Is bashed in front door repairable?

[njr_26]

Hi everyone

I hope you can help. My friend up the road has had her late Victorian half glazed door bashed in by the police due to the stupid behaviour of one of her lodgers. The door is bashed in and the rail is completely broken halfway down by the lock and the top two mortice and tenon joints are broken as well.

Is there any hope for this door or does she need to look at a replacement?

Thanks

Njr

 

[Flyfisher]

Hard to say without seeing the damage, but it doesn't sound very hopeful to me. I'm assuming the wood has been extensively split and damaged so even a repair would result in the loss of much original wood.

Perhaps a reclaimed replacement would be acceptable?

Do the Police pay for such damage?

 

[Lime]

Most old doors can be repaired but it would need to be dismantled to repair properly.

 

[Flyfisher]

True. With proper care and repair anything can be kept in pristine condition forever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbha4XclSMU

 

[LadyArowana]

True. With proper care and repair anything can be kept in pristine condition forever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbha4XclSMU

It's usually just a matter of how much you want to spend. We have had a couple of things professionally restored for sentimental reasons, on a purely economic basis it is often not viable.

 

[Flyfisher]

Joking aside, I quite agree. We had a torn oil painting restored and it cost more than the painting is worth. It's not even a particularly good painting, but it is Mrs FF's great, great grandfather, who was a champion jockey, so sentiment understandably trumped the cost.

I'd guess that a front door might have less sentimental attachment though.

 

[MatthewC]

Joking aside, I quite agree. We had a torn oil painting restored and it cost more than the painting is worth. It's not even a particularly good painting, but it is Mrs FF's great, great grandfather, who was a champion jockey, so sentiment understandably trumped the cost.

I'd guess that a front door might have less sentimental attachment though.

Unless it was made by Mrs njr's great, great grandfather?

 

[Penners]

Most old doors can be repaired but it would need to be dismantled to repair properly.

I agree. If the door is important enough, either historically of emotionally, then the best approach will be to dismantle it carefully, assess the condition of each component, repair or remake damaged components and then rebuild the door.

If all of that seems like too much hassle, then replacement is the only alternative. As Flyfisher suggested above, it may be that something of similar age, design and size can be found in an architectural reclamation yard.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Forum member agbagb has a very informative blog post on doing one yourself:

http://www.idostuff.co.uk/sections/DIY/Door%20design%20and%20construction/Door%20Design.html

 

[njr_26]

Thank you so much for your replies.

No the police won't pay for the damage as they say it was necessary to enter because of danger to life.

I have been looking for a reclaimed door for her and have found one in our local reclamation yard of the correct size, but it looks more Edwardian than late Victorian. I have also looked through 1000+ doors on ebay, but only 1 is the correct size and it is not very nice. It seems my friend has a bigger door than usual 83.5 x 36 x 1.5 inches.

She is going to get some quotes for repair as well as we can't find anything in the same style and her door has some nice panelling in the bottom section. I haven't seen the damage yet but from what she says the top rail has both mortice and tenon joints snapped off, the middle piece between the glass panels has the joint snapped off and the long piece where the lock is on the right hand side is smashed. One piece of glass and the whole of the bottom of the door where the nice panelling is intact.

The door in the reclamation yard is £195 and requires stripping as it has lots of chipped paint on it and maybe some new glass as it has horrible school type glass with the wire running through in a grid pattern, although she says she could live with it until she can afford to replace it.

Does anyone know how long it would take for a door to dry out after dipping?

Thanks for the info on making a door but this is beyond her level of skill and finances.

Njr26

 

[Lime]

The very last thing I'd do to an old door is dip it.
That's assuming you do not want to ruin it that is.

 

[Penners]

Hear, hear! Don't dip it! You risk leaching all of the oils out of the wood - this can lead to cracking and warping.

If the door needs to be stripped, used something like Nitromors (assuming it's softwood).

 

[njr_26]

Thanks for all your help. My friend has got a local carpenter to repair it. They have taken it away to work on it.

Njr26