Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi everyone,

I've ordered the T moulding for our custom doors, and I'm wondering about which seal to buy. They have one that is made to fit in the T, but every video I've watched people use the rounded seal. The round seal makes logical sense to me, and I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how the T seal will compress. I've attached a picture of these 2 seals for reference.

Thanks,
Nicole

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I'm curious as to how the T-seal is attached.

I chose to put an interior doorstop in with a bulb seal. Here's the mock-up:



The real-deal is looking better with the stop and seal on the wall.

'Nuff said. Just following your thread.

Tony

This is how I planned on it:

https://morethanthursdays.com/homebuilt ... struction/

I attached the 2 pictures on there which show how I was thinking I would do it.

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tony.latham wrote:I'm curious as to how the T-seal is attached.

I chose to put an interior doorstop in with a bulb seal. Here's the mock-up:



The real-deal is looking better with the stop and seal on the wall.

'Nuff said. Just following your thread.

Tony

We did a similar thing. Instead of adding the inside stop later, we cut the step profile it into the door frame, embedded in the wall panel.

Aguyfromohio wrote:

tony.latham wrote:...I chose to put an interior doorstop in with a bulb seal....Tony

We did a similar thing. Instead of adding the inside stop later, we cut the step profile it into the door frame, embedded in the wall panel.

* I used compression-type automotive doorseals, that I had leftover from restoring my old '69 Chevy C-10 pickup (I wish I still had it) in the late '90's. The seals are mounted on the 1/4" inner doorjambs of the oak bracing surrounding the solid 3/4" plywood doors (totally sealed with "the mix", and multiple coats of poly and paint), and the bottomside has an exterior doorsweep hanging down as a drip-edge, protecting the aluminum threshold there (no rubber seal there, just a wood/aluminum interface).

* Another thing about using those leftover seals from my truck restoration: they were really too thick to let the doors compress them and still remain flush with the sides, so I used scissors and cut about 1/4" width strips from the bulbs, nearest to the inner doorjamb, so they would still have plenty of rubber there, and fully compress. I nearly bought different ones, but the molded corners of the "factory-style" '67-72 Chevy C-10 door seals fit so nicely into the corners, that a little work on them was worth the effort.

I built my doors similar to how you propose to build yours. Initially, per the sketch below, I was planning on using an outer seal on the t-molding and an inner seal on the door jamb.



However, the seal on the t-molding worked so well that I never got around to installing the inner seal (or the rain gutter above the door.)

The seal I used on the t-molding was a "D" type seal. As the previous posters stated, you need to leave room for the seal. Generally, the seal should only compress about 1/3 of the seal height. To allow for the seal thickness, I used 1/8" thick nylon spacers to offset the plane of the door from the plane of the sidewall. This 1/8" "gap" allowed for the D seal to compress appropriately.







Lastly, if you plan to use t-molding on the hinge side of the door, you need to make sure that the pivot point of your hinge is outside or beyond the outer edge of the t-molding. Otherwise, the t-molding will bind on the door when you try to open it.

aggie79 wrote:I built my doors similar to how you propose to build yours. Initially, per the sketch below, I was planning on using an outer seal on the t-molding and an inner seal on the door jamb.



However, the seal on the t-molding worked so well that I never got around to installing the inner seal (or the rain gutter above the door.)

The seal I used on the t-molding was a "D" type seal. As the previous posters stated, you need to leave room for the seal. Generally, the seal should only compress about 1/3 of the seal height. To allow for the seal thickness, I used 1/8" thick nylon spacers to offset the plane of the door from the plane of the sidewall. This 1/8" "gap" allowed for the D seal to compress appropriately.







Lastly, if you plan to use t-molding on the hinge side of the door, you need to make sure that the pivot point of your hinge is outside or beyond the outer edge of the t-molding. Otherwise, the t-molding will bind on the door when you try to open it.

This is EXACTLY how I want to do it!!! Can you please tell me what kind of hinges you used here? I ordered the T molding and the seal and the rest of the trim for the doors yesterday. All I need is the hinges now and a prayer that I figure out how to put it all together lol.

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I bought my hinges at McMaster Carr - https://www.mcmaster.com/strap-hinges.

The particular hinge I used is their part number 1264A12. It is a stainless steel freezer door strap hinge. Now, they are about $40 each. At the time - 10-11 years ago - they were about $15 each.

I used three hinges per door because I thought that three looked better than two. Two hinges per door, however, is all you need for a door.

You may want to look around for the same type of hinge, but in chrome-plated zinc. I believe I've seen them in the $10-$15 price range.

aggie79 wrote:I bought my hinges at McMaster Carr - https://www.mcmaster.com/strap-hinges.

The particular hinge I used is their part number 1264A12. It is a stainless steel freezer door strap hinge. Now, they are about $40 each. At the time - 10-11 years ago - they were about $15 each.

I used three hinges per door because I thought that three looked better than two. Two hinges per door, however, is all you need for a door.

You may want to look around for the same type of hinge, but in chrome-plated zinc. I believe I've seen them in the $10-$15 price range.

Thank you very much for the information!!! I really appreciate it!!

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We used very similar hinges, often called refrigerator hinges.
We got our at etrailer, $20 each

https://www.etrailer.com/Enclosed-Trail ... 104SS.html

aggie79 wrote:Lastly, if you plan to use t-molding on the hinge side of the door, you need to make sure that the pivot point of your hinge is outside or beyond the outer edge of the t-molding. Otherwise, the t-molding will bind on the door when you try to open it.

Guess I missed this little detail before drilling holes

Aguyfromohio wrote:We used very similar hinges, often called refrigerator hinges.
We got our at etrailer, $20 each

https://www.etrailer.com/Enclosed-Trail ... 104SS.html

Oh those look great and a price point I can get behind! Thanks so much for sharing. Did you use 2 or 3 per door? Also I didn't see any information about weight. I haven't weighed our doors yet but they are relatively heavy I think.

Thank you!
Nicole

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Well since nobody really answered the question about how the corner seal works, I'll give it a shot. (Disclaimer: I've never used this specific type of seal in real life, but have years of experience with mechanical things and design.)

The premise of a lip seal like this is that spring tension holds the leading edge of the seal in a check valve like situation. In other words, instead of just crushing the seal down in compression and risking over crushing with reduced lifespan and effectiveness, you bend the seal over, and the point pressure at the tip is higher (w/o crushing). Any build up of internal pressure (such as from temperature rise) can "burp" out w/o compromising the seal, while reductions in internal pressure improve seal effectiveness. That assumes that the sealing geometry is proper around corners and such (a good argument for radiused door corners instead of mitered. My 2 cts.

Aguyfromohio wrote:We used very similar hinges, often called refrigerator hinges.
We got our at etrailer, $20 each

https://www.etrailer.com/Enclosed-Trail ... 104SS.html

Those hinges look very solid. We'll do the door soon after we finished installing the brake kit, wheels and tires on the truck this week.