Old Door Repairs

This 18th Century door was highlighted on a condition report, from visual inspection and discrete invasive tests it showed substantial rot. The decision was made to remove the door and bring it back to the workshop to ascertain the level of decay and decide on the best course of action for its repair. Our tests for lead based paints came back as positive, using RPE and infrared heat guns we removed all the layers of paint from the lower third of the door. Once removed, it was evident that the timber had decayed beyond repair; the stiles and rails had rotted away behind plastic paints and modern fillers.

Using the original wood, we profiled high quality soft wood for its repair. We scarf repaired the stiles, replaced the lower mullion, mid and bottom rails. The new panels were rebated into the mullions and rails. All joints were glued and clamped till set.

We filled open grains with linseed oil putty, treated knots with a shellac knotting primer and filled any larger gaps on the door with Oakum and putty to prepare for painting with Linseed oil paint.

This 17th century oak brace and ledger door was removed from the same property; it had been stored in an outbuilding for as long and the owners can remember. When we came across it, it was missing boards, the remaining boards had extensive decay on their bottom 3rd and it was missing its bottom rail. The decayed timber was removed, and new seasoned oak boards were scarfed in. We produced a bottom rail of the same section size of the braces above.

 Once our timber repairs were complete, we nailed the bottom rail, and braces back into position using forged nails to match the original.