Internal doors damaged - need repair

sarkozy

A stupid person gave us advice to dip our internal period pine 4-panel doors.

Now many of the joints have come undone and some panels have warped.

I don't need to be told what a mistake this was. We did our best by asking so-called 'experts'.

Some have told us the doors can be repaired easily enough by replacing some panels, re-gluing, screwing and clamping. We intend to paint them. Today, another joiner recommended to me by a restorer said there's no point - he doesn't repair them - meaning we will need to shell out €500 for each new door.

Needless to say, we've already wasted the money dipping them.

Does anyone have any helpful information for us?

One shot on kill

What did you dip them in and for how long etc.

kadman

Its quicker to make a new door for any joinery, so will be far cheaper than any

disassemble , repair and replace parts, and re assemble and finish.

Unfortunate thing.

My 2 cents...

tabby aspreme

Have the doors dried out fully, you won't know the full extent of the damage until they are totally dry, while they are drying keep them stacked horizontally indoors on a level surface with about 50 mm space between them to allow air to circulate freely, put a sheet of ply or mdf 50 mm over the top of the stack and weight it down .
It shouldn't be that difficult to repair them , often the hardest part of a repair is to disassemble without causing further damage, especially if the tenons are Fox wedged, some joinery shops may not want the hassle of a restoration job as it can be more difficult than making something new but in most cases it should be cheaper to restore, can you put up some pics.

recipio

Why did you dip them if you intended to re-paint them ? No criticism - just curious. The stripped and waxed look is popular but I have seen stripped doors with cheap plywood panels which look terrible.
Joints loosening up is a common complication of stripping and can certainly be repaired by a sympathetic restorer - perhaps someone on here will recommend one.?

sarkozy

recipio wrote: »

Why did you dip them if you intended to re-paint them ? No criticism - just curious. The stripped and waxed look is popular but I have seen stripped doors with cheap plywood panels which look terrible.
Joints loosening up is a common complication of stripping and can certainly be repaired by a sympathetic restorer - perhaps someone on here will recommend one.?

Dipped because we thought cheaper and quicker to prepare them for painting. Bad idea. Now I wish someone had told me about PeelAway long ago, but I'd never heard of it despite my exhaustive research. We have no money and, consequently, no doors upstairs. It's possible the ones downstairs can be filled, prepped and painted as they're not in as bad condition. I have not yet found a carpenter/restorer who is willing to save them. I've been quoted €500 per door.

recipio

sarkozy wrote: »

Dipped because we thought cheaper and quicker to prepare them for painting. Bad idea. Now I wish someone had told me about PeelAway long ago, but I'd never heard of it despite my exhaustive research. We have no money and, consequently, no doors upstairs. It's possible the ones downstairs can be filled, prepped and painted as they're not in as bad condition. I have not yet found a carpenter/restorer who is willing to save them. I've been quoted €500 per door.

Don't feel too bad. Stripping paint is a tedious and messy job.Someone is having a laugh with that quote - I'd expect them to be made in solid Walnut for that. If you could get your hands on four sash clamps you could knock the joints apart with a rubber hammer and have a go at re-glueing them yourself.

kadman

Your quote is whats known in the game as a " **** off price ".
Its a quote with a bit of black mail attached.

When you put the term restoration attached to any piece of furniture, you are going to get big quotes,
as its seriously labour intensive.And to make a new door in a modern joinery is a quick process.

Just look at sliding sash restoration work, its labour intensive, hence expensive.

As some one has already suggested, a pic is worth a 1000 words.

If you,ve already shelled out 500 euro for each door, I,d like to see a pic of those doors.

recipio

kadman wrote: »

Your quote is whats known in the game as a " **** off price ".
Its a quote with a bit of black mail attached.

When you put the term restoration attached to any piece of furniture, you are going to get big quotes,
as its seriously labour intensive.And to make a new door in a modern joinery is a quick process.

Just look at sliding sash restoration work, its labour intensive, hence expensive.

As some one has already suggested, a pic is worth a 1000 words.

If you,ve already shelled out 500 euro for each door, I,d like to see a pic of those doors.

Agreed. Why can't tradesmen simply say they don't want the job instead of wasting everybody's time.

Alun

recipio wrote: »

Agreed. Why can't tradesmen simply say they don't want the job instead of wasting everybody's time.

It's not only giving an unrealistic quote in the hope that you'll *** off either, the other tactic is to say they'll do it (even though they know they don't have the time) and then repeatedly not turn up at the appointed date and time until the client just gives up and finds somebody else.

kadman

Agreed ,

Its a tactical move , and a win win for them. If they really wanted the job, its awkward,
time consuming, and pushes most joineries outside of their comfort zone, so you will be
heavily summoned for visiting this on them.

I,ve worked for companies , that encouraged and employed this tactic. And when the client
accepts to pay their ransom demands............they go into shock, as they never expected
to get the job in the first place, at their asking price.

sarkozy

Interesting. Good information.

One carpenter, who did nice joinery for us, said that, since we're simply painting them anyway, we could get away with clamping the doors back, securing the joints with glue and some screws through the tenon, fill and conceal with a nice new layer of paint. He said he'd give us a price but has since ignored us. Perhaps he meant get someone else to do it, or figure out how to do it myself.

At this point, if it's true the doors are ruined, and properly repairing is expensive, then bodging them back together may be enough until we can afford real reproductions. In which case, I try to find someone who I can pay to do that cheaply, or I pony up for the outlay of a few clamps to do it myself. I presume I'd need about three pipe clamps (one for each rail joint).

kadman

sarkozy wrote: »

Interesting. Good information.

One carpenter, who did nice joinery for us, said that, since we're simply painting them anyway, we could get away with clamping the doors back, securing the joints with glue and some screws through the tenon, fill and conceal with a nice new layer of paint. He said he'd give us a price but has since ignored us. Perhaps he meant get someone else to do it, or figure out how to do it myself.

At this point, if it's true the doors are ruined, and properly repairing is expensive, then bodging them back together may be enough until we can afford real reproductions. In which case, I try to find someone who I can pay to do that cheaply, or I pony up for the outlay of a few clamps to do it myself.

If you are going to have a go anyway, dont buy clamps, use a couple of ratchet straps if you have them.You should get enough force on them.

And forget the screws into the tenon, use wooden 8-10 mm dowels instead.
You can either place them in the back of the door face, and not come the whole way through the door.

Us bodgers on here dont know if the doors are ruined...because you haven' given us a pic yet...so do please.:P