Copy an original Victorian door?

[20wkbaby]

We live in a terrace and we are the only house with a uPVC door (installed by previous owner), all the others have their original Victorian door which is not a standard sort of style. We would love to reinstate a door to match the others in the terrace but not sure how to go about it.

Has anyone done this and how much did it cost you if that isn't a cheeky thing to ask?

Sorry, I can't help with the reproduction thing, but my suggestion is to start with antiques and salvage shops in your area, followed by eBay and the online architectural antiques sellers. You might just find an original one, which should be cheaper to buy and restore than a reproduction. I even stooped to walking up and down neighbouring streets and volunteering to buy unloved original doors, and combing skips, just in case. Of course, if you spot one of your neighbours having their windows replaced, just double check they're not scrapping the door too.

I have prev had a door made from a picture of a neighbours original one. I had searched high and low for a reclaimed one the right size to no avail. Also got some stained glass made. Looked great. The door was made by a contact of the builder. Not cheap, can't freshener the cost was a few years ago but Totally worth it.

We had an unusually sized internal Georgian door copied and it cost us £400.

Unless your door is very unusual, then I would suggest scouring the reclaimation yards.

Can't remember the cost... Not sure where freshener came from! I think it was in the region of £300.

Gin, with the stained glass, that sounds a very decent price :-) I eventually got a really trashed old door for £80, paid another £50 to have a joiner swap the hinges etc to the other side and resize the door frame. Then I spent another £20 or so, and a whole lot of time, on restoring it to its former glory. Beautiful! I would like to get a stained glass panel made, but that's for when I have more loose cash. Hah!

It was about 10 years ago when I think about it! And oop North... I loved that door, I no longer live in the house it was attached to. I was lucky that the original stained glass panels either side of the door were still intact.

Will be doing something similar for our current renovation project, it is on The List.

Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately I think it will be too hard to find an original. I have only ever seen them on this terrace, windows are also an unusual shape.

Will look into finding a joiner? We wouldn't need stained glass but probably etched.

I think it might be quite expensive - we had something similar done, but with a solid door ie the carpenter got an ordinary door, stuck a few embellishments on and lo! An original-looking door.

Any glass which is fitted nowadays needs to be double glazed (we had a new frame too, which meant our carpenter had to remove the (purchased by us, coloured) glass fanlight and when he refitted it, he put a second layer of glass on the outside. I would have thought this would have implications with a reclaimed door anyway.

This is the thread i started before i realised that a house like ours (no hall) would not have had a stained glass door anyway, contains some useful links!

d'oh, should have checked links first, this is the only useful thing - the original company i was wondering about.

Btw i think any good carpenter should be able to make a door for you, but you need to find the right carpenter - ours worked in cahoots with a stained glass guy, as we live in a victorian/stained glass/middle class kind of an area...

We had our Victorian replica front door made by a joiner, not standard size (very wide). It was over 10 years ago and cost approx £2.5k with the stained glass. Made from merenki (?sp) not oak, which would have doubled the price. Would be cautious about getting one from a salvage yard since most old front doors are very warped and split and ultimately will cause you no end of problems.

These guys seem to have quite a selection, or they do bespoke ones to match the others on the street.

www.peco-of-hampton.co.uk/product.php?page=1&ipp=All&cid=7

We looked at all sorts of door companies doing this and it was going to cost a fortune.(1000's) Then we spoke to our joiner who made us an exact replica of the neighbours door. It cost £380 Inc hanging, priming & ironmongery. We had to paint it.

Thanks, that is all useful stuff.