Swollen Door

[Leadhillite]

I've got a hardwood Framed, Ledged, braced and battened door. Its the "proper" door to have as I live in a conservation area. Its been in for 6 years now, and it has been well maintained and visually does not need any treatments, (but I checked back on similar posts before starting this one and I will have to ensure that next year I also include the bottom edge when I stain it again).

The door suddenly started to stick really bady and the problem is that the middle ledge has "popped out" away from the vertical frame. The tenon has slipped back about 3.5mm inside its mortice, which corresponds to the gap which has now appeared on the other edge of the same vertical frame and the ledge.

Any advice on how to fix this please? Ive got a couple of sash clamps I could use to clamp the door back together, but will that work? (I'm also loathed to do that in this weather, as I would have to leave my door open and clamped for a long time!) If I glue it, what glue should I use? I would hate to have to screw it as the screws would have to be huge!! The other concern is that I can't see any signs of damp causing any of the battens to swell, so why on earth has it suddenly popped out now?!?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated......

ALSO.....

Does anyone have any advice on how to do a good looking job of insulating the inside of the door - in a way that would prevent condensation building up between the back of the battens and the insulation that was used? I recmon the condensation on the back of the door must have had something to do with it, so I would love to insulate there but how?!?

As always, any advice would be greatly appreaciated.

 

[gregers]

clamp it and drill a couple of holes and install some wood dowells,
use either a brown glue or poly glue.

 

[foxhole]

You prevent condensation with ventilation not insulation.
I assume it's an external door , it's not mentioned?

 

[Leadhillite]

Re. the dowels, you mean clamp it together, drill holes and screw together, then plug the screwholes with the dowels to cover it up?!?

It is an external door. The house is VERY well insulated and I have a Heat Recovery Ventilation system installed so there is no condensation on any of the windows or any dampness issues elsewhere. The problem with the door is that the battens are effectively only a 10mm thick wall of hardwood between the cold world outside and my 20+ degrees world inside, so there is a huge potential for condensation. I was hoping there was some canny way of insulating the triangular voids between all the timbers to build the inside face of the door all up to the same thickness as the frame of the door itself. (Hope that makes sense!) Canny, being making sure I dont trap condensation between the battens and any insulation put in place.

Thanks again.

 

[gregers]

no,clamp,drill and use dowells something like this,
http://www.wickes.co.uk/light-hardwood-dowel/invt/128319/