JeremyThe door sticks in the frame every time I try to open it. Even worse, the door is solid wood with a wood veneer, so ever time you open it, it pulls the veneer off the bottom.
It's not surprising that the door sticks. This is an old house; it's bound to have settled and taken things out of square. The surprising thing is that the door is still square. Put a level on the top, and the bubble floats in the center! It would appear that the house has settled pretty evenly, but the beams on either side of the door have pulled it down and against the threshold at the bottom of the door frame. This is actually good news; I just need to plane the bottom to keep it from rubbing.
Even better news was that my Dad had a spare electric hand planer laying around I could use.
Preparing the door: Put masking tape down and scoring the veneer to prevent ripping it off.
Plane the bottom by 1/32", lift the [HEAVY] door back onto the hinges, check the fit, take the door off, repeat as necessary.
After several rounds of cutting and checking the fit, the door closed smoothly! I probably took a little more than 1/4" off the bottom by the end of it.
The wood was still looking pretty rough, so the next step was to sand and seal it. In this case I chose to use teak oil.
Now to polish the door hardware. It had a lot of oxidation, so I had to bring out the dremel to get it shining again (I wish I took a before/after photo). I chose to shine the major areas but leave some of the oxidation and tarnish to keep the antique look.
Finish with a couple layers of mineral oil on the hardware to protect the finish and we're done.
Pretty good for the first pass. I'll probably put an extra layer or two of oil on it in the next week or so.
Discussions
Become a Hackaday.io Member
Create an account to leave a comment. Already have an account? Log In.
That's about what the manufactures do.
Are you sure? yes | no
VERY important to seal edges after sanding. If you don't the wood will soak up moisture like a sponge and swell. Generally, a door should have about 1/8" clearance in the frame on all sides. As far as the hardware, I used to send old external lock parts out to have them polished and plated. They should have a coat of clear urethane spray varnish applied afterward to preserve the finish. Don't clean with Windex, it'll etch. A coat of car wax is a good idea now and then. This stuff is worth preserving, a new lockset in solid brass or bronze with all the trim can cost upwards of $800.
Are you sure? yes | no
Yup, I was sure to seal all the edges. The urethane spray varnish is a good idea for the hardware.
Are you sure? yes | no