Old door restoration

The work

This former front door from a 200-year-old cottage had been retained after a porch was fitted. It had severe rot in places and an old cat flap to deal with. Once the original paint was removed from the front, the affected timber and damaged panel mouldings could be properly assessed. I removed the decayed timber, applied wet rot hardener and rebuilt the areas with epoxy filler, sanding it back before fitting replacement mouldings.

The door was primed and undercoated before receiving several topcoats of external matt paint. On the rear, I removed the old varnish and cleaned rust from the large hinges and latch, finishing them in matt black metal paint. Aged pine was used to fill the rear of the cat-flap opening, with paint worked to match the surrounding grain. The rear was waxed, and brass hardware was fitted to finish the front.