Doors Doors Doors

It seems that lately everything we do is door related. Last weekend we removed the ugly aluminum storm door that was on the back door. The aluminum door is off to the scrap yard.In it's place we will install a wood storm door I purchased last year from a ReHabitiat store in Battle Creek. But first there are several things that need to happen.

First, I need to strip the white paint off the wood storm door.....oh...oh....under the white paint is red paint. Both the white paint and red are proving difficult to remove. Also it seems the other side is white paint over navy paint over red paint and it is coming off just as slowly.I also need to epoxy the hinge mortises and door handle holes because this door is hinged on the wrong side. Once the holes are filled and the paint removed, I can sand and prime the door.

Second, I need to strip the trim and door jamb. This took several hours because the wind kicked up and was blowing all the heat away from my heat gun. I've completed the paint removal and just need to fill some holes with epoxy and then sand the entire door jamb and frame.The door looks much improved without that ugly aluminum storm. This particular door is a Dutch door. You might also be able to see the outlines of the large decorative metal straps that need to go back on the door. I might put those back on just so I don't lose a screw. I can always remove them again when I stain the door.

Upon closer inspection we realized that the threshold needs to be replaced before the storm door can be installed. R will need to do this before he can rebuild the step. But first it is back to paint removal.

Dutch Door Removal

On Sunday we removed the Dutch style door that leads into the kitchen. The door did not close properly and will be replaced with a French door. R and I agreed that the door was not original to this location once we were able to look at the jamb up close. The deciding factor was when we removed the door stop from the jamb and saw old nail holes and paint witness marks from the door stop's previous location.

Here is a photo of the bottom portion of the Dutch door. The front and back are different styles. The side showing in this photo is the side that could be seen from the hall which is a recessed panel door like the doors in the rest of the house.The next photo is of the top portion and shows the side that faced the knotty pine kitchen.
The knotty pine was attached to the door making the door about 4 inches thick.

We do have a theory about this door. We think that possibly the panel door is original to the location but not the Dutch style nor the knotty pine. We have a hunch that the door was cut in half and knotty pine added to it when they installed the knotty pine in the kitchen. The knotty pine is not original because we can see the painted plaster wall behind the knotty pine panels.

We hope at sometime in the distant future to completely gut the kitchen and return it to a 1930 style cabinets but until then we will make do with what we have. Also the hallway is dark and having a French door will allow natural light to filter into the hallway.

When R was removing the door he said it reminded him of the old TV show Mr. Ed. R said that every time he walked by the closed Dutch door he expected Mr. Ed to throw open the top portion of the door and say, "Wilbur, I need some carrots."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSsuohepbVk

Now try and get that song out of your head. You will be singing "......a horse is a horse, of course of course....." all day long. No need to thank me......I do what I can.

Back to the house. "...a house is a house, of course of course...." Good grief.

Well anyways. Today we will move along the hallway sanding the base board, stripping the old clothes chute, and sanding this cool built in cabinet. After that we will strip the trim on the doorway leading into what will be the game room. This doorway also had a door on it at one time evident by the remaining door stop and hinge witness marks. Our plan is to install both the kitchen door and this door at the same time, probably mid week.

I had better get ready and go to Home Depot and see if they have any 80 grit sandpaper for a 5 inch round orbital sander. We will need the coarser grit to remove the paint from the built in cabinet. It appears that it was always painted and never varnished. The paint is harder to remove with the heat gun when the paint is not over varnish and always leaves paint that needs sanding.

"...a horse is a horse, of course of course.."