Few would deny that an entry door, like a person’s face, is one of the most important elements of a home. A visitor looks for the entry when searching for a building, sees it up close when entering, and touches it when entering and exiting the building, and this happens hundreds, maybe thousands of times.
In its simplest form, a door is a movable barrier between two spaces. It matters not that it is a piece of relatively flat plywood, or an elegant hand carved work of art that extends an invitation to share a space. In a Tuscan village, doors have a presence and an elegance that comes from handcraft, vintage wood, organic paints, and an intended sense of importance.
Doors such as these do exist in our villages, towns, and cities, hiding among the many that are manufactured by door making machinery when the first touch of a hand is at the loading dock. In contrast, older doors are made from real wood, with the various components fitting together like pieces in an architectural puzzle. The interlocking of parts not only imparts strength, but also allows for movement: seasonal shrinking and swelling with changes in temperature and humidity.
The decision to repair or replace a door is a difficult one and in an older home that has a cohesive character it is also a difficult one. Cost and doing the right thing for the house are typically the determining factors. Good doors are expensive and the act of restoring a door or replacing it with a new door of good quality, are quite often comparable.
Restoring an existing door allows reuse of the casement and surrounding trim work, often without any modification. Replacing the entire door system (door and casement) requires removing the door, the door casement and usually the molding that surrounds the door. If the new door casement is not an exact match in size, the molding will then need to be modified or replaced altogether at considerable expense beyond the cost of the replacement door system.
A third option is to build a new door that in size is an exact replica of the original. This allows keeping the existing casement and trim with the option of changing the style of the door to better suit the owners taste. Note that this may or may not be an option in a Historic District where the aesthetic of the door must be maintained.
At Red Hook Design, we comfortably undertake all three of these methods with the hands down favorite being the restoration of the existing door when possible and appropriate.
My preference, to the benefit of the house, is to restore the existing door. Done properly, it will look as it was intended to look by the Architect or designer of the house, in keeping with the character of the house. It will be more energy efficient by virtue of the modern weather proofing system that will be installed and will not require disturbing the casement and door trim.
My next choice is the fabrication of a new door that fits the existing casement. This door will have the advantages and the disadvantage of newness. Too new, square edged, and without signs of use and wear will seem out of place in an old house. The least preferred is a replacement unit that try as it might, will look new and out of place. That is not to say there are not doors available for purchase and installation, but the task of being a new door seamlessly taking your place in an old house is daunting. Add the cost of replicating the molding and trim, as the patterns are probably used throughout the house, and this may well be a surprisingly expensive project and one where in the end, after all that expense, it just doesn’t look right. Ask me how I know this :-/
There you have it. While I may not have provided an easy answer to the decision that needs to be made, I hope I did provide food for thought as you consider your options. Oh, and lest I forget, there is a fourth choice. You can always slap another coat of paint on the old door as the last person before did, and under the delusion of maintenance, the door remains as broken as before.