Steve at The Tinker’s Wagon —fantastic resource

I can cosign this. He has spent a fair amount of time on the phone with me to help figure things out. His responses on this forum can be a bit lengthy but they are always filled with gems.

louisahml

in General Discussion 3 years and 2 months ago

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justinromeu26 | 2 years and 8 months ago

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hello, thank you for acknowledging me on here. if people are sincere with me – meaning they either want to hire me to do the work or admit to me that they have someone capable and they offer to pay me for consultation, i usually do not mind answering questions via email and the phone.

steve
thetinkerswagon.com
brownstonehomeinspection.com

markstenberg3 | 2 years and 8 months ago

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I wanted to echo a post from several months ago noting what a fantastic resource Steve at The Tinker’s Wagon is. In just a few minutes on the phone, he helped me solve an issue that would have taken me hours to research. He is also a licensed home inspector—his website is brownstonehomeinspection.com. Many thanks, Steve, for your help!

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 3 years and 2 months ago

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Steve is telling you the correct professional method; my lazy homeowner method might be to try something like Howard’s Restore-a-Finish first.

justinromeu26 | 3 years and 2 months ago

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Thank you ceci.

Bruce. The inner door finish appears to be in good condition, making it easy to over coat. What i would do with that is sand it off with 220 and tack it off. Then apply a coat or two of the marine varnish.

ceci | 3 years and 2 months ago

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Thank you for imparting your knowledge; I learn so much!!!

kngrsqhsiec | 3 years and 2 months ago

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[01BB6EAC-4244-4072-8637-B2170874FDC3](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:ZM0H:01bb6eac424440728637b2170874fdc3.jpeg.jpg) [9E05A130-1155-4A08-984F-88CF7920ADE7](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:yBqu:9e05a13011554a08984f88cf7920ade7.jpeg.jpg)

kngrsqhsiec | 3 years and 2 months ago

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Thanks so much Steve for the invaluable insights. I’d also like to ask for your thoughts about overcoating the I bet doors—pictured.
[E8BA5F20-E119-449E-9E5E-0152AD9045F3](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:dxWh:e8ba5f20e119449e9e5e0152ad9045f3.jpeg.jpg)

justinromeu26 | 3 years and 2 months ago

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thank you arkady.

justinromeu26 | 3 years and 2 months ago

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Bruce and EstebanCharles: i am generally freer with my information in geographic regions where i do not want to work and with jobs i for some reason do not want to do (at that time, they are small and i am too busy, perhaps). but since this website and this community has been so good for my business and because i am becoming a home inspector, i am going to begin directing all phone call inquiries for which i do not wish to travel to, to this site and then i will respond here:

Bruce, your door is what is called a “stave” door. it is a glued up pine core edge and faced with an oak veneer about 1/4″ thick. this is the best way to make a door as they do not bend. pre 1870’s and post 1920’s many doors had been made out of solid wood and those tend to bend, especially now, with 365 day climate control in houses, they sometimes dry and curl to the inside. the problem with the oak veneered doors (and any doors, but the oak veneer fails a little different) is this: when the doors are hung the bottoms of them are trimmed and not sealed. water in the form of mo isture passes under the door and the wood wicks it up. this occurs in any of these houses; if you have standing water on your saddle after a rain storm – it is much worse. as the wood picks up the moisture, it swells and it expands the oak facing. the finish cracks and there begins the problem. it peels. continued water causes rot. in your case, i just think the veneer is failing though the wood core probably has some rot.

the way to stop this sort of issue on these doors is to seal the bottom and put a rubber sweep on the bottom. no not a brass looking thing from our favorite big box store, but simple brown rubber with an oak cap over it finished to look like it belongs there. i make my own. to slow further decay of your doors, you have to do these sort of things. no, i am not coming to manhattan to do this; that is why i am telling you here.

in so far as the current damage to your doors. the veneer has cracked. there is some separation between the stile and rail of the door which really means the joints are coming unglued. your door is ripe for a full restoration but if you do what i mention above now along with what i am about to tell you, you can delay that.

full restoration would include removal, ripping off all of he facing and edging and rejoining of the carcass; the stiles and rails with new wood joints and reapplying the facing with a semi flexible marine epoxy. and of course refinishing. i have told you i would do your door if you brought it here to me. also, i want to you know i attempted to call the person who began this project with you and left you where you are now: had she picked the phone up and listened and wanted to learn, i would have talked and talked and talked and she would have learned some things that took me years to learn on my own.

in your case, you wish to preserve the current damaged but present facing. you must dry that wood out (the oak is dry, i mean the core). usually when we strip a door, we sand to remove residue and we then straight sand to remove orbits. we sand to 120. You have some options here: if that is very stable to you can sand say 60, 80, 100, 120 and sand down to 150, all with an orbital, and then back sand to 100, 120 with a straight sander (good luck finding one; auto body shops still use them and festool makes one but until festool came along with one, we bought ours on ebay). you can sand and stain and apply finish. you know to tack things off before apply GENUINE MARINE VARNISH FROM WEST MARINE OR A BOAT YARD (interlux, petit, epifanes). read the directions on the can and cut the first two coats with mineral spirits so it soaks into the wood. apply at least two full coats if not three over the seal coats.

But you have other options. You can do this and i want others on here to KNOW THIS:
we do not do this to doors. i do not go around and stabilize doors this way as i do not know how long they will last; when we fix a door, we to it the old fashioned way, cut wood and rot and replace using modern epoxy. but it would be quite acceptable for a HOMEOWNER to do this: you can apply first a thinned epoxy from TOTAL BOAT (Jamestown in Rhode Island) and brush it on. if the wood takes it, pour it on. After that, use an epoxy that is a little thicker.

you still have to sand the epoxy off to stain. so maybe do this: sand the door like i say above and then stain and then use the thinned epoxy from Jamestown. You still have to apply your marine varnish but now you have some epoxy on the lower part of the door and my thought is that even after 5 coats of varnish, it may not blend or hide the coat of epoxy. keep in mind, you cannot sand that epoxy off with the stain on it (the stain you want to use for the best look is Mohawk Medium or Medium Dark Walnut; sometimes use light golden oak and tint the top coats).

so do this: get a quart of west system epoxy and i THINK the 207 Hardener. I think. i have not done this in years. to confirm what i am saying call the tech support line at Gougeon Brothers and ask them; they told me how to do this. and mix the epoxy with the 207 hardner and you can thin it with a little acetone and apply it to the door. it will stabilize all of that wood. you do not have to thin it. after doing this, apply your marine varnish. i would say you do not have to thin the first coat of marine varnish if you are going over a coat of epoxy.

that repair i just explained is a lot of work for a door that will probably need a full restoration in about 10 years anyway. that is why i often just tell people it is time to restore the door. of course when i rebuild doors i do so to make them last a lifetime if they are maintained AND i do explain to homeowners how to maintain the doors so they last.

Any gems in there?

doorsby and homeinspector are the same and doorsby is about to become a licensed home inspector.

Arkady | 3 years and 2 months ago

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I’ve learned a lot from him too – just on the Forum.

andriywww1990 | 3 years and 2 months ago

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thank you both.

op, i am still able to travel, i cannot deal with the parking and carrying things in manhattan and have not do a door rebuild in there in at least 4 years. i have serviced a few doors in northern manhattan in the past year or so. i also have not been to westchester in some years and used to do a lot up there. working between where i live and park slope is just fine with Bed Stuy right in the middle.