repairing stripped doors

If they are anything like my victorian doors you'll find that the panels are made of cheaper and thinner wood which is the reason it has warped . At least your doors still have the mouldings.many had them removed and flushed .

Don't know what you can fill the gaps with though considering you are not repainting them .

Thanks for the reply Stuart. You are probably right about the panels. There are only 6mm thick but they are the same type of wood. The mouldings do not sit proud of the door structure but I guess I am lucky in that they have never had the hardboard flushing treatment. I now have a phobia about dipping shops and might have to scrape and nitromors the rest.

Andy

I'm told that the chemicals aren't removed from the wood completely, so it helps to thoroughly wipe over with vinegar to counteract them and stop the wood continuing to dry out. Oiling needs to be done fairly soon afterwards.

Plastic wood of the appropriate color is as good as it gets for filling stained wood.

However it beats me why anyone would want to strip a cheap victorian door. They were made of s*it that was designed to be painted, for good reason.

Cue UK-DIY 2050

"How can I strip melamine off a 1960's chipboard table: I want to expose the natural grain and stain it"

Sounds like by "chemically stripped" you mean caustic. Dip 'n Strip type franchises use a non-caustic method which, to me, doesn't look as good, but at least you shouldn't get warping of panels. I always give stripped doors a coat of peroxide which cleans up the surface and generally undoes any colour changes brought about by chemical reaction with the wood. Normally the moulding round the panels is part of the frame so maybe the gaps you're referring to are between panel and moulding?

Any doors I have seen have the mouldings pinned to the door . Don't see how they could be part of the frame .!!! ( or was that not what you meant)

Hi,

thanks for all the comments and tips. I agree that I should have had a plan as regards the final finishing and got them sorted soon after getting them back from dipping. The mouldings are nailed to the door structure. The doors were not originally painted white so to my mind the wood was meant to be on display. Stripping a whole house is a major task so I have now decided to only strip those areas that were originally finished in shellac/wax. The house is 1906 so I guess that dates it as Edwardian.

Andy

nearly all doors have any mouldings as part of the frame.

Yes but what exactly do you mean by "part of the frame" . As I said before any ones I have seen have the mouldings pinned to the door and that's what the OP has ..as he said in a previous posting .

Take a look at any mass produced door. Spindle moulder....mirror profiles

all the result of the dipping i expect. There is a reason why its not recommended. Also the dip attacks the glue in the joints, so your doors start to part at the joins, gaps show up etc. It doesnt leave the wood surface in good shape either.

NT

Stripping by dipping is virtually always a disaster and should be avoided at all costs. If you must do it then I'd remove paint carefully with a hot air gun which might just leave your original varnish intact if you are lucky. If not then I'd repaint or re-varnish. Bare wood was NEVER left as such "on display" except in cowsheds, kitchens etc and the whole idea is fairly stupid, luckily now almost out of fashion.

cheers Jacob

But the OP's ( an mine) doors are 100 years old .

Hardly ever a disaster if it's done properly, and it's the only method that removes *all* the paint (from the mouldings as well).

If you must do it then I'd remove paint carefully

I take it you don't like the look of wood.

And you don't think the Victorians mass produced joinery?

I wasn't around at the time .:-)

All I was really saying was that any doors on tenements around here ( Glasgow)

have seperate mouldings pinned to the door around the panels .

Don't like the look of stripped pine - tends to look like old driftwood, stains, defects all visible, salt encrusted, often distorted and split panels, joints coming apart, surface grain lifting, edges fraying, and so on. Just needs barnacles and bird s*it for the full effect. And a few bits of tar. Tons of otherwise excellent old joinery and furniture wrecked every year by stripping/dipping. Can sometimes be done wth care by hand for pieces which weren't originally intended for painting/varnishing.

cheers Jacob

Yes very common on nearly all internal doors. Called panel moulding. Usually not done on external doors as doesn't weather well - either machined on to panels, or sticking out "Bolection" profile used instead.

cheers Jacob

it doesnt have to be done that badly

NT