Last week, we had discussed how to polish, paint and clean doors. This week, we shall talk about more ways to remove stains on thresholds and frames.

Stonework

Many doors in old houses have stonework around them, as a frame or a threshold or both. In large towns, grime makes this extremely dirty. Don’t clean it with a wire brush — it ruins the surface.

The best way to clean stone is with a fairly weak solution of caustic soda and a nylon scrubbing brush. Wear rubber gloves. Some persistence may be required to get the stone clean, but no other method is faster.

Iron stains — reddish marks where water or general damp has brought down rust from iron fittings — can be removed quickly with a bath stain remover.

If you can’t be bothered to scrub the stonework, or the stains are so ingrained that they just won’t come out, the best thing to do is to give it a coat of cement paint. It comes in a reasonably natural-looking stone colour.

Wooden thresholds

Some old houses may have hardwood thresholds, which can get into a disreputable state. But whatever you do, don’t paint them. The paint soon wears off and this state is worse than the first.

The right way to clean a wooden threshold is to bleach it with the strongest possible solution of oxalic acid — just go on putting crystals into the water until they won’t dissolve any more. Then paint this solution on the threshold.

Leave it for a few hours, wash it off with plenty of water and re-apply as often as necessary.

When the threshold is dry, you might give it a few coats of colourless matt varnish and protect the edge with a screwed-on metal strip.

Cleaning glass

You may be among the lucky ones who have Victorian-style stained glass panels set within your entrance door or around it. Restoring the original brilliance of stained glass is simple — all it requires is a nailbrush and a weak solution of caustic soda. It is astonishing how colours that previously were not visible at all, spring to life.

Old frosted glass in standard designs, where the surface is stamped with sharp-edged crystal patterns, is difficult to clean properly because dirt settles in the deep grooves. But a paint stripper and a nailbrush will remove the dirt, and a weak solution of caustic soda will clean the glass.

Refitting the door

Old front doors are prone to sticking in their frames as they are opened and shut more than any other door in the house, and are often more exposed to the weather.

But don’t assume, just because the door sticks, that it is too big for its frame. The trouble may just as well be triggered by sagging hinges, and if the door sticks along its lower edge, or along the top of the lock side, chances are that this is the trouble. In this case, planing bits off the door will just make it worse.

Hinges generally sag because the screws are pulling out of their holes in the doorframe. The simplest remedy, if the holes are only slightly worn, is to remove the door (with its hinges), put fibre plugs such as raw plugs in the holes, and screw the hinges back.

Place a dab of waterproof woodworking glue in the holes before you insert the fibre plugs, to ensure that they don’t pull out. If the hinges are pulling out of the door as well, plug the holes there too.

If the frame is more extensively damaged, there are two remedies. One is to take the hinges completely off and remount them nearer the middle of the door. Try to move them as little as possible; a top hinge that is set too low carries an abnormally high load and may come out again.

Moving the hinges in this way will involve cutting them into the door and frame, and re-hanging the door accurately. So it is better to avoid it.

If the doorframe is really badly split, the only thing you can do is let in a piece of new wood. This must have slanted ends, so that it holds itself in the frame while carrying the weight of the door. Fasten it really firmly with waterproof glue and extra long screws that will hold it as securely as possible. This is a long, skilled job, so don’t do it unless there is no other way.

(The author is an interior design consultant, specialising in the design of corporate and residential interiors. As a senior faculty member at a Calcutta institute, she has delivered lectures, guided research and conducted projects in the field of ‘Housing & Interior Design’ for over two decades. She can be contacted at kusumsmail@yahoo.com )