Molded plastic door skin

Abstract

A door comprising a laminated panel having a peripheral frame defining the peripheral edge thereof. The laminated panel comprises an outer skin of thermoplastic material impregnated with opaque pigmentation and an inner substrate intimately bonded with the outer skin. The inner substrate is formed of a relatively rigid thermoplastic material impregnated with a filler. The outer skin defines a three dimensional door surface which presents the texture and at least a part of the color of the exterior appearance of the door in use. A method of making the door includes the steps of coextruding the molten material of the outer skin and the molten material of the inner substrate to obtain an intimately bonded laminated continuous sheet, cutting the continuous sheet into blanks, heating a blank to cover the surface of a vacuum forming die having a die surface defining a three dimensional exterior configuration of one surface of the panel and vacuum forming the laminated sheet at a temperature rendering the substrate pliable and near liquid with the outer skin in engagement with the die surface to form a relatively rigid door panel when cooled. After trimming the vacuum formed panel, a door can be formed from the panel by applying the metal trim frame to the periphery of the panel. The laminated panel and peripheral frame can be used as a closet door or the like. A two sided door can be formed by mounting two spaced panels on a peripheral frame and injecting a foamed plastic material impregnated with a filler in the space defined by the panels and the peripheral frame.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.