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Hollow core exterior door. Can I fill part of the core w/min. expanding foam?

Hollow core exterior door. Can I fill part of the core w/min. expanding foam?


  #1  
Old 12-03-17, 06:23 AM
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Hollow core exterior door. Can I fill part of the core w/min. expanding foam?

Hello,

We're replacing the glass in our hollow core exterior door. Yes, we probably should replace the door, but money is flowing to other tasks that we must do.
With the glass removed, it looks like I could, at least, fill a part of the core with minimally expanding foam.
It seems that the foam would help keep the upper portion of the door more rigid and minimize air leakage around the glass.

Is there any value in doing this?
Are there any detriments to doing this (like warping the door)?

Thanks in advance.
 
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  #2  
Old 12-03-17, 06:26 AM
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I've never heard of a hollow core exterior door although I have seen interior doors used on the exterior a time or two. IMO it would be difficult to control the foam well enough to both keep it from bowing the door skin and not having big voids. I think I'd be looking for a used exterior door if I couldn't afford a new one.
 
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Old 12-03-17, 08:41 AM
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Thanks @marksr.
It's definitely an exterior door. I don't know if it was the original from the house, which was built in the mid 60's. It has a feeble attempt at being a fire stop--a thin sheet of metal is laminated to the inside surface.
A used door does sound like a viable option. That may be an option for the Spring. I've got a lot of things I'm trying to button up now before it gets too cold. Also, I'm not excited about fiddling around with altering hinge locations on a used door.

Thanks again.
 
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Old 12-03-17, 09:38 AM
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Every exterior door I'm aware of is solid in one way or another. Steel and fiberglass doors are filled with foam, wood or masonite veneer doors have a particle board core and obviously solid wood doors are solid. I have a hard time believing a hollow core door was manufactured to be an entire door. I suspect someone used the wrong door.
 
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Old 12-03-17, 11:32 AM
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If you use the non expanding foam maybe. but I'd be still be concerned.

Use the regular expanding foam and it will blow the Masonite surface like a balloon!
 
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Old 12-03-17, 12:21 PM
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Mark, my previous house originally had a hollow-core door for the entrance. It WAS a low-cost home built in 1953.

I've taken apart a few hollow-core doors and they are not conducive to filling with foam as they have numerous cardboard spacers between the panels. I also think it would be better to simply look for a used door you can fit to the opening.
 
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Old 12-03-17, 12:41 PM
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Bite the bullet and replace the door!
What are we looking at in that picture?
Looks like two window openings with no headers.
 
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Old 12-03-17, 07:46 PM
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Thanks @marksr, @Marq1, @Furd, and @joecaption
@joecaption, I can see now that the picture does need some explanation.
The door has three 5" x 10" windows across the top. The glass for each window is held in by glazing and, basically, a picture frame. I removed the picture frames and the glazing to remove the glass. In the picture, we're looking across the door from the side.
 
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Old 12-03-17, 11:28 PM
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I'd just about bet money that's a site built door. Or in someones shop. I highly doubt it came from any manufacturer. I don't see any real reason why you couldn't foam it, but that's gonna be kind of expensive and it wont reach everywhere anyway, unless you drill holes in the lower voids. It just doesn't flow that well.

What would be ideal is polystyrene micro beads, but unless you have some sort of supplier nearby, about the best you can hope to find is beanbag chair filler (3.5 cu ft at Walmart for $25), but those would probably be a little big. They sell micro beads at fabric and craft type stores, but very small bags at one heck of a markup. Online may be an option.

Or, you could take all your kids stuffed toys, cut them open, and....oh wait, probably a bad idea.
 
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Old 12-04-17, 02:30 AM
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I have a hard time believing a hollow core door was manufactured to be an entire door.
I meant to type exterior door, not entire door
I'd just about bet money that's a site built door. Or in someones shop. I highly doubt it came from any manufacturer.
I agree
take all your kids stuffed toys, cut them open, and....
that made me laugh
 
 

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