Comprehensive Door Restoration in Balham
Original features are at the very heart of a heritage property. Unfortunately, many property owners rush to replace period features when age starts to take its toll. At Fortis & Hooke, we think there is a better way.
From the period properties neighbouring Wandsworth Common to the Art Deco design of Du Cane Court, Balham has a plethora of beautiful, interesting buildings to admire. However, it’s hard to truly appreciate a property’s beauty when its crowning feature, an original wooden front door, has become weathered and weak.
When we were contacted by our customer in Balham, we understood just how important their door was to the appearance and value of their home – but also the pivotal role it plays in keeping heat in the home.
Fortunately, the Fortis & Hooke team was on hand to provide a complete restoration, returning the door to its original beauty and function.
PROTECTING ORIGINAL TIMBER
An original wooden door can work wonders for any period property. It matches the building’s unique heritage and character. But to truly showcase its style, the door needs to be maintained and protected. Our customer in Balham was concerned that their door was becoming tired in both its appearance and function.
On inspection, we saw that the door’s paint looked jaded with a number of scratches. It had also begun to flake away in several areas, leaving the original timber exposed. Over time, this had impaired the door’s ability to keep out cold air, making it harder for our customer to maintain a comfortable temperature in their home.
A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION
Rather than patching things up, we recommended a complete restoration for our customer’s door. This comprises a complete stripping, repair and re-painting of the door, along with new metal features to match its restored appearance.
To begin with, the customer’s door was removed from their property and taken to our specialist workshop. As well as providing optimal conditions for restoration, this allowed us to minimise disruption to our customer’s day-to-day life. Their door was temporarily replaced with a bespoke wooden door while our work was completed.
OUR RESTORATION PROCESS
With the door in our workshop, our team completely stripped any existing paint from the original timber. As opposed to painting over it, this makes sure the new coat of paint is applied directly to the timber, providing a complete seal and maximum protection from the elements.
We then hand-painted the door in our customer’s choice of finish – satinwood for the inside and gloss on the exterior. During the restoration, we also made several changes to the door’s features, to make sure it fit our customer’s requirements to a tee.
The old numbers and letterbox, which had become faded and dull, were removed. We added brand new numbers at the top of the door, as requested by the number, and a new larger letterbox to better complement the style of the door and the property. A new door knob was also installed, with house numbers applied to the fanlight above the door – the perfect finishing touches.