Relacing or restoring door on an old house

D

Dublin6

Registered User
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I have an old draughty illfitting front door. It looks to me like the original door (100 years old) badly patched and repaired over the years.

I think it is beyond restoration and would like to replace it. Has anyone replaced an old front door, any recommendations of a joinery company that specialises in old houses? Its only the door we are replacing (no windows)- is 1500 realistic?

The problem is that the house is on a slant, the floors and the walls and the door frame are crooked. I think it would be diffficult to make a new front door that would fit the old frame. The old frame has some carving detail on it, and it does not seem right to pull it out and replace it.

Anyone solved this problem?
 

Old doors 100 years old are pricless and can be restored if you can find someone who is contrary enough to tackle a task like this.

I'm quite contrary myself.

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I would get a carpenter to come out and look at it first. It could be salvageable with the addition of slips of wood top and bottom. If you go with this option try to get the door dipped first so that any patching and addittions fit in seemlessly once the door is repainted.

If replacing, then you can do the same fix with a new off the shelf door to make it fit. A brand new door can be made to the sloped shape, but no joiner would recommend that. Sky is the limit in price for a new door, but 1500 should do it. Crossan's Joinery in Phibsboro are very good.

I would be more worried about the door frame being crooked as no matter what you do with the door it will always look off cos of the frame being off. It might be an option to take out the frame aswell and refit. We replaced a frame and took all the scrolls & carvings off the old one, got them dipped and then remade the new frame to a similiar design, with the scrolls. It didn't look the exact same but was close. The scrolls & detail below the fan light were really the only important bit. We took pictures before ripping it out. Also needed to wait a while before repainting to ensure the chemicals in the dipped wood were gone.(new paint would have flaked otherwise). There is a dipping place just before the canal bridge to Harolds Cross. One of those old antique shops. Can't rem their name but they did all our dipping and were great. Expect to pay e30 approx per door.

Best off seeking a carpenters advice in all this as there may be more to it than just replacing or fixing the door.
 

The guy you are thinking of is Greg

I got doors dipped by him some years ago never again, they took months to dry out. Never again!
 
As an update, used Sash Window Restorations to repair my old front door http://www.sashwindowrestorations.com/. The door was ready for the skip and but they worked magic on it and it is now pared back to the beauty it was 150 years ago and ready for painting. Also well worth in investing in the draught proofing.

They even talked me into spending 10 hours polishing the brasses (which I wanted to throw in the bin), which are also looking better than anything I could buy new...

Moral of the story - dont throw out that old door, it can be better than anything you would replace it with!
 
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