Splitting Doors

[orourkp]

Hi everyone ( new member )

I am renovating a Victorian house and had all the interior doors dipped as the were covered in paint over varnish. After the dipping all the doors split. I filled the doors with woodfiller and then painted, but the doors just keep splitting and ruining the paint.

Any advice please?

 

[skier-hughes]

What was the wood dipped in?
Did they give any guarantee to suitability with the wood?
Was it propery cleaned off after dipping? Some strippers will make the wood split, as per Strippers of Sudbury site.
Was the wood dried thoroughly before being painted as when it dries it will shrink?
Did it get too wet and dried to quickly?
I assume the doors are hung in the same locations, so they won't be getting any different air on them?
What are they now painted with?

Graham

 

[orourkp]

Sorry, dont know answers to these questions. Just a novice. The doors were left to dry in situ for some months before painting, but split before they were painted. I filled with woodfiller, primed, undercoated and painted with eggshell, but splits keep appearing. some are large, up to 5mm wide.

 

[chuckey]

Gosh thats bad, I have seen doors in this state before but... I can only presume that the doors were painted before the wood had dried out and the original paint has kept the moisture content of the wood much higher then its natural state. As the panel would have been forced fitted into a rebate in the frame it looks as though the rebate was too small, so as the panels shrank, instead of pulling their sides in from the edge rebates. the edges stayed put, and the centre gave out!
Break open enother tub of filler!
Frank

 

[orourkp]

The doors are splitting at the joints and along the grain itself. Big splits on the sides of the doors. One is nearly split in half. They split when they were drying, before any paint was applied.

 

[skier-hughes]

Sounds like Frank may be right in that they've stood with artifically too high a water content and now have dried out.

 

[Ian Bond]

What the people who did the dipping have to say for themselves?

I'm not surprised the doors split after that treatment. Do they routinely ruin Victorian doors?

Perhaps they can give you your money back?

It sounds like you need the services of a joiner to make new doors.

 

[Nemesis]

If the house was unheated in the past and is now a great deal warmer, that can cause splitting too.

 

[Ian Bond]

Agreed.

However, this is a perfect example of the dangers of dipping!!!!

A good joiner might be able to save them yet. Loose joints can be tightened up.

I've got a salvaged door that needs TLC. Ripped off its hinges and chucked in a skip. Six panels, early 19th century, and slender at 1 inch thick. The joints and panels are OK, which is good.

SPAB have a few words of advice on care and repair...


http://www.spab.org.uk/html/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-5-old-doors/?PHPSESSID=2c514b3df205

 

[arl]

ours doors were all stripped by the previous owner, presumably also by dipping and many of the them have splits in them too so i would be interested to know if you find a solution. I think some of them will have to be replaced they are so warped and cracked

 

[biffvernon]

You could cover the doors with mdf.
Ok. ok, just getting my coat.

 

[GeoffP]

I have the same problem with some six panel Victorian doors, one panel being completely split down the grain.

These have NOT been dipped, I stripped them personally using a hot air blower and then sanded by hand. The splitting occurred after they’d been hung for a few months.

In my case, I think the problem is with the introduction of central heating making the room much warmer than it originally was.

As the door is now varnished, it is difficult to fill without it being obvious so I’ve just left them. It all adds to the character, I’m told.

Geoff

 

[Nemesis]

We were once woken in the night to a loud crack which sounded like a gunshot.

On investigation, it was the panel from a piece of furniture splitting. Yes, we had installed central heating.

 

[dandrew]

Door panels split because of (usually) inadequate construction. The panels float in a groove in the frame and can expand and contract as environmental conditions fluctuate. As long as this is adhered to then things are fine. However, what can happen during the glue-up is that the panels end up getting glued to the framework, typically at the corners. Alternatively, when the panel moulds are nailed in, the nails go into the panel rather than the framework. Thus the panel does not have freedom to expand or contract, and it will split - typically along the grain. There is a way to fix the split - remove the panel moulds and screw a pair of wood cleats (like small fat wedges) to opposite sides of the the panel close to the frame. Glue is then run into the split and a wedge hammered into the space between the frame and the cleat. The wedges draw the panel together and hold it there as the glue cures. The cleats are then removed and are covered by the panel mouldings thus hiding the screw holes. This method is only possible if the size of the split between the panels is less than twice the width of panel that remains in the grooves. Typically, door frames were grooved to 1/2" depth to accept the panels, so it should be possible to close splits that are up to 1/2" in width, and still have 1/8" of panel in the grooves.

The alternative is to open up the split, insert a lath into the split and glue it in place using the cleat method. The lath is then levelled to the rest of the panel.

You have now discovered why softwood was always painted by the victorians !

 

[orourkp]

Thanks for all your help and advice.

 

[Penners]

Door panels split because of (usually) inadequate construction.

They also split because they've been caustic dipped. This can leach the oil out of the wood, making it dry and brittle. Splitting of dipped doors is not infrequent.

Sorry, orourkp, I know this is a case of horses and stable doors, but I'm very much against dipping for this reason.