Filling unsightly holes in door.

[Tmu33]

Hi,

I recently moved into a new property and there is a fair amount of work that needs doing.

Therefore I thought I would come here for a little advice.

Here is the issue.
Quite a few of there doors are without handles or contain many holes/marks where handles used to be. Now I am not sure yet if I want to put a handle in or a door knob. However whatever I choose to do there is still going to be lots of gastly holes all over the place.

The question is, what would the best way to cover these up be? Would I need to fill them with wood cut to size or would some sort of filler be suitable (bearing in mind some of the holes are quite large.

Would I need to varnish, paint afterwards. Ideally I want the door to remain as natural looking as possible. A few marks I don't mind as it would add a bit of character, but these are big holes in large quantities.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Untitled

• Tmu33
• 21 Jun 2014
• 1

 

[AronSearle]

Doing filler well so it blends is not really possible if its clear finished (well it is, but if you have to ask, then you probably wont manage it). And I always think filler sticks out no matter how well done.

Door edges are a little easier, just fill the holes with standard filler, then glue a thin slice of "veneer" onto the door edge.

Small screw holes are easy, you can get away with filler on small holes, or just squirt in a bit of thick PVA, sand over the area, and the sawdust will stick in the hole and blend in. Or if you are more patient collect lots of fine sawdust, mix it with PVA and apply to small holes.

Bigger holes will have to be spliced with timber, it isn't really that hard, just requires a lot of patience if you haven't done it before, drill bigger holes, find some matching timber grain from something else and take core plugs, and carefully size and fit them.

Think about how much time you want to spend doing it, you could always put brass push plates over the top locks.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Large filled areas will always look like filler, in other words like a bodge repair. A properly sized plug trimmed flush with a sharp block plane generally looks a lot better IMHO and has the advantage of taking stain or lacquer without "shining out" like filler will. Plugging and planing takes more effort but in the long term is the more sympathtic repair

 

[matz]

fit brass finger plates....

 

[geraldthehamster]

fit brass finger plates....

I've done that with all the doors in our house, that had big holes from former Yale locks.

A couple also had smaller holes where knobs and spindles used to be in different positions. I rounded the holes with a spade bit, cut slices from an old broom handle, tapped into place after applying PVA wood glue, then sanded flush on each side. You can see they're there, but (in my estimation at least) they become part of the character of the door.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Tmu33]

Ok I think I am liking the idea of the brass plate on the top section, it may help out with a few of the other doors also.

And yes I think I agree that too much filler would look bad, With the brass covering the top section the other small holes would probably work with filler, I could try a wooden plug also, a few of them would add a bit of character.

The main struggle will the the door edge but I will give it a go.

Cheers all.

 

[geraldthehamster]

The main struggle will the the door edge but I will give it a go.

Cheers all.

The door edge by the top lock holes I would fill with a bit of timber cut to the same size and glued into place, then sanded or planed flush. I wouldn't worry too much about matching the exact shade of the wood, as even a bit of new pine will darken to match the door over time.

The bottom one depends on what you intend to do by way of latch. The easiest way might be to chisel the messy hole to a regular shape, fill as above and fit something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/mp8pxao

or, if you go for something internal like this:

http://tinyurl.com/m85skq5

then you will need to drill/chisel out a recess for it, but will probably find that the plate covers the messy bit and you can make good with a two part wood filler.

Loads of Ebay sellers provide reproduction period knobs.

Cheers
Richard

 

[pinenot]

Here's a page of porcelain finger plates (my preference ) which you can poss match one to the glazing in the door. As already noted filling with matching wood is best, the plugs should be cut cross grain and some well chosen coloured wax used to fade the joints once they are flattened to the door face. those under any finger plates/roses can be left of course as they are covered...pinenot

 

[geraldthehamster]

I like the way the original mouldings have been rotated, to fit the glass. What does the door look like from the other side?

cheers
Richard

 

[Tmu33]

I like the way the original mouldings have been rotated, to fit the glass. What does the door look like from the other side?

cheers
Richard

It looks pretty much the same from both sides.
It always worries me that one day it might break, they are not the most securely fitten in the door so need to replace the wooden borders.

Not sure if it ever did break it would be the cheapest thing to repair.

 

[geraldthehamster]

I like the way the original mouldings have been rotated, to fit the glass. What does the door look like from the other side?

cheers
Richard

It looks pretty much the same from both sides.
It always worries me that one day it might break, they are not the most securely fitten in the door so need to replace the wooden borders.

Not sure if it ever did break it would be the cheapest thing to repair.

I looked at your pictures again, and decided I was wrong to say the moudlings had been rotated. They're fitted exactly the same as they would have been for the original wooden panels.

When I fitted glass to similar doors, I used quadrant moulding. Glued and pinned on one side, then the glass fitted up to it with glazing silicone, then a moulding pinned to the other side to hold it in place. That's quite secure. The quadrant doesn't match the mouldings on the lower, wooden panels, but looks OK (and over 3 years or so, the new wood has darkened to match the door).

The original wooden panels would have been let in to rebates in the rails and stiles of the door, so the mouldings were just decorative. Your glass panels are probably sized to fit the hole, so are being held in by the mouldings. That's probably why they rattle.

Cheers
Richard