07
Jul

Antique Door Restoration-Restoring a Southern Belle

Before we moved, our family lived in a victorian home.  These are some of our adventures restoring a Southern Belle…

Antique Door Restoration of 125 Year Old Etched Glass Doors

Written By: Jim Green

The progress continues on our 1883 home and Nina and I decided to tackle the front doors.

Front Door Before: the antique glass is falling out of the frame and is being held in by duct tape. the wood carvings and trim are worn and scuffed. Completing the Antique Door Restoration- Restoration of a Southern Belle.
Front Door Before: the antique glass is falling out of the frame and is being held in by duct tape. the wood carvings and trim are worn and scuffed. Completing the Antique Door Restoration- Restoration of a Southern Belle.

In our area of the northside historic district, its unusual to find houses that still have the original double doors intact, especially on the first and second floors.  We believe our front doors were modified when the 1910 addition was added to the house.  Additional detail molding surrounds the windows and the hardware is finished strangely.  In addition, hand carved wood accent pieces were added to the bottom half of the doors.

Before Picture of Carving on front door. The carving is an applied molding and has become scuffed and cracked from years of exposure to the humidity. Completion of Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.
Before Picture of Carving on front door. The carving is an applied molding and has become scuffed and cracked from years of exposure to the humidity.  Restoration of a Southern Belle.

It took some careful digging to find that the accents were actually wood and not a clay or composite material.  As our intention was to restore the doors, we had planned on stripping, hand carving broken piece replacements, and staining the doors to their original color.  The hardware would also need to be removed, cleaned, and polished.  While we knew this would remove the brass patina, the condition of the hardware warranted a complete cleaning and refinishing.

Close up of antique hardware. Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.
Close up of antique hardware. Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.

The doors have presented a problem for the past several years as previous owners had used the wrong materials to repair the glazing for the glass insets and the glass is loose, regularly flexing, and could break at any moment.  As the etched glass is original to the house, we were a little nervous (hence the years of hesitation) to work on the doors, fearing we would break the irreplaceable glass.  You can see in the pictures where wood putty, caulk, and various types of tape had been used to repair the failing glazing.

The window glazing was coming off of the glass in the corners. A previous owner had tried to repair it with the wrong type of glazing, causing some areas of the glazing to come completely off, while others were firmly set with the wrong type of putty. The only thing holding the glass in some places was duct tape until somebody was brave enough to dremel the bad putty off. Did I mention that these are original 125 year old hand etched glass with the original owners monogram...Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.
The window glazing was coming off of the glass in the corners. A previous owner had tried to repair it with the wrong type of glazing, causing some areas of the glazing to come completely off, while others were firmly set with the wrong type of putty. The only thing holding the glass in some places was duct tape until somebody was brave enough to dremel the bad putty off. Did I mention that these are original 125 year old hand etched glass with the original owners monogram…Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.

All had hardened, with the windows flexed and loose and could not be scraped or chipped out.  Time for more creative thinking.

I finally found the project where I NEEDED a Dremel tool.  I had been wanting one for a looooooong time and my wife will tell you how everytime we walk through Lowe’s, I pause to touch the dremel tools on display, and look longingly at the
Dremel 4000 (the biggest, most powerful, most capable carried by Lowes at this point in time).  Well, when I told my wife I couldn’t and wouldn’t do the front door project without the tool, she finally let me buy the Dremel.  Not only that, I also purchased the grinding/engraving accessory package and the general, large, sanding, cutting, etc. package.  These are a MUST if you use the tool.  It pays to have the right accessory.

I digress, back to the project….

We realized early on that this would be a multi-day project and we had to cover the front door opening.

The door opening was covered with a scrap of wood when the doors had to be taken down for intensive repair. Restoration of a Southern Belle.
The door opening was covered with a scrap of wood when the doors had to be taken down for intensive repair. Restoration of a Southern Belle.

Although we are generally friendly, we didn’t want univited visitors and certainly didn’t want the pets to escape (they try all the time).  We started by using exterior grade deck screws (you can also use wood / cabinet screws) to attach 2 sheets of fake beadboard to the outside of the house.  We had these laying around from another project as you can tell from the pictures (“Check measurements on Ceiling”).

Scrap wood from a previous project was used to cover the front entry doors. Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.
Scrap wood from a previous project was used to cover the front entry doors. Antique Door Restoration-Restoration of a Southern Belle.

Plywood also works.

After sealing up the entry we had to forcefully, but carefully remove the first door.    Using a flathead screwdriver and small hammer we removed the pins in the hinges.  Nina expertly held the door in place while I removed the top and bottom hinges, leaving the middle for last.  The middle hinge pin had rusted into place and took the extra use of pliers to help twist the pin out.  The door was so heavy it took three of us to carefully move it to the saw horses where I could work on it.

Using soap and water we were able to wet and remove most of the tape.  Some of the tape was removed with a 5-in-1 tool.  Now, I was finally able to open my new purchase, the Dremel 4000!  I carefully selected a thin cutting attachment, slid it into place and locked it down.  Nina plugged it in and I switched it on.  The low hum of the 0-5 setting was music to my ears.  As I reved the variable speed up to 25, the pitch of the whine increased to be somewhat piercing and Nina left the room, too nervous to watch me surgically operate on her beloved doors.  I have to say, you really have to mentally prepare yourself to use a cutting tool spinning at 10’s of thousands of RPMs to dig into a one of a kind, antique, etched glass door.

It took a few hours to get all the old caulk, wood compound and glazing removed.

A close up view of the dremel work that had to be done. It was a tense and stressful time. Antique Door Restoration -Restoration of a Southern Belle.
A close up view of the dremel work that had to be done. It was a tense and stressful time. Antique Door Restoration -Restoration of a Southern Belle.

I started by making a cut on a 45 degree angle between the glass and the wood surround.  This separated the glass from the wood and destabilized the compounds holding the glass in place.  If you are going to do this, make SURE you use a mask and FULL goggles and have plenty of ventilation.  Safety glasses will prevent large chips from hitting your eyes, but the dust is unimaginable.  Don’t risk damaging the glass or door by not being able to see or breath.

I then carefully used a 5-in-1 tool to scrape the remaining compound off the glass and chip it away from the wood.

The doors were taken down on put onto saw horses. The window glazing was the wrong type and had to be carefully dremeled out. It was a very nail-biting experience! Restoration of a Southern Belle
The doors were taken down on put onto saw horses. The window glazing was the wrong type and had to be carefully dremeled out. It was a very nail-biting experience! Restoration of a Southern Belle

As I wanted as little risk as possible of breaking the glass, I decided not to remove the glass from the door.  Instead, I crawled underneath the window and removed any crumbs or shavings that remained between the glass and the wood it set on with a razor.  I then used the same 5-in-1 tool to remove any remaining old glazers points, by pushing them out sideways, so I could start fresh.  When I was done, the glass laid flat in the wood casing again and I breathed a sigh of relief.  I used push-type glazers points, inserted horizontally into the wood at the level of the glass, to hold the window properly in place.  It was now time to glaze/putty the window into place.

I’ve had many bad experiences using traditional putty to repair old windows (no, this is not my first old house).  Unless you are experienced with it, getting the putty to look neat, clean, and provide the right coverage can be hard and time consuming.  I figured chemistry has come along enough that a new product should be available now.  I found a special window caulk, DAP Latex Window Glazing, in the specialty repairs aisle at Lowe’s that might work.  It comes in a standard tube for a caulk gun and already has a squared off dispenser to create the perfectly angled finish.  This turned out to be the best window product I have ever used.  The tip on the caulk tube smoothed the compound for a perfect finish.  I had the compound laid and finished in less than 5 minutes.  I have since used it on other exterior window repairs where I left the window upright.  This is definitely the product to use.  After allowing it to dry for two hours, we rehung the door, again very carefully.  The pins dropped into place with ease this time and the door swung freely.

The next morning I tapped on the refinished window.  No rattle, no flexing, no worries.  It sounded like a tightened drum head.  The final test will be to see how the window lasts as it heats up, the air fills with humidity and wood in the door swells.  One door down and one to go!