Changing door hardware

[Mjward]

As suggested by Woody Alan I would certainly avoid those tubular latches, they tend to be rubbish.
If you can find some square bodied ones with the same backset as the old stuff then all you need to do is pack out any size difference with some blocks of wood glued in.
For the hinges if re doing a door for whatever reason, I try to find hinges with a different hole drilling pattern, this way you dont need to fill the holes in.
So if 3 inch hinges were in there get 4 inch and use the tops or bottoms of the existing mortices to line them up, or if using the same size I find that different manufacturers use different patterns or if you go for grade 14 thrust bearing ( my favourite but not cheap ) they will have a different drilling to the same size traditional washer style.
Beware leaf thickness if they had cast iron ones before they are super thick compared to modern stuff.

Ollie

Very good tip and yes previous hinges were the thick iron ones so will need to adjust appropriately

 

[Limey Lurker]

I've found that the slats from a modern wooden Venetian blind are of a thickness that makes them very useful when needing to cover unwanted latch and hinge mortices.

 

[Mjward]

I've found that the slats from a modern wooden Venetian blind are of a thickness that makes them very useful when needing to cover unwanted latch and hinge mortices.

I may have a perfect Edwardian alternative.... Got loads of lats from when the ceilings were removed. Potentially a bit thick but could always slightly open up the old hinge recess to accommodate

 

[Phill05]

Be prepared for doors moving after they come back from striping, always keep them closed for a while to stop any twist.

 

[Mjward]

Oh wasn't aware that was a thing. Should I be mounting them as soon as they return or leave for a period to acclimatize to house again?

 

[Phill05]

If the doors have been dipped to strip then you need to hang them soon as possible and keep them closed as much as you can until acclimatised.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Be prepared for doors moving after they come back from striping, always keep them closed for a while to stop any twist.

Someone had had all my doors stripped before we bought the house. There wasn't one that was closer than 3/4" to the lining at one end or the other unless forced.

 

[Mjward]

Someone had had all my doors stripped before we bought the house. There wasn't one that was closer than 3/4" to the lining at one end or the other unless forced.

Crap

 

[Mjward]

Lol I typed another word for rubbish and it auto corrected it...fingers crossed these don't go the same way

 

[John Brown]

We lived in a Victorian house until 3 years ago. The internal doors had all been stripped and waxed. They looked hideous, and the door stops had all been removed and refitted at crazy angles to accommodate the now twisted doors. I agree with Phil P. on this. Just don't do it, you're likely to expose all sorts of repairs, filler, shoddy joinery.

 

[Richard_C]

If you don't replace the edwardian locks on the main interior doors you will have the same 2 problems as edwardian gentlement did all those years ago:

• Household serving staff accessing the dining room at night and swigging the port
• Your wife bursting into the living room just as you mistress begins to unlace her bodice

It was built that way for a reason - I would keep it original

 

[Mjward]

We lived in a Victorian house until 3 years ago. The internal doors had all been stripped and waxed. They looked hideous, and the door stops had all been removed and refitted at crazy angles to accommodate the now twisted doors. I agree with Phil P. on this. Just don't do it, you're likely to expose all sorts of repairs, filler, shoddy joinery.

Sadly too late, its with the door stripping company as we speak. I'm treating it as a relatively "cheap" experiment given it was £50 to strip or £200+ for new ie if I need to write off a few hundred quid on a failed plan, it's doable

 

[Mjward]

If you don't replace the edwardian locks on the main interior doors you will have the same 2 problems as edwardian gentlement did all those years ago:

• Household serving staff accessing the dining room at night and swigging the port
• Your wife bursting into the living room just as you mistress begins to unlace her bodice

It was built that way for a reason - I would keep it original

I must confess we were perplexed why all the doors opened the "wrong" way until we realised that it was literally for those reasons, servants can knock and open the door without seeing anyone in the room they shouldn't

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The biggest pain when they've been stripped is when you decide to paint them back white and find some clown has used a silicone based spray polish on them.

 

[Mjward]

Excuse my ignorance...what will that do?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's non stick - it throws paint off. When you think the surface to be painted is sanded and clean, the silicone in the smallest cracks and splits repel the paint.

 

[Mjward]

Ah ... Excellent.
Think I better start looking for new doors