Step 6

The next item on the to-do list is the door. It's much easier to work on in a horizontal position so go ahead and remove it from the rest of the fridge. You are going to want a large piece of sheet metal to attach on the interior of the door to cover up all the insulation. I used a large piece of stainless steel for mine. Again, you ideally want to find something that is not going to react with the smoke or the heat and that has not been chemically treated or galvanized. Stainless steel is perfect for this.

Get a sheet that is a few inches larger than the door in both directions (height and width). You will be using the extra material later as the new edging for the interior of the fridge.

Once you've got your sheet measured and cut out, secure it to the door. Once again, I found that self tapping screws were the easiest way to go. I think I also overdid it with the number of screws I used - my door looks more like an armor plate off the side of a tank than a fridge/smoker door. Anyway, use your best judgement on how many you need.

My armor plate .... err ... fridge door

Close up of the plate and self tapping screws

Since the self tapping screws protrude from the surface of the door interior, I decided to put on a layer of the black FireBlock sealant in order to raise everything to the same level. This would ensure I would have good adhesion of the gasket later on. I actually needed to apply two layers of the sealant to get to the same height as the top of the screws. Just let the first layer dry completely before applying the second.

Door interior - sealant applied

First layer of sealant