Front door restoration

[overlander matt]

Before the wet weather arrives I want to restore our front door and portico... It looks a bit tatty and it's time for a change of colour. The style is a bit unusual - nobody seems to know what it is. Is it original? Who knows but it has probably been on our house for a while. There's a fair amount of rotten timber to replace on the portico where the lead is cracked and I'll be replacing damaged mouldings on the door and portico side panelling.



The first question I have concerns the two plinth blocks that partially sit on the top step. This doesn't really look right and I'm wondering about whether to just match it with the replacement blocks. Both the top and bottom of each block are pretty rotten. I'm wondering whether I should try to bring the blocks down to the step below or maybe add some brickwork under the unsupported ends. The current detail doesn't look right. Any suggestions would be welcome thanks. We also get a bit of water ingress under the door - would a weather bar look right? Some Georgian doors don't have them so wondered what looked right.



After a few hours with the heat gun, scrapers and sander today I have made some progress removing the old brown paint and woodstain on the door. I've removed all the mouldings and will refit what is reusable and replace the damaged with some new moulding to match the original. I've not done a huge amount of external wood repairs with filler at this house - what is the best type of filler for repairing small holes and flattening the surface in places where the grain is very pronounced? It's particularly uneven on the panels making it a bit difficult to remove the old paint.




Thanks in advance for any advice or guidance you can provide.

Matt

 

[Drayton]

No advice - I have blocks at the bottom of the moulding round my front door (1840) but they sit in by the door on the top step rather than outside so not comparable.

But what an absolutely fabulous door!

 

[Stevers]

It struck me that is the kind of door that might appeal to Freemasons - loaded with significance (well to them at least).

To test it's plausibility as original, how old is the house? If the house is Regency, then that period did produce some random stuff - think Brighton Pavilion. My heavily moulded front door (1879) is so very, very tame compared with yours!

 

[Thatspellstrouble]

I can’t help just wanted to say that’s a beautiful door

 

[Toby Newell]

Remove old paint with DCM and no 5 / no 6 wire wool. I wouldn't fill the ridges in the grain, I would sand them flat, the less filler the less can fall out. One usually uses two part polyester filler for small holes, for larger chunks a two part epoxy can be better but more expensive and sags more so you might have to build it up inlayers.

Is it original? To what? You don't give the period of your house. It looks late Victorian to me (the door), too elaborate for Georgian style. The letterbox apes a 1760s Swan neck furniture handle but looks 1910. Does not match the square geometry. The door size and shape and portico are of Georgian stature, maybe it was replaced, and letterbox replaced again in 1900s. I don't see an issue with the plinths as in they always rot. Replace, seal all round especially end grain at bottom.

It's a one off, original, like the door I am restoring today (Joan Collins' old house) so it could even be Georgian but the mismatched plinths suggest a later addition. I don't see an issue with a weather bar, you have the luxury, with both the square molding pattern and the curved letterbox to choose either angular or rounded.

Shame for such a bold design they executed the plinth area so clumsily, very un Georgian, Im not sure bringing them down past the bullnose would look any better, but its a quirky one off design so you are free to do what you want. Does look lovely though, quirky is good. Great work so far. It's not any period style but without further provenance I would guess 1880 to 1910.

 

[overlander matt]

It struck me that is the kind of door that might appeal to Freemasons - loaded with significance (well to them at least).

To test it's plausibility as original, how old is the house? If the house is Regency, then that period did produce some random stuff - think Brighton Pavilion. My heavily moulded front door (1879) is so very, very tame compared with yours!

The age of the house is uncertain - 1750 was mentioned by the previous owners and there are features to support this. The original owners went bankrupt, possibly with the house unfinished, the new owner in the 1820s made some notable changes that were a little different style-wise and it is possibly this era that the door originates from. It's all a bit uncertain. Hopefully with some work we can make it an attractive feature again.

 

[overlander matt]

Remove old paint with DCM and no 5 / no 6 wire wool. I wouldn't fill the ridges in the grain, I would sand them flat, the less filler the less can fall out. One usually uses two part polyester filler for small holes, for larger chunks a two part epoxy can be better but more expensive and sags more so you might have to build it up inlayers.

Is it original? To what? You don't give the period of your house. It looks late Victorian to me (the door), too elaborate for Georgian style. The letterbox apes a 1760s Swan neck furniture handle but looks 1910. Does not match the square geometry. The door size and shape and portico are of Georgian stature, maybe it was replaced, and letterbox replaced again in 1900s. I don't see an issue with the plinths as in they always rot. Replace, seal all round especially end grain at bottom.

It's a one off, original, like the door I am restoring today (Joan Collins' old house) so it could even be Georgian but the mismatched plinths suggest a later addition. I don't see an issue with a weather bar, you have the luxury, with both the square molding pattern and the curved letterbox to choose either angular or rounded.

Shame for such a bold design they executed the plinth area so clumsily, very un Georgian, Im not sure bringing them down past the bullnose would look any better, but its a quirky one off design so you are free to do what you want. Does look lovely though, quirky is good. Great work so far. It's not any period style but without further provenance I would guess 1880 to 1910.

Thanks Toby.

That's a good tip about the wire wool and DCM - although getting hold of some might not be too easy. I've now sanded the grain as flat as I reasonably can and in a few places there might just be a bit of grain to be seen but it will be so much better than before. The larger gaps have been filled with a 2-part epoxy resin with added fibres. It's had a coat of primer to protect from the weather while I start on the joinery work with the mouldings.

The trickiest parts to repair/fill are around the central curved sections - I can probably replace a few of the damaged pieces of timber but in the corner sections this is likely to need lots of filler around the edges. Access is a bit limited for using the epoxy there - so wonder whether there is anything else that I might try? Perhaps it will just require a lot of patience!



The style is indeed a bit unusual - I've not seen anything close to it in the area or further afield. It could be any age but my bet is it's probably not 1750s when the house may have been built but a later add-on when there was a lot of work done following a change of owner. The original glazing bars in the fan light above were removed at some stage and a single large pane of glass fitted. I considered reinstating these but decided against it on this occasion. The weather has turned very autumnal since starting this!

I'll be adding a weather bar and looking to fit some sort of draught prevention. There's lots to do.

Your door sounds very interesting too. Joan Collins makes for a good story. Nobody famous at this house that we know of.

 

[Toby Newell]

Use standard polyester or epoxy. Mask area. Apply in small amounts. Remove excess with sandpaper glued to stick / Bahco 625 scraper etc, I just finished scraping an 18 panel door, both sides, try that, yours is easy! Deffo looks more late Victorian than Georgian.

Getting hold of DCM is easy, call Mylands or many places online, they might ask you questions, most don't. I've never been asked even from retailers where I don't have an account.

It's class 2, sausages are class 1 and freely available. Health and safety is very political. Permethrin is banned outright in Canada, banned for agricultural use in the UK, but you can buy it in B&Q. A good background knowledge is helpful. Your work lools pretty clean, you probably don't need it anyway.

 

[Stevers]

That door and it's case is a 'one off' and probably a better fit to the later date. The Victorians (and Edwardians) were certainly fond of producing things in 'Queen Anne' and other styles that seem to have only a limited connection to the historical period they were supposed to represent - so possible too. As for the fan light a Victorian might have replaced it on style grounds, or perhaps it was deemed irrepairable in the last century.

I used a dark teal gloss in a cream satin/eggshell surround for our heavily moulded front door, and I am looking forward to seeing how this fantastic door and case are finished!

 

[overlander matt]

Many thanks Toby and Stevers. I'm back on the door again this week when the rain stops. I'll keep going with the Epoxy on the door as you suggest Toby. The system I have has a 16h set time so a bit of patience is needed...

I would be interested to see some photos from other doors. I have a few other bits to do around the door. I need to fit some form of draft proofing and look at some suitable door furniture. There's an existing modern Yale-type catch on the inside and old looking but plain rim 'lock' which looks like it's been messed about with over the years.



I've been looking at good exterior paints. We used Bedec MSP on the windows going back 3-4 years but I'm keen to look at alternatives.

Thanks again.

Matt

 

[Toby Newell]

Something patinated bronze or black.

I favour black.

And. Heat gun. Epoxies are very sensitive to heat. Waft a heat gun after it has set, ('set' = 'gone off" = hard to the touch but not fully cured) over the area for five minutes that should cut the cure time by 50%.

I always advise my clients towards Banhams. Expensive but high quality and what price security? Also, strangely enough, like a keyboard or steering wheel a front door lock is something you interact with often, having a non sticking, easily hold openable and self locking mechanism is quite pleasurable.

 

[overlander matt]

Something patinated bronze or black.

I favour black.

And. Heat gun. Epoxies are very sensitive to heat. Waft a heat gun after it has set, ('set' = 'gone off" = hard to the touch but not fully cured) over the area for five minutes that should cut the cure time by 50%.

I always advise my clients towards Banhams. Expensive but high quality and what price security? Also, strangely enough, like a keyboard or steering wheel a front door lock is something you interact with often, having a non sticking, easily hold openable and self locking mechanism is quite pleasurable.

Thanks again Toby.

Been busy this week on the door. I had some Repair Care left over from repairing the rot at ground level to to the side panels. That should be a bit easier to work with on the door repairs. A bit of heat gun encouragement will help too.

I must admit that I'd never heard of Banhams locks previously. I'm not sure it's an option for us this time round but they look fantastic.

Hopefully make a bit more progress on the door by the end of the week if the sun comes out might even get some paint on it...