Adding wood to existing composite door. It has been refaced before but installer did a lousy job.I want to use exterior marine grade panels IPE' wood in the design.IPE' wood is very heavy but excellant for exterior projects. Will I need more horsepower on motor? Any suggestion on adhesives also?
If you already have a 1/2 HP you may not need more horsepower but you will definitely need to change the springs on the door and maybe the cable drums. You may also need to use heavier duty rollers hinges if they weren't used originally. The standard 4 (dia) cable drums are usually designed for 500 lbs max so you will want to verify the total weight you will end up at. Also the standard door sections track may not be strong enough to hold that much weight when the door is open. If it's too heavy the door will sag severely when it's open if it sags too much the door won't close could possibly fall out of the track especially if it's a double car door. I would suggest that you use screws in addition to the adhesive to keep the wood from warping twisting eventually the glue will dry out to where the wood may start to fall off if you don't. Once you are done if it was sprung properly you should still be able to open close the door by hand easily so technically the operator shouldn't require any more lifting force than what it takes now.
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