Thanks Dave for forwarding the Thread - looks like he experienced the same thing we did. I decided to finally ask this question on woodweb because it always comes up when laying up a door. Do we caulk in the panels or not. From the thread it looks like other door makers are asking the same thing.

I think we are leaning towards always putting some latex caulk around the panel. The caulk is a mess to clean up but it does give us more piece of mind.

I will look into the Sherwin Williams product.

We typically just make a plow and raise the panels to fit, so there are no loose stops to fiddle with. We make the fit tight - very tight - with panel cutters that we have made to our specs. I have not had a panel leak complaint in about 12 years. Knock, knock.

Years ago we used to run a heavy bead of caulk around in the plow bottoms at assembly, but we were never sure what it did, if anything.

Today, if we have to stop a panel in, we set the exterior stops tight with glue and clamp, then set the panels, then caulk that gap plus just a hair thick so when the panel stops go in, they mash some caulk and help complete the seal. It is real important to lean on those stops and pin them really tight - this is your first defense, in my opinion. Cleaning caulk is not my idea of productive work, so we do not plan to do so.

Some Euro and American work will actually have a small rebate at the wood/panel joint for a thin bead of caulk to be applied after assembly. Pretty tricky stuff in my opinion.

We have used the Euro method David mentioned for a while now. Basically treating the panels like IGU.
The pictures and drawings should be self explanatory.

Tooled wet glazing is a skill and time consuming on multi panels, SDLs and TDLs. My shop associate is good at it. Myself, not so good. European woodworkers are fast at this.

For the panels we are using Dow 794. We have found Soudal products we like better for glass and looking at color choices in this product for the panels.

I have a bad exposure entry on my own house. We installed a new door built with this technique. So far it has gone through several driving rains with no leaks.

Another thing that helps is tooling designed with drain channels from the inside. We have gone away from captured panels. With the Euro water base finish everything is dipped on the first coat and all parts must be finished both sides and all edges. Especially the panels.
Joe

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Here are a couple drawings similar to what we do.

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I have a couple questions for, Joe. One, what are you using for a spacer between molding and panel (I was thinking 3/8" x 1/16" dbl sided foam tape). Two, If you profile the drain channels in the edge of the stiles and rails how does the water get out. Wouldn't it have to run down between the bottom rails end and the stile. In addition how do you get the water around your joinery and door shoe/sweep

Thanks for sharing your methods. It is going to help me build a better door.

Geoff,
Yes we use glazing tape usually 1/16 or 1/8”. The caulk joint has to be minimum 3.5 to 4mm to get good adhesion. This whole subject is pretty involved for forum discussion and a few different ways to go about it. In Europe the tool mfgs. work with the IG producers to come up with the best technique for IG installation.

Attached is a picture of the top of my front door to show the drain hole in front of the gasket. This one has a special thermally broken water return threshold with 3 sealing gaskets on the door bottom. I normally prefer to make my own low-tech copper or metal clad wood thresholds but this one works well for bad exposures. I will try and dig up a section drawing for it. This is a Euro rebated door but we have made this work on North American style doors also.

You can also do the drain holes the old fashioned way with a 8mm or so drill hole. These are not intended to drain a lot of water. They are located in the “cold area” of the glass or panel pocket to get rid of condensation or small amounts of water seeping through the seals. Also to relieve pressure that might build up from temperature changes. Another purpose is to drain the impregnator during the dipping coat of the water base finish. See short Utube for a explanation of the slots.
Joe

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Drain slots