The horse has bolted! - guess what i'm looking for

[shelli]

Thats right quiz fans

We need a stable door. Now before you all shout at once (and I have a fair idea of whose names you are going to shout) - I can search for and find lots of beautiful oak external stable doors but this one is in a tricky location and I might not be able to achieve what I want it to do.
It is the internal porch door to the house.
It has to be sturdy as it will get weather when porch door is open and has be glazed to let in as much light as possible because the room doesn't get a lot of natural light a) because of neighbouring building and b) because of enclosed front porch (and c) because people didn't care about light in houses when it was built because they spent all day toiling in the fields and came home when it was dark ).

I don't like the top section of the door being glazed with 9 panels (from the doors i've seen so far) - i think we need glazing in the the bottom section somehow too - but I'm aware that this is non-standard.

Or should I forget the whole stable door idea ? (but be aware that this would make me sad -and ask yourself - can you live with that on your conscience?)

Shelli

 

[Penners]

Sounds to me as though you need a Vernon Special. Maybe with some nice stained glass?

 

[shelli]

Sounds to me as though you need a Vernon Special. Maybe with some nice stained glass?

Can't have stained glass - would love to but can't - need as much light as possible coming in so don't trip over things in darkened room when coming in from garden - is a stable door with piece of (toughened) glass in the bottom half even feasible?

 

[shelli]

Here is a picture of current front door - the porch hoods it so much that not much light gets in.

 

[biffvernon]

is a stable door with piece of (toughened) glass in the bottom half even feasible?

Why ever not? But what's wrong with the old door - it's got a handle, letterbox and knocker. What more does a front door need?

 

[shelli]

is a stable door with piece of (toughened) glass in the bottom half even feasible?

Why ever not? But what's wrong with the old door - it's got a handle, letterbox and knocker. What more does a front door need?

Hi Biff,

Glad to hear from you, in short it's Kaput!

In long - it doesnt fit the casing (its been sawn off and the edging strip at the bottom put on to level it up and painted), it needs to have a letterbox that's straight(!), it needs glazing that's safe for the wee uns (not paper thin - they have a tendency to slam!) and it needs to close properly so the handle needs to work

I suppose we could repair it but by the time we had done so we would have spent a fair whack on materials - and we would be fettling rather than restoring.

Also - i don't know if you can see from pic - its 3 feet wide (which is good) but it's only 68 inches high and OH is 7 inches taller !! (he is getting permanently scarred head). - so I think new door is in order. we can lower the step to porch level at same time

 

[biffvernon]

What you need is a new door. ( Or spend your day toiling is a field and don't come home till dark.)

Touble is you might not find what you want in the DIY sheds, so you can't rely on it being made by a Chinaman from stolen timber, so it might cost more than a day's toil in a field.

In principle, I cant see why you can't have a stable door with toughened glass in the lower half. In practice, getting the letter plate level always seems trickier than one imagines.

 

[AMc]

but it's only 68 inches high and OH is 7 inches taller !! (he is getting permanently scarred head).

Although we have decent head height in all our rooms all our internal doors are low. Me= 185cm, doors= 180cm.
I spent the first month banging my head and getting increasingly frustrated with my own clumsiness/house's inadequate design depending on my mood at that moment. Being bald there is nothing to cushion the blow and I got some fairly unpleasant scrapes on my bonce. Then it stopped. After enough hits you get the reflex to duck - which I do at all doorways now

I do sometimes bang my head when I pop my head around the door and don't go right into the room. Banging my head just after wishing my daughter good night is a particular irritation.

I guess what I'm saying is that you get used to ducking at some point, or develop a "cottage stoop" all the time.

I can see why you want to replace that door, my guess is you'll need to get someone to build a new one that meets your requirements as you aren't going to find it 'off the shelf'.

 

[Juju]

Shelli - Good luck with finding someone to make and fit a door - we can't get anyone to take on the repair of our existing door or fit a new one cos the door frame is not square! A national company (who are very good and repaired the windows in my previous house) said it would be easier to rip out the whole door frame in order to fit a new door. Even if LBC was forthcoming, I can't justify ripping out a perfectly good door frame (even if I could afford the £4k they quoted!). We have no carpentry skills whatsoever but I think we're going to have to have a go at removing the rotten bottom part and somehow fitting a new piece of wood and reglazing with safety glass. That doesn't get round the dilemma of fitting mortise locks to a thin door (discussed in another thread so I won't go into that again...) but at least the door will be a bit more secure.

 

[Penners]

What you need is a new door.

And we on this forum know a chap who makes them, don't we? Nice oak ones from oak trees that have probably already had babies.