Deco&Design

A wooden door restoration service I wish I had known about a long time ago

Repairing, refurbishing or restoring wooden doors in a house is a real challenge. Especially if it's old and built on the model of a fairy or manor house, with tall, simple, double, sliding, folding doors. And if the doors have lots of small windows, it's even more complicated, and I know from experience what that means. Eight years ago, not knowing what I was getting myself into, I decided to fill my time by making some changes to the house, at which time I decided to reinforce the walls and restore the doors. Made of wood, eight feet high, with a thousand little gems and painted countless times over the years.

wooden doors

While I was at it I wanted to make them as good as possible, so I looked for a team to take off all the layers of white paint applied over time, patch the holes and replace the broken, torn or decayed parts. I explained all these wishes to the team I was working with, they said they understood and ... the nightmare began. Either they were too big and had nowhere to take them to be cleaned down to the wood, or it was impossible to clean the frames, or that if they replace parts of the door they might not be the same, plus that glass of that thickness was no longer available (!!!). It was an experience I'll remember for a long time. How nice it would have been to meet the SaveMob.

I told you about them before when we talked about saving 100-year-old Chippendale furniture. I liked what they managed to do then with that furniture, but I always thought that furniture is one thing and doors, windows are something else. I recently found out that they refurbish and restore including doors and they do it the way I wish my doors had been 8 years ago.

wooden doors

They have a specialist door refurbishment team who travel to the customer's home. The doors are picked up, nicely packed, taken to the workshop where they are refurbished. Doors are refurbished on site at the customer's home. The paint or varnish is cleaned down to the wood, no matter how many layers have built up over time. The wood is grouted, repaired and checked for decay. If it is, the wood is replaced so it doesn't infest the rest of the wooden items in the house. They are then sanded, stripped and finished, depending on how they were originally or the customer's wishes.

At the workshop, work is done in a leisurely way. It's not that the heels aren't worked on with great care and attention, it's just that the heels are simpler, without as much detailing and machining as the doors, which are a real challenge. If the doors are painted, the same steps are followed as for the frames: clean, check, replace damaged parts that can no longer be saved, treat for decay, sand and repaint.

wooden doors

If the doors are veneered and finished transparently, the steps are more difficult and must be worked on with great care. In general, old doors have intricate patterns made of veneers of different woods, something like inlays, but on a macro level.

wooden doors

Over time, the veneer is the first to fail due to moisture, mechanical shock or low strength or ageing of the adhesive. As a result, it needs to be re-laid.

wooden doors

It's not easy to find large pieces of veneer that look like the one that needs to be replaced, but leaving it to the specialists takes the worry out of that.

wooden doors

If the veneer is aesthetically pleasing, the door will most likely be varnished, not painted. Choose the bath so that it resembles the original and stain the veneer. Then apply gund and clear varnish, with intermediate sanding to give the door a smooth, smooth surface.

wooden doors

Even if they are done separately, always check that the door is similar to the heel. At the end the door is packed, transported to the customer's home, fitted and checked so that everything is just as the customer wanted. Like I said, I really wish I had known them when I was redoing the doors!

restoration of wooden doors

About the author

Mihaela Radu

Mihaela Radu is a chemical engineer but has a great passion for wood. She has been working in the field for more than 20 years, wood finishing being what defined her during this period. She gained experience working in a research institute, in her own company, as well as in a multinational. She wants to continuously share her experience with those who have the same passion - and more.

7 comments

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    • Hello,

      I want to refurbish a glazvand hormat of 4 doors that folds accordion type.Bucuresti. I want to know the price.

      Thank you for your reply

      • Hello!
        We are a magazine for wood enthusiasts. For reconditioning you should contact SaveMob. Find here contact details.
        All the best!

        • Hello

          I have not personally worked with SaveMob. It is far away because I live in Timisoara. I turned to dances 3 years ago when I was in the middle of renovating my apartment and wanted to restore all the furniture in the living room. I had a period of deep despair when I realized that I could not find any restorer in Timisoara. I had already been turned down by two other restorers in the surrounding area. The SaveMob people were extremely helpful and kind and Mr. Director, I think the dancer who replied to my e-mail, quickly sent me a name and phone number of a restorer in Timisoara with whom the company had collaborated. And I was super satisfied. I will remain forever grateful to SaveMob.
          I would like to be closer and collaborate with the dancers to restore other objects, but the problem of distance is insurmountable.

          • Hi. can you please tell me the phone number of the restorer in timisoara? thank you

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