How to restore timber door?

ruredi13

G’day guys and girls,

A little break away from the Mancave project for a minute. Seeking some advice on the best way to go about restoring a solid timber entry door.

I intend for this project to be a secret Xmas present for my wife. Sadly, she lost her mother a few years back. Her mother was an immigrant who fled the war in Vietnam and came to Australia with nothing.

The sale of her humble home took a big toll on my wife whom she was very close with. Her mother’s grit and determination is something i know my wife was very proud of and has made her who she is today.

Before we sold the house, I removed the front door and replaced it and stashed it away. My plan is to restore the door and have it fixed to the front of our home. The door holds extreme sentimental value and so I must get it right!

I’ve ordered a custom script stencil to paint a small message on the back of the door when it’s done.

In case it’s relevant, the house is came off was built in 1970. The door is proper heavy.

I start annual leave after this weekend and will have about 7 days to get this project done hiding away in the shed.

The door is a beautiful door with a lot of intricate detail. What is the best way to strip it back and what process is best to restore it. I’m planning on painting the front a light pink (my wife’s favourite colour) and the back white. I will need to fill in the old holes where the handle is as it doesn’t match our current door. I have no idea how to go about this.

The dimensions of the door currently on our house - 820mm wide x 2,037mm high x 40mm deep.

The door I’m hoping to replace it with - 860mm wide x 2,017mm high x 40mm deep.

Once the old door knob hole is filled in, I will be able to change over the door hardware from our existing house no problem. It’s way lower and won’t be anywhere near the patch job.

the top and bottom hinges are about 70mm different to our current door and will overlap by this much. I don’t imagine I could reinstall hinges where I’ve patched ? Would I be better off modifying the existing frame and how easy (or hard) would this be to do.

Appreciate any help and advice as I don’t know where to start and time is of the essence.

Jewelleryrescue

Hi @ruredi13

Great job saving the door for your wife as a keep sake from her mothers house. Lets get this done right.

First thing we need to do is cut the door to size and adjust hinges next.

Before you start BEWARE we have to be care full of the doors outer surface just in case its a thin timber vener panel over some other timber as it is very unlikly to be carved out of single solid tree slabs. The timber carving is probably solid wood panel glued onto the door. If I am wrong there is no harm in adding caution to a special project.
Step 1

The Door you want to install is 20mm shorter that is ok you can add a door draft stopper later or hang the door a little lower too as an option.

The door you want to install is 40mm wider and the door design is symetrical meaning you will need to trim 20mm off each door edge as step one. I dont know your tool list or skill level so I will say make sure you allow for the saw cut width usually about 3mm.

Step 2 Copy the old door by laying new door on top of it marking every thing the same locations exactly this will save you time and save mis measuring. take door handle off.

Work out where your hinges are going on the new door. Use the old door as an exact template as to hinge placement no need to adjustdoor frame. . Lay your old door on trestles and lay you new door on top (once it is cut to size as above to fit into door frame. This will also make sure widith is correct. at the same time) Chisel Cut the hinges into the door exactly as per the old door mark hinge location on the door where the hinges go . I would take a hinge off the old door and use it as a template and pre drill pilot holes into the new door for ease of fitting later. while your at it mark/draw the old door hole handle holes onto it and the latch hole on the door side.

While your at it cut the new door handle hole with a hole saw save the cut out plug to patch the old door handle hole.

Step 3

To fill the old door handle hole well I use the plug out of the new door handle hole and glue it in place and sand it flush. You may have to fill the open old door latch hole with plasterers mesh and fill it with gyprock base and sand it smooth This can also be done to the hinges once the door is in place. The door hole hinges can befilled and shaped with gyprock base and sanded to look like original timber.

Sand and paint the bottom of the door now so you can fit the door and paint it with out having to remove a heavy door all the time.

Step 4 Hang the door and make sure the hinges and door lock work in there new positions

Step 5 You are ready for light sanding the whole door and painting the door. I would lightly use a deatailing sander for the possible venier timber and light sanding on the decorative timber as not to lose the detail. You can sand the door while it is in place or taking it off and on again again is a major pain. Gently sand out any blemishes and fill fine cracks with no more gaps.

Note when you fill any spots and sand them the timber grain pattern will vanish but paint brush strokes will restore the timber look if painted in the same direction as the timber grain

Tip use timber wedges Like door stop wedges at bunnings under the door to lift the door up and hinges into alignment.

Under coat the door to stop paint soaking up paint initially I would use a gloss or semi gloss on the door to allow future marks on the door to wash off more easy.

LOL wrote a book here hope some of this helps good work on supporting your family.

JacobZ

Hi @ruredi13,

Thank you for sharing your door restoration project with us. This is such a wonderful gift that I'm sure your wife will love.

To remove the coating from the door, I'd suggest using Tricleanium Paint Stripper and a Paint Scraper to remove as much of the coating as possible. As there is intricate carving on the door, I'd avoid sanding as much as you can as it will remove the detail along with the coating. Once the coating has been removed, lightly sand the door with fine-grit sandpaper. Avoid using anything under 240 Grit if possible.

As @Jewelleryrescue has mentioned, the width of the door is easy to manage, just take 1/2 the amount you need to remove off of each side of the door. Make sure you measure the width at the top, middle and bottom of the old door as you can't always assume doors are perfectly square. Once cut, sand the corners to remove sharp edges.

With the height of the door, I see 3 options. The first is what Jewelleryrescue has mentioned about adding a draft stopper at the bottom of the door. The problem with this is whichever side of the door doesn't have a draft stopper on it will have a very obvious gap at the bottom of the door.

The simplest solution I have for this is to add a piece of timber to the top of the door frame. Depending on the depth of the door jamb, this 92 x 18mm LOSP Pine or this 138 x 18mm LOSP Pine are good options.

If this isn't possible because you have a rebated door jamb, you could laminate a piece of timber to the bottom of the door using wood glue and dowels or biscuits.

To fill the holes in the door, use Builders Bog. Lay the door flat with a piece of scrap timber underneath the hole, then fill the hole with the bog. Once dry, which will happen fast, you can sand it smooth.

Were the hinges on the door rebated? Is the door jamb also rebated?

If they are both rebated and they don't line up, I'd fill the rebates on the door and reuse the rebates on the door jamb as more of the pressure from the swinging door is applied to the door jamb than the actual door. Any slight overlap with your filler has the potential to crack under pressure. You can use the same Builders Bog to fill the holes from the rebate. You can then sand and paint the frame.

I've jumped around a bit trying to answer your questions, so to clarify, the process I'd follow is -

Remove the coating and lightly sand the door
Cut the door to width
Address the height of the door
Fill the hole for the door handle
Fill the old hinge rebates on the door
Locate, rebate and install the hinges in their new location on the door relative to the rebates in the door jamb
Test fit the door
Install the door hardware
Remove the door from the frame, remove the door hardware and then paint the door and door jamb
Rehang the door and test everything is working as intended.

There's a bit to it, but broken down into steps, it's certainly manageable.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

ruredi13

Hi @JacobZ . I’ve attached some pics of the existing door. Hopefully that answers your questions. Let me know what you would do.

if I took 30mm width off each side of the door, I assume that the old location of the hinges would be deleted wouldn’t it? So could just use the existing doors location?

I was thinking earlier about this project. The door to be restored is completely bare and has no detailing and the back side.

our existing door has detail on the back and matches our interior doors which are very nearby. It would be good to add this back somehow. Keen to know how you’d go about this.

ruredi13

@JacobZ - sorry if this is a dumb question, but how does one normally go about cleaning the paint stripper off. Timber and water don’t mix so I can’t hose it off. Is there a product or method used to get rid of it once it’s done its thing? I understand the scraping part but I imagine there would still be plenty left over and a scraper wouldn’t exactly work on the detailed sections.

JacobZ

Hi @ruredi13,

Yes, you are correct that cutting the door will remove the rebate, so please ignore the steps about this. A bit of an oversight on my part.

The detailing on doors is usually made from decorative mouldings which are shot onto the surface of the door with a brad nailer. Check out the range of Decorative Ceiling and Wall Mouldings from our supplier Porta. There's a good chance some of the profiles used are within their range.

Alternatively, you may be able to gently pry the mouldings off of the door and attach them to the other door, but there is some potential they will break in the process of removing them which could render them unusable. If you are gentle, this is likely a good option.

Most of the stripper will be absorbed into the paint/varnish and will be removed when it is scraped off. Any of the remainder can be wiped off with a damp cloth. Water and timber don't match, but a small amount on a damp cloth won't cause any issues.

Let me know what you think and if you've got further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

ruredi13

Thanks @JacobZ, much appreciated. Only thing I'm probably still not sure on is the best way to add 20mm of timber to the bottom of the door. By the looks of it, my door jam is rebated. The door is 40mm deep. Not sure if I'd be able to use one of the 30mm off cuts that I need to take off the side. I imagine it might look weird as the grain would be in a different direction.

JacobZ

Hi @ruredi13,

The grain direction will more than likely be different, but if you were going to paint it as you mentioned in the original post, it wouldn't matter so much because it would be covered.

I think the idea of repurposing the cut timber from the side of the door is honestly a great idea.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob

ruredi13

@JacobZ - Yeah I think it would be the best option. Same type of timber and the exact depth. I'm thinking some short dowels and glue. Screw the timber in place. Wait for the glue to dry and then remove the screws.

JacobZ

Sounds like a plan @ruredi13.

The only other thing I can think that you may need to consider is if the bottom edges of the door have been rounded.

If this is the case, you may need to cut 1-2mm off the bottom of the door, so the edges are sharp and perfectly square. This will ensure the edges meet perfectly without a slight depression in the timber from the rounding.

I'm excited to see how you go.

Jacob