can these doors be salvaged!!!!

[TryC]

Hi All!

 

So, we're doing some home improvements around the house and rather than getting new doors installed (which definitely seems to be the easiest option by far!!), we wanted to see if we could retain the woodwork to keep some of the original features in place. The doors and the frames and the bits on the stairway/banister have been painted over the years, and prior to us moving in, I wasn't sure if any lead-based paint had been used. So, I didn't really want to use a hot gun or the traditional paint stripper solutions as it could give off toxic fumes when mixing with potential lead-based paint.

 

I used this stuff to neutralise the potential lead-based paint and now I am all stripped down (well, it still needs a bit of sanding - who am I kidding, a LOT of sanding), but I am not sure if the stuff I used to take off the paint has actually damaged the doors to a point we might need an entire new door and frame!

 

Can anyone advise if the doors can be salvaged at all? Initially, we were thinking of keeping it natural and putting on a varnish, but one door (photo not included atm) seems to be a very dark Maghogany colour (which is a bit too dark for the colour scheme we had in mind for the space the door is in), so we have decided to strip and sand then have it painted white. We will use the the Valspar wood paint (which we were told didn't need a separate primer/undercoat) by the good folks at B&Q, despite me asking them to double check this info since the tub actually that before using the paint, that I would need to use Valspar primer/undercoat. I was given shrugging of shoulders and told despite 'it not saying it on the tin that it had the primer/undercoat, I was assured it was in it'. I ended up having to ring Valspar directly who confirmed it didn't have it in the paint and I would need the separate primer/undercoat.

 

Anyway, I went of tangent, can anyone tell me if the doors, the quality is salvageable or shall I be getting new doors in!

 

The first image shows a door which has had about 3 or 4 layers of paint. The second, only had the one layer of paint so stripping that was a dream!

 

[Onoff]

Maybe look into getting the doors caustic stripped? Look for a place local to you. You have to be careful that the process doesn't affect the glue holding the door together.

 

I stripped all the doors and skirting in my first house circa 1865 with a hot air gun and various scrapers. Lead paint no doubt. Could explain why the intervening years are a blur...

[PeterW]

Lovely 1930’s one over threes - probably find they are mahogany or pitch pine and salvageable. 
 

Lots of places now do non-caustic stripping which is kinder to wood but any stripping process will raise the grain and the doors will need sanding and refinishing.  
 

If you want to do them yourself you’ll find the paste and fabric strippers are good, but you could find the cost outweighs the value of replacement doors. 

[TryC]

6 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Maybe look into getting the doors caustic stripped? Look for a place local to you. You have to be careful that the process doesn't affect the glue holding the door together.

 

I stripped all the doors and skirting in my first house circa 1865 with a hot air gun and various scrapers. Lead paint no doubt. Could explain why the intervening years are a blur...

Thanks for the tip! I did consider this as an option, but the doors are bloody heavy, taking them off would of been a mission and more so putting them buggers back on!

 

The local company near me would of also wanted us to take off the door knobs and the inbuilt locks (not possible).

 

They would of finished all the doors in two weeks (2 weeks being doorless throughout the house with pets!), it would of cost around £500 for it all in, but then we would still have to take all the pesky paint off the skirting boards and door frames. I am tempted to get the skirting boards solution to pop over the skirting boards, but would have issues cutting the bits to join! 

 

The door crevices are a bloody bugger to strip I tell ya!

 

I have used the peelaway to strip down - do you have any experience with that?

[TryC]

9 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Lovely 1930’s one over threes - probably find they are mahogany or pitch pine and salvageable. 
 

Lots of places now do non-caustic stripping which is kinder to wood but any stripping process will raise the grain and the doors will need sanding and refinishing.  
 

If you want to do them yourself you’ll find the paste and fabric strippers are good, but you could find the cost outweighs the value of replacement doors. 

Thanks for the tip!

 

I used the Peelaway paste, I ended up using paste on two doors but then I had to get the 7 variant for another door because it has something that wasn't coming off with variant 1. Photo attached. The paste did the random rectangle spots and the innard of the door and the hot gun on the left side of the door. 

 

Is that what this door type is called? 'one over threes' ?