Refurbish door

[bsr]

Hi

I would like some advice on refurbishing what was the front door, but now has a porch on the outside so it's become an internal door.. It's believed to be from the 1950s and some sort of teak substitute (Iroko?).

1. Finish - from the tin left in the house I think it's oak-tinted, water-based varnish. Should I sand and varnish over with water-based varnish, or is it better to strip and start again? Can I use clear varnish or will that mean the colour continues to look patchy?
2. Can I fill with Ronseal two-pack "High performance" filler or is there something better? Will it take the varnish and blend in?
3. The glass in the lights is scratched. Ideally I would like to replace it with a single pane, or maybe even a thin DG sealed unit. The trim between the 13 lights looks to be separate pieces - will they just come out on both sides leaving a hole? Will the rebate around the opening be constant all the way around?
4. Only the latch is used, the mortice isn't. The cover plate doesn't cover - there's damage from previous mortice locks. Is it easiest to cover the whole thing with a glued-in piece of wood?
5. How would you cover the spindle holes for the handles - another handle with a fixed spindle? A cover plate?

Thanks in advance

bsr

 

[bsr]

Anyone?

 

[endecotp]

Why do you think that's from the 50s?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

....now has a porch on the outside so it's become an internal door.. It's believed to be from the 1950s and some sort of teak substitute (Iroko?).

I don't think that is a 1950s door. Looks more like a modern (1970s or 80s) repro, in which case the timber suspects might include meranti and sapele. How heavy is it? Iroko weighs a ton and is very dense indeed

Finish - from the tin left in the house I think it's oak-tinted, water-based varnish. Should I sand and varnish over with water-based varnish, or is it better to strip and start again? Can I use clear varnish or will that mean the colour continues to look patchy?

If you use clear finish (most of which are not varnishes, regardless of what the tim states) without cutting back and sorting out the original finish all you'll achieve is a blotchy look. Far better to strip, stain and refinsih, I'd say

Can I fill with Ronseal two-pack "High performance" filler or is there something better? Will it take the varnish and blend in?

Fillers can only rarely be made to completely match a given timber colour unless you are prepared to mix two or more (and let them dry because they all seem to lighten as they dry). For exterior use a 2-pack is the way to go, but any finish will take to the filler differently than to the wood, so for a good-looking result some experimentation may be necessary. It all depends on how much of a perfectionist you are.

Ideally I would like to replace it with a single pane, or maybe even a thin DG sealed unit. The trim between the 13 lights looks to be separate pieces - will they just come out on both sides leaving a hole? Will the rebate around the opening be constant all the way around?

DG units are far thicker than single glass, so that is out unless you want to do a huge amount of work (and even then you might well fail - fitting an 1mm ultra thin DG unit into a space designed for 4mm single glazing isn't really going to look that nice IMHO). The design looks to be one made-up using separate pieces of glass and beads and in all probability is beaded on the inside only - you tend not to bead on the outside for security reasons

Only the latch is used, the mortice isn't. The cover plate doesn't cover - there's damage from previous mortice locks. Is it easiest to cover the whole thing with a glued-in piece of wood?

Yes

How would you cover the spindle holes for the handles - another handle with a fixed spindle? A cover plate?

Possibly with a let-in timber patch. If you can't match the timber then a square patch in a contrasting (darker) timber might look acceptable

 

[Dave54]

Agree with J & K it looks exactly like one of those last part of the last century hardwood doors that used to come from the various sheds at the time. I fitted a few. They were as he says made of one of the "mahogany" type woods, meranti, sapele, and I suspect that some of them were keruing, but certainly meranti and keruing cover a lot of species.
I don't think they're too bad quality in general, and you still see a number in use, but they're not traditionally made doors, and I don't think I'd be trying to modify them.

 

[bsr]

Why do you think that's from the 50s?

The house was built in 1954 and I assumed the door was original. I guess it looks like I was wrong!

 

[bsr]

JobandKnock, thanks for the comprehensive response. Does that mean you also wouldn't recommend replacing the 13 lights with a single piece? If the outside wood isn't beading, what is it?

 

[JohnD]

You might consider a brass finger-plate to cover the lock holes. The sort with a smooth plain edge are much easier to keep clean and bright than the ones with fancy decorative edging.

p.s. sorry but I don't like your door and wouldn't spend much money on it. If you have a roof rack and can collect you can pick up any number of better used doors on ebay for £20 or so. If you want to change the glass, laminated 7mm is burglar resistant and you can put glazing tape in the rebate to hold it tight and sealed.

 

[Dave54]

I'd agree with John. There will be s/h doors available that need less work. It's not original and so isn't worth much work IMHO. It looks as if it has been beaded on the outside in this case. Which as said above is not right. If you want to be sure post a closer picture of the outside glazing. Removing the glazing bars and making good is going to be a fair amount of work, and again you will end up with bits that don't match around the edge.
Think a bit about security. Just a night latch isn't secure on that type of door. Too easy to bust the glass. In fact personally I'd never have any external door on just a nightlatch after I needed to get into a house with one once after the keys were locked in, and (shall we say?) found out just how easy it was to do so.

 

[ree]

The door in the pic is a Kentucky - made from SE Asian Lauan, a so called hardwood.
It would have been fitted in 1978 to 1986.
Often the glazing bars have stuck mouldings on both sides so the glass piece in the fan had to be cut just right and slipped into the slot, so to speak. Making a template for the fan pieces to take to the glaziers was the best method, or taking the door itself.
Some Kentucky had stuck moulding one side and open the other for putty glazing or beading.

The wood was inherently unstable and if it wasn't sealed (by the joiner) in every pocket, penetration or surface it would begin to move - some moved in spectacular fashion.

By the 1990's many of the rain forests were stripped and lauan was more or less mostly used for ply.

 

[bsr]

Thanks all.