door rebuild

Re: door rebuild

Joe shelton

That looks like a real interesting project, and I hope to see some detail along the way.

Here in Alabama, I try to steer people away from storm doors, out of the conviction that storm doors roast the main door. But a door such as that one could change my stance, I think.

Speakeasy door

Gary Smyth

Only seen one before. "in town" door. Thought it pointless until it was pointed out to me that the mailman used it to drop magazines and larger stuff the wouldn't fit in the mail box. Daily newspapers that were not permitted in the mail box were also dropped.

It kept stuff from getting wet and people from (horror of horrors) getting caught outside in pajamas and slippers. Pretty slick if you had a carrier that actually delivered and didn't throw it from a bicycle.

Re: door rebuild

Keith Newton

What kind of wood are you planning to use. I've used Spanish Cedar, and Sapelle for the last I've done, and except for the bitter taste whenever I lick my lips after sanding the S Cedar, I liked it.

Re: door rebuild

clay foster

The original door appears to be either white pine or cedar. Won't know for sure until I get 30 coats of paint removed. The last replacement door I made was QS white oak.

Re: door rebuild

Keith Newton

Oh, I thought you were making a new one.

As for stripping heavy coats of old paint, especially on the flats of the main door, is to use a heatgun. I've found that by using a scraper or old chisel about the same width as the end of the gun barrel works best. With a gloved hand grip the chisel, bevel away, gripped against the barrel with about 1 - 1 1/2" of scraper past the end.

Now turn the heat on high, then bring it over the wood perpendicular to the surface, and drag it along while the paint wads up ahead of the blade. You'll need to stop and clear, unless you can flick the crud away to keep it from shielding the heat. This method gets the paint when it is at the perfect level of softness, whereas trying to work the heat with one hand and blade with the other has the risk of burns, or too much lag time loosing heat, or getting outside the hot zone, coordination, not getting a splinter with bevel up, against the grain situation.

I could be done with the door, before a chemical was getting started, and I hate the mess that method makes. Not to mention I watched a neighbor's big historic house burn after the painter somehow got a spark after spreading a lot of volitle chemical spread in the foyer.

Re: door rebuild

Joseph Mulherin

Clay, since you already have the door removed from the frame of the door try using the chemical remover they sell at HD and the scraper to remove most of the paint. It might take many applications to remove all of the paint, then use the heat gun technicue mentioned for the very hard clusters which the remover will not help.