Door restoration at Centre Hill Mansion in Petersburg

The delicate plaster ceiling could not take the pressure of our plastic wall poles, so we had to rig an elaborate tent to contain lead paint dust.

 The building as it looked 10 years ago, with shutters. We will restore the shutters this winter and reinstall them in the early spring.

 Inside our cozy tent, we did dutchmen repairs to the door.

Petersburg history and charm

We are working for the Centre Hill Mansion in Petersburg, restoring their shutters. We've just begun the project by first surveying the existing conditions. The shutters were stored in the Southside Depot, a beautiful train station. Luckily the city of Petersburg aims to put some energy into this building, but unfortunately, we're not to be the contractor.

This doesn't look like a lot, but there are hundreds of shutters to be restored. Some are over 10 ft tall, and the original shutters were constructed very well. They have 1/4" thick paint on them, some mold, and some bug damage, but we are excited to have the opportunity to get these back on the house. The Centre Hill museum agrees; our contract is to replace a few shutters as possible.

We also had to survey the mansion to guage the conditions of the openings and hardware left on the frame. We were lucky enough to get to check out some of the more amazing details inside this house, like this shower from 1901. The fixture to the right on the jamb is a gas lamp.

The item of furniture that looks like sawhorses is a quilting frame, best we can tell.

A curved door leads from the servants' hall to a storage area. We can only imagine the master carpenter that built this thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Rebuilding antique doors

This door had seen better days. 

When the painters abated the lead paint on it, the bottom panel disintegrated. 

The bottom rail was intact but the sides of the door, or stiles, needed some attention.

 The way the effect the best dutchman repair is using all wood, in my opinion. I like to use wooden dowel pegs to marry the repair with the old stile and lots of Titebond II wood glue. The clamps hold it all tight for 24 hours.

The finished repair. If you look closely, you can see the dowel pegs.

 This dutchman, on the opposite side of the same door, illustrates the dowel pegs more clearly.

 

The doors were missing much of their glass bead, or the tiny trim that frames each panel. Using an old school moulding plane, we site manufactured new bead. Stay tuned for the finished product.

Windows and Doors and Stairs, oh my!

The crew continued to work on trim at Hilary Baker  last week...

Restoring antique doors

Ben's job!

Custom door frame also known as Syd's most favorite project ever

This is the door frame that I am replicating. This door frame is made from one solid timber, with channels cut in to take the little bead detail you can see here. This is the back door of the house.

The front door was replaced, and the proportions were all wrong. In order to make the jamb, I had to glue up two boards to mimic the large timber (top photo). In the two lower images, the channels are begun. Today I will let in a small bead. Keep posted for the finished product!