Wednesday, February 18, 2015

bye bye door (1902 - 2015)

The windows needed to be changed. This winter especially. The house was leaking heat at a speed that was only beat by the wind chill seeping in. I dreamed of swivel-clean, repels dust, Energy Star, NFRC* windows with U-Factor, Solar Heat Gain, Visible Trasmittance numbers of the highest order. If we were going to embark on this project, let's do it right.
Knocking out the old windows during the coldest February in Montreal in 20 yrs wasn't the ideal start, but we had a date. Bye bye windows, no regrets.

 
However, I will miss the carved wooden door that was as old as the house. Here and there, when walking through Pointe St-Charles, you occasionally see one or two of the original doors.


They are darling, aren't they? But you can see how much cold they let in. The owner here at 1057 has put plastic inside the glass.
When we bought our house in 2001, I spent the first summer stripping the entrance of the beige and chocolate paint the previous owner had found attractive. R went through a tub of wood putty to repair the cracks and chips in the door. I mixed and matched various stains to get the different woods more or less the same hue. We loved the look of the door, but even with weather stripping, in the winter we always had a snowdrift inside the house.
So... there goes the door. 1902 - 2015. We haven't decided what we'll do with it now that it's been retired from the top the steps. We might hang it on a wall. I was thinking it would make an interesting headboard.

*National Fenestration Council Rating

8 comments:

  1. What does the new door look like?? I am intrigued. Doors are one of my passions.

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    1. The new door doesn't have the character of the old door. It's a matte black rectangle with a 3/4 rectangle of opaque glass which lets in so much light that our vestibule now looks 4x bigger. The door also has a mail slot that will take lit mags and small packages. The old door had a brass slot that belonged to a time when people mailed each other letters on onion-skin paper. Nothing much else fit through. Our postie should be happy. *I* will be happy not to find mags thrown on the doorstep.

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    2. And if you're really interested in doors, the new one has a transom window as well. Old house, high ceilings.

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  2. Amazing. And thanks. I am happy for your mail slot. I bought my own mailbox specifically for such purposes.

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  3. Some things just needed to happen, I guess. It’s a good thing you've gotten a replacement on the ready, and one that will function much better in the face of the changing seasons. Anyway, I hope you post a picture of the new one soon. Thanks for sharing!

    Joyce Roberson @ LockedOut LockSmiths

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  4. Those doors look beautiful! Too bad they had to be replaced. Nonetheless, let's just look on the brighter side; that when it gets replaced, it will give more comfort to the owner. Anyways, thank you for sharing, Alice. Take care!


    Darryl Smith @ Franklin Window And Door

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  5. It looks awesome, you did a great job. I would have never thought to mix stains and honestly, didn’t even know that you could do that. LOL. Shows how much I know. I just use what’s in the bucket and hope for the best. LOL. I really like the color combos, it looks really inviting and kind of old timey in a cool way.

    Fred Richardson @ SGK Home Solutions

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  6. I’m going to replace my front door, so I’m happy that I found your post!

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