Dining Room Door Replacement

Following on from replacing the living room door last month, we have now replaced the adjacent living room door with it's matching partner.

The old doors weren't in a particularly bad condition, we just wanted to change them to something that matched our planned décor.

The oak veneered doors which we bought needed to be reduced in width.  The previous door had to be reduced by approx. 3/4" and unfortunately this couldn't be done due to the thin edging strip on these doors, so I had to widen the door frame.  However, this door only had to be reduced by 1/2", so I decided to use my electric plane to take 1/4" off of each edge.

As you can see, there's not much of an edging left after taking 1/4" off.

I fitted the hinges in the workshop before taking the door into the house for hanging.  I'm using three 3" stainless steel ball-bearing hinges on each door because the doors are quite heavy and i'm spacing these to position two in the top half of the door and one in the bottom half (8" up from the bottom).  These should give a smooth action and minimise hinge wear and the finish will also match the handles. 

 

The latch and art deco handles were also fitted in the workshop prior to hanging.  This kept the majority of the mess in the workshop (which is easier to clean up)

and there we have it, the door hung and ready for its 1st coat of varnish.  As before, the door was brushed down to remove dust and then wiped down with a clean cloth soaked in white spirit.

The camera angle is a bit tight, but here are the two doors side by side. The right hand side door has been varnished, the left hand door is ready to be varnished.

First coat of varnish applied.  Before the 2nd coat is applied the door will be gently rubbed down with steel wool then wiped down with white spirit to give a nice smooth finish coat.

A Wee Quickie In the Cupboard!

One of the bedroom cupboards didn't offer much room for storage

 

The cupboard backed onto an area of wasted space above the stairs and I decided to blank off this wasted space and knock the cupboard through to provide more storage.

This may prove just to be a temporary job if the plans for a loft conversion can be progressed.

First step was to frame out the space.  I used some 2" x 1 1/2" leftover from another job.  I also framed out the slope directly over the steps. 

After sheeting the area above the stairs in plasterboard I knocked through from the cupboard and also sheeted the inside of the cupboard in plasterboard to give a finished surface.

Once sheeted the screw holes were filled, ready for a wee rub with sandpaper and eventually a coat of emulsion.

Job completed and the cupboard was promptly filled with a load of kids toys!

New Living Room Door

The new living room door getting it's first coat of Ronseal satin varnish.  Prior to varnishing I gave the door a quick rub with fine sandpaper then wiped it down with white spirit to remove the dust and remove any greasy fingerprints or dirty marks.  I've masked off the glazing panels to keep the varnish off of the glass. 

One door hung.  Looks simple in the pics, but it was a lot trickier than it looked.  The oak edging on these doors is only about 5mm thick which really limits how much you can reduce the door by and I required a 12mm reduction.  The only other option, other then renewing the door frames, was to widen the opening.  I used the router for this, but wouldn't want to have to do it again in a hurry. 

A set of Art Deco handles was purchased to match the 'theme' of the room

 

and they polished up nicely.

and there we have it.  A nice new oak door, complete with 2nd coat of varnish which was applied after a gentle rub with steel wool and a wipe down with white spirit.