Doors, Transom Windows & Hardware

The Sturgis home has a total 51 doors. Most of these doors also have a transom window over them. The doors were removed, stripped, sanded, stained/painted and rehung with restored hardware. The transom windows were all removed and restored through the same process as the doors, and rehung with restored and fully operational hardware.

Typical door with layers of old paint.

Full chemical coating of paint stripper lifting the old paint.

Most old paint has been removed. Panel trim is being removed to get final crevasses clear of old paint.

Final sanding complete and ready for paint or stain as the door required.

After Staining

After first coat of clear varnish.

Panel trim after stripping and sanding.

Panel trim after staining and one 1 coat of varnish.

Different door, but next step: Panel trim is added back to the door and the entire piece gets a second coat of varnish.

Finished door and trim with two coats of varnish.

Typical Door Hardware Restoration

Pocket door hardware opened for the first time in over 100 years. All lubrication was gone and units were not functioning properly.

Lock sets were cleaned and glass beaded and then appropriate pieces were painted antique brass.

Reassembled lock set with cleaned, painted and relubricated moving parts.

Complete dual pocket door hardware after restoration, including outer trim pieces.

Finished Door Hardware Trim

All door trim pieces were stripped, glass beaded and repainted with antique brass paint.

A small portion of the door and transom window hardware that was restored.

Typical grouping of lock sets. Note the different skeleton key passageways. There were about 7 different keyways/keys for all the doors in the home.

Screws were cleaned then glass beaded, then painted antique brass.

Typical grouping of finished screws for just one door and transom window.

A sampling of the restored doors ready to be re-hung.

Most of the doorway thresholds were in place, but a few were broken or missing due to carpeting in the past. The damaged or missing thresholds were remade from Oak to match the originals and were tapered and hand finished to simulate the wear patterns on the original thresholds and then two coats of clear varnish to match the originals.

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