Front Door Refurb

General Chat
1

Our front door is a bit fucked and I had better get my arse in gear and sort it out.
It’s old, possibly original, and made of hard resinous pinewood with fairly fiddly mouldings on the outside:

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What I want to do in an ideal world is:
A1. remove unsound paint, (I have a heat gun and detail sander)
A2. make good the rot,
A3. fill cracks with something flexible and long-lasting,
A4. treat any exposed wood with rot-preventer,
A5. replace mild steel drop hinges with plain SS so it doesn’t swing shut on its own,
A6. level it back into the frame a bit better, (frame & door have both shifted)
A7. new 5-lever lock/latch unit that moves the handle further from the jamb
A8. add a drip ledge (oak?),
A9. repaint,
A10. and A11: not have to do this shit again for at least another 10 years by which time I will be conveniently dead…

What I don’t want to do:
B1. make any new timber bits (not enough tools or know-how),
B2. strip it completely (dip’n’strip especially not, because they are cunts),
B3. take it off to do all the work unless I absolutely have to,
B4. use brass fittings - sure they’re trad, but they’re too damn soft

I know some of you cunts are pretty damned Handy, while I don’t have too much experience, nor a wealth of tools, (I fucking hate DIY, but can’t get decent trades to even show-up most of the time), so some practical suggestions would be appreciated (to save the usual threadcrap let’s take it as read that, a. I’m a cunt and Rong about everything, always, and, b. I can go and fuck myself).

Not interested in what was traditional, I want what will last well and not be a total cunt to use.

Any suggestions for:
C1. a brand of hinge that is well made?
C2. a rot preventer that will not affect overlying paintstuffs
C3. A good and readily available brand of oil based undercoat and topcoat gloss paint that will adhere well to a mix of wood, fillers, old paints which may well be oil and water based
C4. brand or model of 5 lever (or better) surface mount lock/latch units?

Churz!

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2

What about something like. Makes it easier when when you have fridge sized speakers delivered.

Seriously though, it does look a lovely door so would be nice if you can sort it.

3

I bought these, in fact I bought a dozen. Vg quality, 3mm thick, quality st/st screws and very reasonably priced.

Mild steel rusts here before you put the last screw in. These have been great.

Edit

I see there are only two hinges on your door, I would definitely put three on a door of that size/weight.

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4

:thinking:

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5

They are just trolling you @J_B. Don’t take the bait.

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6

I would take it off to do the work tbh, it’s a fucking ball ache trying to strip paint in situ.

7

Difficulties with trades notwithstanding, I would get a professional in to level the doorframe, rehang the door on new hinges and fit the new lock and drip ledge. Stripping and filling the door I could just about manage before I got ill. That is a beautiful door and interior panelling. It needs doing properly.

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8

Fair points, but I should emphasise that the entire house is significantly out of skew - there are whole courses of masonry that have visible waves in them, straight lines are a construct of the human eye here, so doing much to realign the actual frame will be a double whammy of MASSIVE ballache and result in one bit of the house being pumb true, while the rest of it looks like something painted by Edvard Munch on a blackdog day…

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9

drip ledge=weather bar :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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10

Can assist with this should it be required.

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11

I should have said level the doorframe if required. I like the out of true aspect of period buildings. My place dates to 1903 and lots of it is out of true. I would hate to see any well meaning yet amateur efforts feck up the interior of that vestibule. The panelling, and particularly the finish is lovely.

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12

To be fair, the reality is countless decades of neglect followed by extremely clumsy efforts to strip, woodfiller and varnish - it doesn’t look so good closer-up in the timber, but aside from sanding and re-finishing at some point, the interior won’t be changed significantly.

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13

Lovely door and worth working for. The inside has a touch of Swedish sauna come sex dungeon about it which is nice to see.

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14

There is a LOT of stripped pine in this place.

I suspect the 70s involved a LOT of car keys in a LOT of fruit bowls…

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15

I see your front door and think of the Tardis!
https://images.app.goo.gl/oJKZbkhD6KiB7YJ8A

16

Retardis, more like…

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17

Prolly a good idea to get down to the council and request they scrap your house number to be replaced with ‘Swedish sex tardis’ as soon as possible.

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18

C3: have a look at Osmo products for doing the finishing

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19

Notwithstanding the whole “number? lol!” thing - No need - word-of-mouth (so-to-speak) has it covered . . .

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20

pretty satisfying job this, strip the finish off using nitromors and wire wool, fix any dodgy wood with Edds help to cut and post any larger pieces and glue em in, then sand fill and paint - loads of hours but all very doable - as you say avoid dipping like the plague - all my internal doors were dipped by previous owner and we are still paying the price

three hinges on something that size - lots of choices on hardware but I like good quality brass - polishes up lovely or fades nicely if you cant be arsed to polish

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