Expert advice on fitting a reclaimed door

Whether you want an authentic period look or seek a more modern salvage-chic style, fitting reclaimed doors can totally transform the look and feel of your home

Buying a reclaimed door can be a bit overwhelming. Confronted with a room full of doors – all in varying conditions, colours, sizes and styles – it’s easy to feel out of your depth. It’s certainly not the ‘easy’ option, but salvaged doors can bring such a heavy dose of authenticity, character and charm to your home, it’s well worth the extra effort required to source them. So, where to start?

Measuring up

Measuring up accurately in the first place is essential. Once you’ve measured the height and width of your existing door (assuming it is a good fit for the frame), repeat this from the other side to ensure you’ve taken an accurate measurement. Next, measure the depth of the door and also the depth of the doorframe (sometimes the door doesn’t fill the frame completely).

Bear in mind that most older homes were built when imperial units were in use and so most reclamation yards still sell doors in feet and inches. Make a note of which way you want the door to hinge too.

Cutting to fit

‘Doors that are slightly too big can sometimes be trimmed,’ says says Eddy Charlton, dealer at Holyrood Reclamation, Edinburgh. ‘It’s always easier to reduce the height, rather than the width, as it’s just one cut.’

However, it is a common mistake to take too much off a door. ‘If you need a panelled door to be 32 inches wide, but the door you’ve found is 34 inches wide, so you chop an inch off each side, it can unbalance it,’ warns Dave Smith, director of Authentic Reclamation. This is because the mullion (the central vertical piece between the four panels) will be wider than the latch stile and the hinge stile (the two vertical pieces at the edges of the door that get trimmed to reduce the width). ‘Doors need to be trimmed at the frame, on-site, by a carpenter, not at the place you’re buying the door from,’ advises Dave. ‘Door frames are all slightly different and are often uneven in older properties.’

When buying a salvaged door, Dave says it’s important to check the door hasn’t already been cut down before: ‘If it’s been cut down once or twice before in the past and you try to cut it down a third time, it starts to look wrong.’

Adding doors to a new extension

If you’re extending your home and want to fit a reclaimed door in the new part of the house, check whether you can actually use a salvaged door or not before you start hunting for one. If you’re converting your loft, you’ll probably need to fit new fire safety doors to meet current building regulations, for example. In other extensions, it should be permissible to use older doors, but check with your local building regulations officer before fitting them. ‘When extending or building, people often put the door frames in before they find their doors,’ says Dave. ‘My advice is to buy your reclaimed doors before you put the frames in – then you get a much wider choice of doors. A lot of people get that wrong.’

Check the condition

Always buy from a reputable dealer and look out for warping, which often happens when doors have been stored outside or somewhere damp and soaked up moisture. ‘Look at the tendon and mortises on the tops and the bottoms,’ advises Dave Smith, director of Authentic Reclamation. ‘If there’s a crack where the crossbar joins the vertical bar, it probably means it’s been outside and gotten wet, then dried and warped so the pegs come out of the joints – avoid those doors like the plague.’

Sometimes damaged or split panels will have been replaced with fibreboard panels or fire-proof board. ‘Knock the panels,’ says Eddy. ‘If it sounds like wood, you’re doing well.’

Savvy tips

• Don’t take your doors off until you have got replacements ready to fit.
• If you want more light in a space, consider fitting a vintage part-glazed door. You can increase the privacy level for a bathroom or bedroom by covering the original glass with window film.
• Always get a professional carpenter to fit internal doors, unless you are a real DIY expert. Hinges need to be sunk into door frames, not simply screwed to the surface of the wood and doors will probably need careful trimming. A badly hung door can cause problems for years to come.

Sourcebook

• Holyrood Architectural Salvage: A great selection of four-panel, six-panel and other internal doors, including rare etched glass ‘lavatory’ doors.
• Authentic Reclamation:  A huge array of internal doors, including sets of matching doors.
• Burgess Reclamation: Salvaged and repro traditional internal doors.