Finally get to use my GCE Woodworking 'skills'

[inwood]

My woodworking teacher would be proud of me - almost finished the front door area:
1. Removed lump of concrete which was being used to prop up stone steps.
2. Relaid steps on stone supports found behind lump of concrete.
3. Removed engineering bricks which had been very badly laid as door threshold.
4. Reused stone step from front garden steps (which had been smashed when highways agency replaced a streelight - got a new stone step there and enough left of the smashed one to use as door step).
5. Rebuilt matwell and replaced the lump of concrete which had been put in place of the herringbone tiles that someone had tried to repair, gave up and threw the concrete in.
6. Spliced in new bits of timber today to the bottom of door frame where it had rotted - very pleased with the result.

Oh and I must be doing something right as had a recent visit from CO and he called a couple of days after to ask if he could use the house as a reference visit with someone about to start work on a similar house.

Front door area before:
View attachment 1

Almost finished:

 

[Gervase]

Very nice. I'd say you've earned yourself a nice glass of summat for that!

 

[DaveBrigg]

Looks like a bit of lime repointing and a new door too!

 

[Nemesis]

Oh well done! All looking very good, and without throwing everything away and repairing and re-using as much as poss.

Makes me feel guilty. Don't however seem to be able to get on as whatever is planned, something else turns up.

In a torrential rainstorm Tuesday, I discovered the downpipe from the back door to be blocked, as water started cascading down the wall out of an upper joint, threatening to flood the passageway. That will have to be investigated today. It's not a simple matter, as it has a dog-leg, goes into the ground then into a drain, so it can't be rodded.

Then last night I discovered the large freezer in the garage had ceased to work. So another flood (and a lot of soggy food). Ho hum.

I also noticed the back door has some rot in it during my attempts to stop the storm coming in, so some door repair is now called for, too. Will look very carefully at those pics.

 

[inwood]

Looks like a bit of lime repointing and a new door too!

Yep, you probably can't see from the before picture but there was an ivy root running into the house under the steps as thick as my leg. Part of this still continues under the floor of the hallway but hopefully will now die back. The door is an exact copy of the original which was sadly unsalvagable. I had saved it from when I bought the house hoping to repair and re fit it. It was covered in chipboard and when I got this off I found it had been kicked in several times from when the house was left empty for four years and only two of the six m&t joints could have been repaired.

Makes me feel guilty. Don't however seem to be able to get on as whatever is planned, something else turns up.

Well it's probably taken me about four months to get round to sorting this door out - my excuse is that old houses need time and love lavished on them.

 

[Nemesis]

Well, 16 years so far on this one and it's still a wreck...


Interested in that door - can you post more pics?

 

[inwood]

Your wish is my command, here's a couple of pictures of the front door:

You'll notice the frame is slightly wonky - add's to the character I think. It's obviously dropped at some point but been fixed in position in it's dropped state. I was tempted for a moment to lift it back into place but by that time I'd already cut the replacement door to size. I'm glad I left it now.

 

[Nemesis]

That's the type of door we need! Thanks. Really interesting. Was it 'off the peg' or bespoke?

 

[inwood]

I got it made since we had the remains of the original as a template and I couldn't find anything close to the original design elsewhere.

 

[Ian Bond]

That looks great - a massive improvement and some cleverly executed repairs there.

I like the door too, and have also found nothing suitable off the self for either interior or exterior doors. Well, not for Georgian / early Victorian era panelled doors anyway.

The colours you've chosen look good, and I like the contrast between the frame and door. Please tell us which paint and colours you've used!

 

[Penners]

I discovered the downpipe from the back door to be blocked.

Oops - our doors don't seem to have downpipes. Is this something I should rectify?

 

[inwood]

Ian, the paint is from Leyland http://www.leyland-paints.co.uk/ called Stormshield - it purports to be a micro porous oil based paint but is probably full of nasty chemicals. I would of liked to use the linseed oil paint but didn't want to strip all the old layers of paint off (of which there are several - in some very interesting colours). Can't remember the colour references. I have a chart somewhere and could PM you the references if you want.

I would have preferred a slightly dirtier greener door colour than the blue but as you say the contrast is good so I'm pleased. I was trying to replicate the colour scheme used on this door I saw in the Cotswolds:


By the way does anyone know if you can paint oil based gloss over acrylic or will I have to strip the acrylic before painting with oil - I have some internal doors which appear to have been 'plasticised'.

 

[Ian Bond]

Thanks for that. I'll have a look at the Leyland range of colours, something a bit greener would look good too.

That Cotswold door is a stunner. I noted the mouldings on the bottom panels. You've done a very good job with your version, no doubt about it.

I don't blame you for not using linseed paint - I am certainly not using it for my front door, as it takes too long to dry.

There's no need to strip all the old paint off first - it's not good conservation practise to strip off every layer of paint if it is in good condition anyway.

I've been painting with linseed paint directly over the old coats of paint and it's worked fine. But it does take ages to dry, which is no good in this weather when you're trying to paint in between showers.

 

[yamin]

Looks really lovely - colour really fitting. Changing the door on our house made all the difference - no chance of restoring - a hideous UPVC thing, which did get freecycled and re used! - but replaced with lovely georgian 'country' farmhouse door - your colour nicer than our plain white though. Now all we need to do is get rid of the revolting plastic windows forced on our house in the 80s - too ££££ though, sigh.....

 

[Penners]

does anyone know if you can paint oil based gloss over acrylic

I've done this without apparent problems.