you intend to fix the plywood in place? You will presumably need to secure the plywood top and bottom with some form of metal track section or timber framework

Timber frame work

Then how do you intend to hinge the doors? Presumably you intend to have a door which is something like 1800 to 2000mm tall x 750mm wide? That in turn seems to imply that some form of framing (e.g. metal or 44x 44mm CLS softwood or the like) running floor to ceiling around the door openings would be required around the door opening to provide sufficient stiffness (even 25mm plywood can flex and bow) as well as something to fix hinges to, because.edge grain plywood has no strength (screws driven into it will pull out very easily which is not much use for conventional butt type hinges)

Just use standard door hinges; from the door to the wall, as for framing I dont know yet!

 

[AstonHill]

LBF means Ledged, Braced and Framed, to give the door strength and rigidity.

This picture shows a door made of boards. The horizontal pieces are called ledges. You'll need as a minimum one at the top and one at the bottom. The middle one improves it and you can put a lock there.

The diagonals are called Braces, to prevent the door sagging and to carry the weight to the hinges. As your door is faced with ply these are less important.

A Frame is reinforcement going all round the sides top and bottom, which greatly improves strength and rigidity and allows you to fit hinges, bolts and locks.

The cut edges of ply allow water to penetrate which will quickly degrade it and it will fall apart. Lipping on a door is strip of wood fixed to the edges to protect and seal them

Edit
Here's one,

View attachment 308417

But Do you think I need LBF on 1" plywood then fiber glass coated boarding?

 

[AstonHill]

Some of us remembered....

Yes sorry; no house hold plaster board hear, its all from scratch

 

[AstonHill]

Draw a sketch of what you're planning to d

o

Hope this helps

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Just use standard door hinges; from the door to the wall, as for framing I dont know yet!

3in or 4in butt hinges won't hold into the edge of plywood. They are also wider than the plywood is thick. That's partly why you'll need to frame out around the door openings or reconsider your hinge type (to a type which face fixes)

 

[JohnD]

But Do you think I need LBF on 1" plywood then fiber glass coated boarding?

You might get away with framing it, but adding a centre rail will be better for a lock

 

[robinbanks]

sure I would if I could do, but no scanner.

Not even a phone with a camera? (Draw sketch, open phone camera, take photo of sketch, upload)

You're making a timber framed wall using studwork, and 1 inch thick fibreglass coated plywood rather than plasterboard because..
..the ply is free? Wow; I think even just the effort of having to carry and saw up that ply would shift me back to paying a fiver for a sheet of plasterboard

You can, however, do as you propose. As noted, I've made entire hinged wall that contains hinged doors, all constructed as yours seems to be, using ply faced studwork

 

[AstonHill]

3in or 4in butt hinges won't hold into the edge of plywood. They are also wider than the plywood is thick. That's partly why you'll need to frame out around the door openings or reconsider your hinge type (to a type which face fixes)

so should the hinges screw into a frame and a frame into the door right?

 

[AstonHill]

You might get away with framing it, but adding a centre rail will be better for a lock

its all internal so no lock

 

[AstonHill]

Not even a phone with a camera? (Draw sketch, open phone camera, take photo of sketch, upload)

I did upload a computer schech; please see above

You're making a timber framed wall using studwork, and 1 inch thick fibreglass coated plywood rather than plasterboard because..
..the ply is free? Wow; I think even just the effort of having to carry and saw up that ply would shift me back to paying a fiver for a sheet of plasterboard

No! not at all! I have never seen a motor home with internal walls made from plaster board. I can only presume because it is made for permanat structure and not something that moves around and hence will crack.

on the contrary; plaster board is very cheep in comparison to plywood. If plaster board would do the job then I would do it!

 

[Deleted member 174758]

so should the hinges screw into a frame and a frame into the door right?

That or you might want to consider a surface mounted type of hinge instead

its all internal so no lock

You'll still need some form of latch mechanism to keep the doors shut

TBH many caravans and motorhomes use thinner, melamine-faced poplar plywood partitioning because weight is a major factor. The problem is - thin poplar plywood (the lightest ply, often used for such applications) is a specialist product and not that easy to source. Because thin materials are used, it is necessary to frame out the walls in timber, but the sections used are also fairly lightweight (and again poplar would be a good choice because it is strong, light and relatively cheap). I am left wondering if you have a tractor unit to pull this as weight doesn"t seem to be a concern, or if your trailer will be a static one

 

[AstonHill]

That or you might want to consider a surface mounted type of hinge instead

that might be a better idea! any surgestions please?

You'll still need some form of latch mechanism to keep the doors shut

TBH many caravans and motorhomes use thinner, melamine-faced poplar plywood partitioning because weight is a major factor. The problem is - thin poplar plywood (the lightest ply, often used for such applications) is a specialist product and not that easy to source. Because thin materials are used, it is necessary to frame out the walls in timber, but the sections used are also fairly lightweight (and again poplar would be a good choice because it is strong, light and relatively cheap).

Are you saying that using a lighter weight timber as the door and a heavyer weight timber as the walls is best?

I am left wondering if you have a tractor unit to pull this as weight doesn"t seem to be a concern, or if your trailer will be a static one

No I dont have a unit, the trailer just sits hear. but will need to be moved down the road at some time later on

 

[AstonHill]

That or you might want to consider a surface mounted type of hinge instead


You'll still need some form of latch mechanism to keep the doors shut

TBH many caravans and motorhomes use thinner, melamine-faced poplar plywood partitioning because weight is a major factor. The problem is - thin poplar plywood (the lightest ply, often used for such applications) is a specialist product and not that easy to source. Because thin materials are used, it is necessary to frame out the walls in timber, but the sections used are also fairly lightweight (and again poplar would be a good choice because it is strong, light and relatively cheap). I am left wondering if you have a tractor unit to pull this as weight doesn"t seem to be a concern, or if your trailer will be a static one

But what do you think about using plaster board in a tailer/ motor home though?

 

[robinbanks]

It's heavy, and inflexible. I wouldn't

 

[Deleted member 174758]

But what do you think about using plaster board in a tailer/ motor home though?

My only experience if dealing with this is for semi-static jack leg office type buildings where a hollow pasterboard wall section is used for partitioning (two layers of PB with either a hollow,
egg box core or a mineral wool batting/PIR insulation core). Sometimes called Paramore partitioning. They can be moved, but they are semi static and don't fare well if moved repeatedly. Static caravan (mobile home) units sometimes use a similar system (my old man had one such), but they tend to be moved only a couple of times in their lifetime.

In a true mobile home which gets moved quite a bit I think plasterboard would eventually detach itself from the framework on account of it being so rigid that it can't accommodate vibration or twisting movement