Restoring an Edwardian front door- which flexible filler?

[tomt86]

Good evening folks

First post on what looks like a great forum. Our new house is Edwardian and has a nice original door I am keen to save.

It has cracked from slamming over the years- we had to slam it a fair bit for the first few weeks we were here until a carpenter was able to plane it down and fit a new lock.

It has several cracks between the panels I would like to sort out. Im worried two part filler will just crack again.

Can anyone recommend someone really decent which is flexible but will paint up nicely?

Plan on heat gun/sanding to strip the outside of the door to bare wood.

Many thanks!

 

[tomt86]

 

[sparkwright]

I'm thinking exterior caulk for the joins, and two part wood filler for the holes.

Personally I would have used aluminium wood primer on any bare wood, THEN fill the holes and gaps.

Does it really need stripping?

 

[JohnD]

Scrape them out and remove the old paint and filler.

Panelled doors are made so that movement of the parts can occur. Thick paint and filler on the joints will crack.

 

[tomt86]

Thanks folks

I should have clarified, the grey paint is samples my wife painted to see if she liked them!

You are right in that maybe the door doesn't need fully stripping. The joints are in a bad state though. I would anticipate once the cracked filler is raked out fairly significant gaps will be left?

 

[sparkwright]

Sometimes it doesn't do to strip old paint, particularly if there is are some ancient old knots that are going to be re-activated, and will defy a new covering of knotting solution.

 

[JohnD]

aluminium wood primer.

And, if you strip the old paint (often linseed based) with a hot air gun, you can boil out a lot of sap or resin from the knots.

 

[tomt86]

Thank you both that's very much appreciated, you have convinced me not to strip it (and tbh I'm relieved as I know it's a horrible job)

I have some ronseal two pack I'll use for the holes, that always sands very nicely.

Where do I use the aluminium primer? Over the entire door or just the cracks/bare bits I end up exposing? Hopefully I can find a flexible caulk as I suspect I'll end up with a fair few unsightly gaps between the rails

 

[JohnD]

Aluminium wood primer is very durable for painted outdoor timber. I use it on burned off and on knots.

If you were stripping the entire door I would use it all over. I suppose you should use it on whatever bare wood you expose by scraping, sanding or stripping

you don't need it on paint.

If you have thick layers of old paint you would probably get cracking and crocodiling due to the thickness and softness of the paint, and you will end up stripping it anyway.

joints on old panelled doors are best with a very thin coating of paint which is less prone to crack.

edges of panels that fit into grooves in the rails are best scraped out because the paint (unsuccessfully) tries to glue the panels into place and not allow them to move. When they do, it cracks.

 

[Wayners]

Option one.
Get it dipped.
Dryflex resin in joints.
Coverstain
Denib
Paint.

Option 2.
Sand
Dryflex resin in joints
Coverstain
Denib
Paint

 

[JohnD]

Why don't you like hot-air guns?

 

[tomt86]

Thank you that's helpful. Looked up dryflex, any preference between the single tube version and the more expensive dual tube one?