What would you do with this lovely old door?

[yamin]

Getting on quite well with the playroom now - done removal of woodchip, repairing of lime plaster, now walls all lined and ready to go. Painting sskirtings which were the same colour as the horizontal sections on this door. Which brings me to the door! Its a lovely old one I think, but as you can see its been cruelly used and abused (my chidren slamming it, which one of them does regularly!- is mild in comparison!) - a whole top and bottom for a Yale lock, and as you see, the whole painted in gloss and with vile terracottagloss on the horizontal parts and also the lovely old lock! So, whats the best course of action? I am assuming that this door would probably have been painted......? But it has a feel of being so thick with gloss that I am reluctant to just paint over it again in any kind of paint. As the weather gets warmer and door isn't needed to keep heat in, would I be best taking it off its hinges to restore it? Then what do I do? Do I use a heat gun and burn off the paint? Or would chemicals be better? Anything else I should think of doing? Then, what finish, paint again in a more period finish - chalky emulsion? Or gloss again? Sorry for the 90 questions and the ignorance! But as you'll see from before and after photos below - I am learning from you guys! Thanks!

Abi

 

[borischarlton]

I can not comment on the finish as I feel it is down to personal choice, however, I have had fantastic results using Kling strip on a window frame that had so many layers of gloss paint you could no longer see the shape of the moldings. It was quite easy too, if not a little messy!!
Rob

 

[biffvernon]

Do you want it to look like a new door or an old door. The only way to get the old look is to just add another coat of paint. It takes a century or two of redecoration to produce the patina of multilayer paint. It's also a lot easier.

 

[yamin]

Thanks for the Kling Strip tip Rob, I may try that....



Biff, its a good quetion that you raise. I certainly don't want it to look 'new', but on the other hand I can't help feeling that the worse abuse to this door took place in the last 20 years, and what you are looking at, certainly on the horizontal pieces, is not so much a lovely century of patina, but more a thick layer of the 1980s!!!! A bit like years of traffic building a lovely patina on floorboards, but then someone comes along and chucks a huge tin of varnish onto it - the patina is still there, but the latest 'taste' has really interfered with the age, if you see what I mean.

I am all for the easy route (e.g. plaster work, I patched correctly, then lined, I did not skim but left the rough lime plaster finish intact.) and if this one has ME wondering if it needs 'taking back' then believe me, it don't look good! Maybe the compromise might be to strip the terracotta off the horizontal bits, but leave the vertical boards, which have not suffered so badly, alone........

 

[Feltwell]

I've a very similar door which is stripped already if you want me to post a picture up, if you want a better idea of what the finished article would like.

 

[yamin]

yes please, that would be a big help

 

[Feltwell]

OK, maybe a few days before I'm at home in daylight though!

Bear in mind what state the door may be in underneath the paint - I spent ages stripping a door on my last house, only to find that underneath the thick crud of gloss there was a very battered and badly worm-holed door, so much so that the only option was to paint it again after spending ages filling in the damage. With hindsight rubbing it down to remove the worst of the "1980's" as you put it, but leaving some patina, then giving it a coat of paint would have been a better option.

I'm not saying that will be the case with yours (door I'll post a picture up of in current house is in great condition) but if you do decide to strip I'd do a small section at the bottom first, to see what state it's in.

 

[JoceAndChris]

There are loads of different threads on this forum about stripping paint, some posters advocating leaving that history intact and others, including myself, feeling that the gloop has got to stop somewhere and that it's nice to be able to see the original mouldings. If I had your door I'd strip the whole thing especially the hinges, I don't like painted hinges. I would then fill holes and repaint avoiding gloss.

I.M.O. a door loses weight when you strip off the paint, it looks lighter, skinnier and newer; it depends if you like that look. My mate who runs the stunning Tobie Norris pub in Stamford has been banned from stripping the paint because it tells such a story! So I suppose you have to get permission if it's listed?

I've been using a hot air gun to remove the worst of the paint then zillions of applications of Nitromors combined with wire wool, toothbrushes, scrapers... incredibly laborious but hugely rewarding.

I was all set to buy Klingstrip until I stumbled across a chance comment by Penners that it makes softwood rather fibrous. So be careful! The wood becomes so easy to damage as you strip it, it's not a job you can rush or do whilst feeling cross.

 

[AMc]

If you decide to strip it I would strongly recommend taking it outdoors. Stripping old lead paint with a heat gun stinks and isn't very healthy, nitromors is also not nice indoors. I've never used klingstrip but I doubt it's pleasant.
There are some times when you have to strip something insitu - a door isn't one of them IMHO.

If it were mine I would strip it back and paint again or wax/varnish if it turns out to be really pretty

I also know it's heresy but I have heard you can pay people to dip strip doors ... :shock:

 

[JoceAndChris]

I also know it's heresy but I have heard you can pay people to dip strip doors ... :shock:

Would you put something you loved in a vat of acid. I've seen antiques come back in little bits, and have to be put together again. Sometimes things die all together.

 

[Penners]

I also know it's heresy but I have heard you can pay people to dip strip doors ... :shock:

Would you put something you loved in a vat of acid.

Wrong end of the pH scale, actually, Jocelyn, but your heart's in the right place. Caustic dipping can cause real problems to old doors - dried-out, cracked wood, and destroyed adhesives among them.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wrong end of the pH scale, actually, Jocelyn, but your heart's in the right place. Caustic dipping can cause real problems to old doors - dried-out, cracked wood, and destroyed adhesives among them.

Maths, chemistry; you know I am not good at those.

 

[Penners]

My principal skill is pedantry. :wink:

 

[chuckey]

I scrape old woodwork down, its a bit tedious but I like the way it preserves the colour unlike strippers. This sort of door with its many cracks between the planks will retain bits of the old paint on the sides of the cracks and these will have to be chiselled out or cut out with a stanley knife. I would tend to go with rubbing it down and re-painting.
Frank

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Would you put something you loved in a vat of acid.

I must admit, sometimes I tempted to do so with SWMBO.

:twisted:

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Old doors are lovely when they have old and unadulterated paint finishes intact. I have a splendid door on the loo in my workshop which is still wearing the green paint that must be its original coat, and it looks great. But your door has suffered, as some many have, the grim fate of Many Layers, no doubt with all the lumps, dribbles and loss of detail that entails. The internal doors in my house are the same - many layers of crappy white gloss artlessly applied, mouldings a mere shadow of their former selves, locks and hinges gummed up, bits of fluff, carpet, woodlice etc. fossilised where they fell.

So I've sent a couple of them off to be stripped by caustic dipping. This is an approach which won't find much support here, but I can only say that it worked well for me. Having tried stripping one door myself by heat / chemical means I was very impressed with the result achieved by dipping, as well as the saving in time and temper. Of course, the doors needed to be dried carefully, and then sanded before finishing. We had no problems with splitting, cracking, joints falling apart or anything like that. I will shortly be taking another door and a load of architrave to be done.

In my opinion you door will look much better for being stripped, by whatever method you decide on. If you're lucky there may be some really nice wood under there. More likely it'll be tatty softwood, and you'll decide to paint it up again. But the surface detailing will be revived and you'll like the end result.

Of course, the lock and hinges need to be rescued too. The easiest way I've found to do these is to make up a solution of caustic soda in a bucket and soak the items in that for a couple of hours. Usual safety precautions! All the paint will drop off, and after a good rinse and dry they'll be ready for re-finishing. For rim locks I spray the lock case with smooth black hammerite, after masking the brass parts. Hinges I use self-colour, with a bit of wax to resist rusting.

 

[yamin]

Thanks everyone for some really helpful advice (and a few happy tangents on the way!). I think that the scales (including myself) tip towards stripping the door

But your door has suffered, as some many have, the grim fate of Many Layers, no doubt with all the lumps, dribbles and loss of detail that entails. The internal doors in my house are the same - many layers of crappy white gloss artlessly applied, mouldings a mere shadow of their former selves, locks and hinges gummed up, bits of fluff, carpet, woodlice etc. fossilised where they fell.

This is really well put, and the problem in a nutshell. With all the advice on offer, I think I'll be starting by chemical means, outdoors, on a section. I may consider dipping if that just doesn't work, but will try to avoid. We have several doors like this through the house so as ever, patience will be the key!

Thanks again everyone.

Abi

 

[Feltwell]

I was all set to buy Klingstrip until I stumbled across a chance comment by Penners that it makes softwood rather fibrous. So be careful!

I too read Penners comment, but after I had bought the Klingstrip, so foolishly decided to carry on anyway. Big mistake! I used it on some cupboard doors I'd bought, it made a real mess of them - raised the grain and wood fibres badly, see below. These pictures are before I sanded it down, luckily it looked much better after sanding. I've since used Nitromors which is much, much better as well as being quicker.

I believe Klingstrip is great for hardwood but I wouldn't use it again on softwood.

 

[Feltwell]

Abi,

As promised here's some pictures of a very similar door to yours, from my attic. Stripped by a previous owner, almost certainly by dipping. Apologies for the odd camera angles but it's in a very difficult place to photograph from one side! It's not as shiny as it appears in the pictures, that's just the camera flash reflecting.

 

[yamin]

Well, to me that looks really good. It has stripped it effectively but retained the look of an old door in my opinion. There is still tiny residues in the cracks? In a way, that adds to it not looking 'brand new'. Thanks for those pics. I suspect that door is a rather better one than ours - the planks afre straight for a start! Not sure if that means ours might be weaker and may not stand up to dipping.

Love both the wallpaper and the lovely green paint you've selected!

Thanks again

Abi