Page 217 - 2018 National Home Improvement

2018 National Home Improvement Estimator, All Rights Reserved Page 175

Chapter 9, Doors

The front entry door is the most important door in any home. It’s usually visible from the street and
always makes a first impression on visitors. Whether new or old, the front door should both look good
and complement the style of the house.

If only cosmetic repairs are needed to an original door, that’s the place to start. If the door is original, it’s
probably in perfect harmony with the exterior décor. Repairing the door saves the time and expense of
finding exactly the right replacement door and hauling away the old door. Finding historically correct
replacement doors for older homes can be difficult, and they’re likely to be expensive. But if the door is
already a replacement, then replacing it again probably won’t do any harm.

How can you tell if the entry door is original? Replacement doors can be beautiful, but seldom
harmonize with the home décor. For example, a light colored oak flush door (popular in the 1960s)
installed on a home built in the 1920s is an obvious replacement. Hanging a 21st century door doesn’t
modernize a 19th century home.

Repair or Replace?
Balance the cost of repair against the cost of buying and hanging a new door of similar quality.
Obviously, repair makes sense when the cost is substantially less than the cost of replacement. Figure
9-1 shows extra-wide French doors set with thick, beveled glass. These doors were very dirty and the
bottoms scarred and damaged. Brushing them with detergent removed the grime, and the damage on
the bottoms was taken care of by simply covering them with brass kickplates. Two hours of work and a
$50 investment salvaged doors that might cost thousands to duplicate.

The most common problem with entry doors is a deteriorated finish. Peeling paint or alligatored varnish
will turn an otherwise attractive door into an eyesore. A bad finish alone isn’t an adequate reason to
replace an entry door. If the door has a varnish finish that has darkened, wash it before you make a
decision about stripping the finish. If the door has been waxed, the finish may be nothing more than
dirty. Wax collects dirt and darkens as it ages. That makes the door ugly. But dirty wax also helps
protect the finish below. You may find a perfect gem under that wax.