French Doors

The rear French doors are in very bad shape due to lack of maintenance and exposure to the weather.  Paul Sr. told me that the best solution is to remove all of the glass panes, take the frames apart, then re-glue an clamp all of the joints. 

I did not envision attending to this for at least a year.  However, Paul Jr told me that in 2 years the doors would be beyond salvage so I agreed to attend to the renovation now.  To that end Paul removed the doors and filled in the gap with a sheet of ply board on one side and an old door on the other side.  That door has been very well fitted and can be locked from the inside for security.

I placed the door sections on the verandah and my task will be to carefully remove the strips of wood trim holding in the panes, and marking each set of strips so that we replace the strips in their original locations.  The panes will be the same size so I won't have to keep track of them.

Paul Jr Removing French Doors

Not Pretty but Secure

Over to Me

Once the glass has been removed I'll phone Paul who will take the doors away so that he and his father can re glue them.  They will then return the doors and I will sand and varnish them the fit the glass.  Then Paul will re fit the doors with a strip of wood along the bottom.  This will yield a better weather seal and will allow me to place the door bolts inside of the room instead of outside and into the concrete.

I asked Paul why I couldn't simply replace all of the wood strips with new ones.  I pointed to him where I had already replaced several sets.  Paul's opinion is that if every one of the wood strips for the glass panes must be cut and fitted then restoration of the doors is not worth the effort. I'm not sure if I agree with that.  For one thing, the existing wood strips are very brittle and interlock at the corners.  Removing the strips intact will be a slow and tedious task.  Some of the strips will break and they all will require wood filler in nail holes.  I'm thinking of simply ripping out the old strips and fitting in new ones.  After all it will be on my time and working on the verandah is very pleasant.  After what I've gone through in preparing the floors of the house fitting new strips will be a piece of cake.