Covering an unused door

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Old lady home owner here, having plucked up the courage to do this "simple" job myself!

I am covering an unused internal Victorian panelled door with hardboard.

I plan to panel-pin the board to the door frame, sink and fill and sand the holes. (Or should I use screws?)

I have had a piece of hardboard cut to fit but the door frame measures 79w at the top and 80w at the base so I had it cut to 79cm. As well as covering up this irregularity cosmetically, I will also need to finish off all three edges of the hardboard to make a neat and tidy job before I prime the hardboard and then finish off with emulsion to match the existing wall.

A long explanation to ask a fairly simple question:

What should I use to get a really good cosmetic finish where the hardboard abuts the door frame? I already have in my DIY cupboard caulk in a gun, powder filler and silicon sealer with a gun.

Many thanks, and any other tips on this little (to you) but scary (to me) job welcome!

LHL
 
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LadyHomeLover, good evening.

OK I will come clean here, i do not [generally] approve of covering over old doors, OK it is my thing? -- I may get over it sometime --

As for fixing the hardboard? see if you can get a hold of so called "Lost head panel Pins" these things have pointed heads which means that as you hammer them in the pointed top is the only bit of the pin at surface level. [Hope that makes sense?] which in turn will allow you to use a filler to infill around the pointed tip of the pin head rather than use he filler to infill a large pin head.

As for the raw edges around the hardboard? suggest you look for "Rebated, timber, or such beading"

This rebated material will allow the bead to fit over the top surface of the hardboard and also fit to the door surface.

Now fot the good bit? if you choose a rebated bead that overlaps the hardboard by a suitable amount, there is a possibility that the bead may? just may? cover the hole made by the panel pin? careful attention to detail is important at this stage, I used to find a light pencil mark indicating the extent of the bead cover to the hardboard then pin inside that line, CAUTION! ensure the hardboard will hold a pin under the bead cover area, if too narrow the edges of the hardboard will break away when the pin is inserted.

Ken.
 
Old ? lady home owner. You are doing a Barry Bucknell there - do you remember him and his DIY;)
 
LadyHomeLover, good evening.

OK I will come clean here, i do not [generally] approve of covering over old doors.


As for the raw edges around the hardboard? suggest you look for "Rebated, timber, or such beading"

Thanks for your reply and the tip on the nails, Ken.

I think you may have slightly misunderstood my project. I'm not hardboarding the door because I dislike Victorian panelled doors; I am covering up the entire door frame of a door that in 19 years of living here has never been used. The new TV is going to be attached to the wall on a bracket right in front of this unused door, and seeing the architrave, frame, door and panels showing around the new TV is very distracting to the eye. So I thought, panel it over, and paint it the same colour as the wall, and it will "disappear".

I deliberately didn't have the door bricked up because I didn't want to go that far in removing an original feature that a future owner might wish to start using (door is dining room to kitchen and there is another door dining room to hall, which we use).

I had a look into rebated timber beading. Excellent idea, but I fear that would draw the eye more to the outline of the door, when I am trying to make it disappear. Besides, DIY shops are 5 miles away and I have no car. I want to get this job done today (Bank Hol) with materials to hand. So caulk or silicone? Hmmm.
 
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So is it the door you are covering or the door and architrave?
 
The normal way to do this is to remove the door and architrave, and fill the empty hole with studwork and plasterboard. Not try to turn the door itself into a kind of wall!
 
The normal way to do this is to remove the door and architrave, and fill the empty hole with studwork and plasterboard. Not try to turn the door itself into a kind of wall!


Yes, it is.

But that's not what I want to do, clearly.
 
Normally a door will sit more into the wall than the architrave
Hardboard may be too flexible for your needs- run a straight edge across the architrave to check
You could add packing to the door to raise low spots up.

Normally a concealed door has no architrave and a door that is flush with the wall

Another option might be to remove the door entirely and close off the hall side with plasterboard , and use the living room side to make recessed shelves
 
Why do you want to keep the door on its hinges?

It's got recessed shelves on the kitchen side. That's my "larder".

I don't want to get rid of thee original Victorian door or architrave in case a future owner wants to reinstate the door. I have no basement, no garage, nowhere to store the door.

I don't want shelves in the living room because a new TV is going to be attached to the wall on a bracket right in front of this unused door, and seeing the architrave, frame, door and panels showing around the new TV is very distracting to the eye. So I thought, panel it over, and paint it the same colour as the wall, and it will "disappear".

Have had the hardboard cut to size now, so shall be using it.

Thanks for the replies. Still don't know whether to use caulk or sealant. Nearly 4pm and still haven't started the job. :(
 
You're not planning on the tv bracket being on the door are you?
 
doing a Barry Bucknell there - do you remember him and his DIY

Yes OOO Yes I recall that one?? --- B&W 405 line telly--- wonder if any of it is on YouTube?

Trying to single highhandedly carry a cast iron bath down a stair by getting into the bath [the bath being inverted] then going backwards down a stair? do not recall how long he spent in A&E after that Jaunt?

Another one was the bold Barry trying to use a Spiral Yankee driver to put screws into a door hinge [not cross headed screws as I recall, another visit to A&E lacerated fingers??

LadyHomeLover. Now back to the original question?

Sorry I picked up the question incorrectly, I assumed that you were simply wanting to flush of a door, hence the references to Rebated beads.

As you will have picked up from the posts above, hardboard is not the best material to use for your project, it will deform wildly between the Architraves and the door because of the differing horizontal planes, if your house is Victorian or Georgian the step between the outer face of the Architrave and the door can be large?

Sorry to come back late to the posts, if you can please tell us all how things are going or have gone today??

Ken
 
Never heard of him. I am 60 and most days I feel 90.

Throughout the 50's and 60's Barry Bucknell offered DIY tips on the BBC.

In the early 60's Auntie purchased a run down house in Ealing and aired episodes of Bucknell's House with Bucknell "renovating" it over pretty much a whole year.

I wasn't even born when they were aired but I often walk past Bucknell's House and noticed the plaque one day.

Although he wasn't the first TV DIYer, he may have been the first person to use the C word on telly.

 

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