Retrofitting ‘period’ or original internal doors

[carbonblack]

Context: 1930s property, and whilst someone local has said the doors we have are original, I’m not so sure.

They’re are effectively hollow rectangles. No detailing whatsoever.

I want to swap these for some original 1930s doors which thankfully are reasonably common given the prevalence of people ripping them out due to regs when they do a loft conversion.


Current doors are 45mm thick, or more likely the metric equivalent.

The 1930s doors I see are almost all 45mm.


Questions:

Any gotchas or pitfalls to look out for when sizing reclaimed doors?

Do they need to be the same orientation or can they be swung in reverse?

How many doors would it be reasonable to expect a carpenter/joiner to swap in a day?

Thanks

[wolfracesonic]

45mm thick? Unusual for internal doors, standard is usually 35mm or its imperial equivalent, are you in a stately home? Make sure they aren’t too bowed when looking down the stiles, the joints aren’t coming apart if they’ve been dipped, they’ve not been trimmed out of square to suit some odd opening, no woodworm! They can be reversed, however the hinge mortise may need to be patched if you do. Fitting wise, old doors in old frames, domestic setting, 4-5 in a day in the real world, not ‘I fitted 50 egg boxes in a day in a new build’.

[carbonblack]

Thanks, exactly the sort of thing I was after.

Definitely not in a stately home, we have 45mm egg boxes but I am told they’re original, which I’m not sure I believe.

If they were thinner they’d probably crumple when I shut the existing doors which is partially why I want to change them out

[PhilboSE]

Not uncommon to get 1.75" / 45mm doors on older properties.

I agree it's unlikely that a flat panel hollow door is unlikely to be original, classic 60s/70s retrofit to "modernise" the property. Hideous things.

You can still get classic 1930s style doors (single large panel over 3 tall thin panels) new from many suppliers and they'll be in Imperial sizes, which might make fitting a bit easier for the joiner.

5 in a day is pretty standard going for good fitter, including all the hinges, door furniture, latches and stops.

[ShredderXLE]

My house was built in 1926 and still has its original doors throughout. They are quite thin, circa 32mm so is fitted with surface mount or semi recessed rim locks / latches rather than mortice locks. If the old doors were modern doors with mortice fittiings you might need to tidy up and fill the door linings if you cant fit the same type latches on the new period correct doors.

[wibble cb]

my house was built in 1906, but somewhere in the 70's it got split into units, hollow core doors replaced all the soiid originals, like the op I found that lots of people are removing them, so with a bit of luck, I found the right number of replacement 6 panel period doors ( some with original hardware).




I then had a job to track down more handles/faceplates to match these, but managed it!


My wife then decided she wanted a semi glazed door for the bathroom, so I made one of those as well!



finished




I found that some doors were too small for my frames (some were a perfect fit), so I reduced the frames with some thin wood fillets and moving the door stop, once painted white to match, no-one has spotted these changes, the doors look so much better than the ones we got when we bought.

OP, good luck with the project, let us know how you get on!

[carbonblack]

Thanks all.

I honestly don’t think they’re original but someone who’s been up the road for many years assures me they are and they had the same in their house.

Or perhaps the street got a job lot of ‘new’ doors somewhere in the distant past around the 60s.


I was trying to avoid buying new, but I will have a look as finding 1.75/45mm originals are much rarer it seems. They do come up, but usually the other end of the country and often too short.

wibble cb said:

My wife then decided she wanted a semi glazed door for the bathroom, so I made one of those as well!



finished

I’ve already been asked to try and source a glazed one for the kitchen so knowing you can put glass in place of an original panel is handy, thanks

[Craikeybaby]

We have a mixture of originals and reproductions, but you couldn't tell which was which.


Office by Lewis Craik, on Flickr

We have an "original" glazed door for the kitchen. When we moved in the doors had all been covered in hardboard, but a couple were beyond saving.