HOMEFRONT: Now we’re opening new doors

Font Size:

By Alma Gaul | Friday, April 25, 2008 2:12 PM CDT | () comments

Contributed photo Each door required a coat of stain and three coats of finish. (Leaning over one’s work can be hard on the back.)

Refinishing, installing wasn’t easy, though

When my husband and I bought our house about 20 years ago, we noticed that a couple of the plain, hollow-core interior doors were a little beat-up.

The upstairs bathroom door had a silver dollar-size hole in the back, and the one to the utility room was pushed-in on the front. I covered up the latter with a poster of butterflies, and we lived with the others, occasionally wondering what happened to cause the damage.

But within the past year, we have become empty-nesters and — with supposedly more free time — my husband mentioned one day that he thought we should replace all of our interior doors.

“I’ve never liked those doors,” Dave said.

Even the ones that weren’t damaged were plain and, in his words, “cheesy.” He wanted solid-core, six-panel doors made of oak.

We’d see these doors on sale occasionally at an area home improvement center, but we didn’t know whether to buy what are called “pre-hung” doors that come with frames, hinges already installed and holes cut for the knobs, or plain panels with no frame, hinges or holes.

Pre-hung are, in some ways, easier to install, but we’d have to rip out our existing frames. We are not fans of ripping out perfectly good stuff, plus there would then be more wood trim to try to match to our existing baseboards.

But with the plain panels, we’d have to figure out a way to cut depressions in the wood for the hinges (we don’t have a router tool that does this) and we’d have to get them to fit all our existing door openings, of which no two are exactly alike.

Finding help, tools

We decided we’d rather go the plain-door route if we could find someone with know-how and tools to help us. Dave called a man named Dan who had installed windows for us several years ago, and he agreed to lend a hand, along with his router and power planer for shaving the doors down to size.

That was the dealmaker.

One near-zero Sunday in January, we made our move, heaving 11 doors into the back of our pickup, then carrying them one by one, huffing and puffing, up the steps, then down the steps into our basement.

When they were unloaded, we wondered what we’d gotten ourselves into. But with $1,000 worth of doors in our possession, we were committed.

Before getting started with construction, we had to choose new knobs.

Eyeing the wall of choices at an area home improvement center, I was drawn to round knobs (like those in the farmhouse where I grew up) in the dark, “oiled bronze” finish that has replaced “brushed nickel” as the choice in many new homes.

Dave didn’t see it that way.

“Those are black,” he said. “You want black? Don’t they look kind of plain?”

Well, plain it was, and then onto the work of fitting and hanging the doors.

The job took 22 hours, spread over three Saturdays and a Tuesday afternoon. Dave and Dan would measure the existing door, cut the new one, carry it to its frame and hang it.

This was much easier said than done. None of the doors fit perfectly, so they’d have to take them down, re-plane them and then hang them again, as many times as needed to get it right. “Like the final fitting on a good suit,” my husband said.

Now, my turn

Finally, we had 11 unfinished doors hanging in place, and, oh, did they look good, even without a finish.

Now it was my turn.

Oh, my gosh. Eleven doors, two sides each. Each door had six panels with four corners per panel, meaning 24 corners — corners being the hardest to get right. Finishing would require one coat of stain and three coats of finish, plus sanding, vacuuming and tacking (wiping with a tacky, or sticky, piece of cloth to get dust particles) in between.

We also faced another chore: Finding a color of stain that would best match our existing woodwork. We visited various stores, carrying along a two-foot piece of trim and holding it up next to tiny paper samples in odd lighting and squinting.

We finally picked a water-based stain called English oak. We particularly liked the water-based aspect because it would be easy to clean up compared with the oil-based version I was used to that requires other petroleum-based products.

But we hadn’t used water-based stain before and it didn’t work for us. It applies with a brush, and that created “lap” lines we could not avoid.

After several more trips to the store to find an oil-based stain to match — there was no English oak in oil — I began my work.

And I must say I got to be pretty good at it. Lots of complaining, of course. We took the doors down and set them out for finishing — on a ping pong table frame, on chairs and on our kitchen table. But no matter where I worked, leaning over hurt my back. And all the sanding, vacuuming and tacking between coats was tedious, time-consuming and not fun!

But by Easter the doors were finished, and we think they look great. They also feel great, closing with a satisfying click, like the door on a solid car.

We look at them and smile.

… And we wonder: Can we lay ceramic tile in the utility room?

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.