Old interior doors: how to upgrade

Old interior doors can always be updated to upgrade. Especially old wooden doors have a significant chance for a new life. They can even be used for interior design, which we can see on the title photo, but believe me, after updating the door, they can still serve their intended purpose and even become an accent in the design of the room.

How can you update the old interior doors and breathe new life into them? We will try to answer this question with the help of the video in this article.

Repair and design of wooden doors

Many readers are interested: “How to design the old doors with your own hands?” It is worth saying that this question is relevant not only in terms of cost savings. With the design of the premises in many historical and ethnic styles, modern new doors would simply look out of place.

• On the contrary, the concept of style often requires artificially making old pieces of furniture and accessories. In the picture below we see the door in the room, decorated in the style of Provence, and we think that it confirms the validity of this statement. So, useful information on the topic: “How to restore old doors” can be useful to many.

• The process of updating the door leaf depends on its original state. How to restore the old doors, if they are corny do not close or on their surface there is significant damage? Naturally, they should first be repaired, and then think about the decor. What can be the fault of the door?

Most often these are imbalances, because of which it can be poorly closed, the appearance of cracks in the elements of the box, and, as a result, its loosening, cracks in the canvas, and just perennial layers of paint.

On the front doors, a violation of the integrity of the canvas due to multiple changes of locks is added to this list. Here is the situation and let's consider first.

Restore installation space

How to update the old interior door with their own hands now consider in more detail. So, repairing an old door with your own hands often requires restoring the damaged part of the door leaf in the place where the lock hits.

For this you have to use the insert element. But first, the door must be removed from its hinges and dismantled all fittings.

So:

• The door must be laid flat on a workbench, a table or two stools, and then, using a metal square, mark up the section into which the insert will be glued. According to this marking, it is necessary to cut out the insert itself from the bar and make a selection under it in the door.
• In order to make cutting exactly along the marking, along the line, thin slats are fastened with self-tapping screws along the line directly to the canvas - they do not allow to accidentally deviate from the specified cutting line. With a hand mill, this operation can be done in seconds. In addition, it can be used to quickly select a slot for a lock and hinges, as well as to decorate an old door, by applying a beautiful relief to its surface.

• The selection for the insert is not made across the entire thickness of the web. If it is sheathed with fiberboard, then the mill will remove part of the skin from one side only. On the other hand, the skin remains - the insert will stick to it. If the door leaf is made of solid wood, when sampling you need to leave 3-4 mm of the front layer on one side, so that there was something to glue the insert piece. The recess for insertion is sampled with a chisel and a hammer.
• Then, using a single-component moisture-curing adhesive, the part is glued. This is done under pressure, with the use of carpentry vice - for clarity, it is better to watch the video. Dismantling the old door may not include disassembling the box, if the problem is in the canvas itself, but the threshold may require updating, as over the years it wears off.
• The worn part must be removed and then the bottom of the door frame is leveled with a small plane. New threshold, and better oak, should be put on the glue and secure with screws. As soon as the glue on the restored part of the doorframe has hardened, it can be hung on the hinges, and proceed to insert the lock.

• To hide multiple holes from the screws and the border of the insert, it is easiest to use door linings. These are the integral elements repeating a form of a cloth which carry out only decorative function. Trims (see Trims on decorative doors: views and installation) can be veneered or varnished, and can give the door a completely respectable look.

True, not to say that the price they have is quite democratic: it depends on the thickness of the product and from 2500 rubles. just getting started. But the new door is even more expensive, from 7,000 rubles. - and this without the cost of the box! So, there is still a benefit from the purchase of overlays.

Strengthening the door frame

How to disassemble the old door, if you want to strengthen the box?

First you need to remove the trim, and then the door leaf, gently lifting it mount. The loosened door frame should be vertically aligned with a plumb line, and then fixed in the desired position with wedges.

So:

• To strengthen it, you will need to drill at least two holes on each side. Drilling in the wall is made right through the vertical elements of the box, to a depth of at least 5-6 cm. Frame dowels or driven anchors are used as fasteners, which are installed in the prepared holes.

• The gaps formed between the wall and the box should be filled with cement or gypsum mortar or installation foam. It remains only to fasten the trim in place and hang the door.
• If the box is already loosened, then it is quite possible that the door hinges do not keep in their nests. This causes a bias in the vestibule and the door does not close well. In this case, you will have to rearrange the hinges to a new place, choosing recesses with a chisel under them. It often happens that the door sags due to abrasion of the hinges.

You can, of course, put new hinges, but this situation can be easily corrected with the help of an ordinary metal washer of the appropriate diameter or small balls from the old bearing. They, having previously been lubricated with oil, are placed at the interface point of the hinge parts. As a result, the canvas rises, and the door begins to pretend normally.

Homemade linings and other decors

In the course of the article mentioned such a decorative element as the door trim, and even voiced it is not a small value. Meanwhile, a similar decor for the old door can be made independently.

To do this, you will need a MDF billet with a size of 2.002 * 0.802m. Given the average cost of a sheet of thickness 10 mm (210rub. / 1m2), it turns out quite inexpensive.

• For work, a life-size template is needed, it is also made of 3 mm thick plywood or from the same MDF, but thinner. On the template you need to apply with a stencil pattern, and then cut it with an electric jigsaw or router. With such a tool, cutting work takes no more than twenty minutes.

• By the way, the size of the lining does not necessarily correspond to the perimeter of the canvas. You can cut out two or three small overhead details that will imitate the panels, which we see in the picture above. Before you finish the old doors, finished elements must first be decorated.

Wood can be patinated - that is, artificially aged, tinted with azure or painted with stain and varnished. Here everything is done at your discretion. You can decorate the trim with wood veneer or use composite decors for doors and furniture that are sold in stores.

Door leaf trim

If the door has not been subjected to such a cardinal repair, which was described above, then you can do without pads, and stick the veneer or decor directly on the canvas. But for this, it must be cleaned of old paint and sanded.

To remove the paintwork, it will have to heat up or use a sander. And in fact, and in another case, it is the smell and dust, so the door is better to take out on the street or work in a well-ventilated room.

• The cleaned and sanded wood surface is brought to smoothness with plaster and fine emery paper. The field of this surface is primed - and you can stick anything: from the self-adhesive film to the veneer of valuable species.

• The decoupage technique is very popular in this respect (see How to make decoupage of doors with your own hands), which implies the application of an artistic image on the surface of a canvas using a stencil, photo printing or making applications from fragments of fabric or wallpaper. Actually, on sale you can see dekupazhnye cards that come in a set, for example: a few napkins made of rice paper with a pattern, plus the craquelure varnish.

Likewise, a stencil can be purchased at a DIY store. With its help, the picture is stuffed onto a background painted canvas or a glass insert in it.

Such a picture can transform not only the door and trim, but also part of the wall next to it. Anyway, this way you can decorate the whole interior in an original way, and in this case the old interior door will be part of the overall composition.