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Old 03-01-2014, 03:33 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by techfan View Post
I am not a fan of the new shrunken door. I don't think it is very aesthetic. I prefer something like John's Bathroom door prop or like I did with a simple block and and rare earth magnet.

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...html#post32761

Could the shortened door be part of the cause for the warping?
Our door is the full height older type.
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Old 03-01-2014, 04:22 PM   #22
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We just removed our bathroom door and made a curtain from extra fabric we had. Much easier to deal with. I believe I have a photo already posted if anyone wants to see it.

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Old 03-01-2014, 04:27 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by sjnuss View Post
We just removed our bathroom door and made a curtain from extra fabric we had. Much easier to deal with. I believe I have a photo already posted if anyone wants to see it.

Steve
I'd like to see it.
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Old 03-01-2014, 04:34 PM   #24
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Quote:
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On this month long trip our bathroom door warped. In the very dry Arizona heat, I noticed the top bowing away from the wall on the fridge side, away from the hinges.

I had been hanging something on the door, and I atribututed it to that, but was not sure about it.

Now we are in So CAL and it has been raining a couple of days, and the door is now tight against the wall. I guess the humidity fixed it?
We had a similar experience with our bathroom door (the newer style with gaps at the bottom and top.) After 10 days or so in the desert, our door bowed out in the center so we would have to "push or pull in" at the latch location to get it to catch. We also developed a new floor squeak during that time. We've been back to higher humidity for the last several days (99% this morning) and the door has about returned to the original condition and the floor squeak has stopped. Not a big deal to us, just part of learning what to expect under different conditions.
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Old 03-01-2014, 04:41 PM   #25
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Here is the "curtain" door.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_0929.jpg  
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Old 03-01-2014, 05:30 PM   #26
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I hadn't noticed any on this trailer but our old one durning extreme winter temps had a few cabinets that would pop open and the bathroom door wouldn't latch but in the summer was fine . So temperature and humidity changes will both do some strange things .
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Old 03-01-2014, 05:31 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DonF View Post
We had a similar experience with our bathroom door (the newer style with gaps at the bottom and top.) After 10 days or so in the desert, our door bowed out in the center so we would have to "push or pull in" at the latch location to get it to catch. We also developed a new floor squeak during that time. We've been back to higher humidity for the last several days (99% this morning) and the door has about returned to the original condition and the floor squeak has stopped. Not a big deal to us, just part of learning what to expect under different conditions.
To be honest, all of these issues with the inside door isn't giving me "warm fuzzies"... Does the humidity affect anything else within the trailer?

BTW, Cheryl I love looking through your photos!!
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Old 03-01-2014, 05:40 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by techfan View Post
I am not a fan of the new shrunken door. I don't think it is very aesthetic. I prefer something like John's Bathroom door prop or like I did with a simple block and and rare earth magnet.

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f8...html#post32761

Could the shortened door be part of the cause for the warping?
I have the full length door on my 2011 17B, and have had no problem with warping after a couple months in the southwest this winter.

I did have an interesting thing happen - after a very windy night that shook the trailer a bit I found the bathroom door locked (without anyone inside). It took a bit of careful prying to get it open...
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Old 03-01-2014, 05:57 PM   #29
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.. after a very windy night that shook the trailer a bit I found the bathroom door locked (without anyone inside)

Poltergeists ....
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Old 03-13-2014, 12:41 AM   #30
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As a carpenter who has had many years hanging doors I can say it is just a "wood thing". Some species experience more expansion than others, but they all expand when wet and contract when dry. The person fitting the door has to know about how much expansion will take place. This isn't always an exact science, as the humidity varies in any one place. Experience helps, but it isn't always easy to set it up optimally. If you go too tight the door will require shaving when the humidity rises and the door will stick. In buildings the contractor can come back and take care of those issues. If dealing with a trailer manufacturer that is a thousand miles away you have to deal with a third party contractor or fix it yourself. This is not a defect, just a tuning of sorts.
I had a client that paid several thousand dollars for some custom redwood garden gates. They were sticking in the openings in damp weather, so he hired me to fix the problem. I planed the doors and adjusted the fit to perfection. Two weeks later he called me to fix my terrible work. The gates had half inch gaps to the jambs! They were completely missing the stops. I had to adjust the jambs to fit with proper reveal. For free, of course. Two weeks later we had some wet weather and the gates were slamming against the jambs again. I took the shims out from behind the jambs and again re fit the reveal. For free, of course.
In the next few months I had to return to the property to adjust the gates to please Mother Nature a half dozen times. For free, of course.
Then they stopped calling me. Maybe they felt sorry for me since I didn't construct the gate in the first place? I noticed new wrought iron gates the other day when driving by. They didn't call me to fabricate their new gates. Oh well, I guess I did defective work not being able to make redwood environment proof.
Actually the redwood would have worked for the gates if they hadn't chosen standard door knob hardware for the latch. The bolt only penetrates the strike plate about 1/4". If the gate shrank away 1/2" the bolt would disengage by 1/4". It can't work.
But if the gates had a conventional gate sliding bolt, it could have had enough penetration to work under all summer and winter conditions.
In our trailers the manufacturers tend to use standard door hardware that has little latitude for poor door fit. Maybe the hardware has to be re-thought. More slide bolt like to handle the changing gaps. The door in my Scamp seems to be made out of some MDF like stuff. It is hung on a full length piano hinge. When I first saw it I thought "overkill". But now I'm not so sure. MDF is heavy, so robust hinges are a good idea. Also piano hinges have lots of screw holes which can't be a bad idea in a shaking and vibrating environment. Maybe not so overkill....
My door seems to be dimensionally stable enough to not need constant tuning with the standard cheapie latch. I did spend a week in Portland OR last year, and had no door problems, but it didn't rain while we were there. The trailer lives in San Diego where it never rains.
Door warp where the door bows out at one or two corners is usually due to door skins being more permeable on one side. Say the outer skin is vinyl surfaced, and the other is a porous material. Cabinet shops usually will install non architectural skins on the inside face to balance the absorption to the core. Tall doors like in our trailers pose a challenge to keep straight and flat.
Sorry for length of this post, but hard to articulate otherwise.
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Old 03-13-2014, 08:45 AM   #31
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Interesting Russ, Thanks for the information
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Old 03-13-2014, 09:39 AM   #32
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Ruscal, you have explained what is prolly going on with the Escape doors quite well.
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