Choosing doors

[oaktree]

lovesickest, I will see what I find this weekend at the salvage place, but I might take you up on that.

[Mick_VT]

Personally, if it were me, I would not worry too much about getting the exact doors that the place had, nice if you can, but a matching set of period doors of about the right vintage and quality for the property would be my goal. You might find something really nice at the salvage yard thats just a bit different. Also given your type of house I would say don't worry about having upstairs and downstairs doors matching. Often, and my house is an example of this, a slightly cheaper grade of door was used upstairs. In my case they used flat panels upstairs and raised panels downstairs. Same goes for the locksets and handles etc. My place uses bennington swirl knobs that were very common in the C19th

When you go to the salvage yard have all your measurements on hand - width, height and thickness. It is easy to shorten a door, a little harder to make it taller, harder still to make it narrower (it moves the lockset - it can be done but it requires patching), making a door that is too thick fit a hole can be a PITA, but might not be such a problem for you as you are replacing the trim anyway. At a good salvage yard you will find racks and racks of doors of various dimensions, some places have them pre-stripped which is nice if you are buying a bunch. Often they will have the dimensions indicated on them.

I hope I didnt just tell you a bunch that you already knew

[oaktree]

This is helpful!

[Mick_VT]

I forgot to say, note if the door is left handed or right handed (i.e. which side are the hinges on) you can swap the handedness of a door but like much of the above it requires some woodwork. Not a huge deal if you are handy with wood (glue a piece in to the hinge mortice and then recut the hinge for the door to swing the other way) but more of a deal if you plan to finish the doors in something other than paint. The good thing with taking all that along with you is you can use it to guide your selection of doors to minimize the amount of carpentry / visible patchwork (if you arent painting).

[oaktree]

Thanks, Mick!!!

[oaktree]

Today, I learned from a preservationist that my house is Greek Revival and that this two panel raised style is indeed the typical style. There would usually be no bevels, and the raised side would face the area guests would see. The other side of the door might not have raised panels. Porcelain knobs including Bennington, which I've been collecting, are typical. There are a couple types of hinges which were common that I took pictures of that I'll post later. Painted, faux wood grain to look like expensive wood was also common.

[Neighmond]

You're right on the way now, aren't you?

[oaktree]

Forward progress! I am comforted that I'm not doing things that are totally wrong for my house (too much) in the rush to get it livable.

[oaktree]

I found several candidate doors at the salvage place, and some are exactly like my milk house door. Unsurprisingly, they are all much shorter than my existing door openings. Some are narrower and some are almost the right width. I can:

a) Keep my existing newer, but solid pine doors (they are too short, so the door openings have to be made lower).
b) Buy the antique doors and add pieces to the bottom to make them taller. This won't work with the gorgeous hand-painted faux wood grain ones, which are the exact same style as my milk house door! There are other more forgiving painted candidates.
c) Make my door openings smaller to accommodate the antique doors.

I hesitated buying any doors today, but I think I should commit to a couple for one area of the house and see how it goes. The Rehab Addict has discovered this place, and I'm scared it's going to get way harder to get things there soon.

[Mick_VT]

This won't work with the gorgeous hand-painted faux wood grain ones, which are the exact same style as my milk house door!

Why wont it work? A strip carefully added to the bottom then painted a very similar shade may not be very noticeable at all - just dont add to the top. You could also add raised thresholds (assuming your house doesn't have them already). My house has them in every doorway 1" thick and original to 1865 , makes the door clear the carpets etc. A nice period detail IMO, I can post a pic if you like.

P.S. Make the door bigger rather than try to reduce the height of the opening. the former can be done discretely the latter in my experience often looks like a hack job and is usually more work.