Very old house - interior doors

[cafenoirbiscuit]

We are about to move into a 500 year old house. It was modernised in the 1960s and all existing features were removed or plastered over. It currently has flimsy mahogany coloured 1960s doors which we’d like to change.

Anyone got any suggestions for what would work ? I’m thinking oak but what style? And do we have oak door frames or white ones ?

TIA

have you thought of looking at reclamation places that do architectural stuff, I would say oak would go very well with an old house like yours and I would go for oak door frames as more in keeping with the age of the house

Do you have to comply with any listing of your new property? Before you spend money it might be wise to check with your local council.

Are you thinking cottage style, or grand hall?

Sounds a fantastic project, might be worth looking at sites like home building & renovation and their magazines, or Pinterest and Instagram for ideas.

Are there any pre-modernisation interior photos around? Local archive, local history group, magazines/newspapers, internet?

At that age, surely it’s listed? Ask historic buildings officer for guidance and be prepared to spend £££££!

Ours is 350 years old and cottage style. We have ledge and brace doors internally which are in keeping. If your conservation officer is anything like ours the style of your internal doors will be waaaay down the priority list - they're really struggling under cuts and rarely answer phones or emails.

I live in a house of similar age and the doors are oak, panelled with black iron latches/handles and hinges. They are the originals. Similar to this image.

I'd go close to what was originally there.

Sorry I'd also say my door frames are also oak, as are the skirting boards.

Not every area has reduced their interest in heritage houses. It’s fairly easy to research the type of door that would have been used originally - assuming it wasn’t a hall house of course!

It’s a farmhouse but doesn’t have a big grand hallway - although the hall is in the centre of the house. Stairs have a quarter-landing at the top and the bottom, and aren’t remotely imposing.

It’s Grade 2 listed, so we are preparing to make our case to restore some character to the place.

There are 19 doors across 3 floors. Would you do them all the same, or vary them per floor ie attic ones different to ground floor?

I would vary them. It looks more organic, more original, more historic. Have a theme (the wood obvs, the type of door-furniture) but don't have all 19 the same.

Maybe have some matchy-matchy-ness on the doors leading from the hall but then go with whatever turns up in the reclamation yard (subject to suitability) for the rest.

You could use ledged and braced doors. This type is still mostly used on sheds, but for a house will be better made and stronger.

Or ledged, braced and framed, which is better.

Or a boarded style, sometimes called Tudor or Elizabethan, which is flat on the outward face, but not on the room face.

If you want the doors to block sound well, get a 44mm door, which will be more solid and heavy, and give an impression of quality when you handle it. Light insubstantial doors feel very flimsy.

You could get a variety of second-hand doors, especially if you buy ones that were external doors (they are more substantial) or from old houses that were large and expensive when they were built. You can cut down a door if it is a bit too big.

Panelled doors are better but I don't know when they became common. They are made by joiners, not carpenters.

Any carpenter can make a door frame, it it just a piece of wood cut into three pieces and simply jointed, screwed to the wall. Actual oak will not be authentic indoors. Because of the way they are wedged and fitted, they will accomodate wall openings that are irregular or out of square.

P.s.

It is normal to vary doors and other fittings throughout a house. The grandest or best on the main reception rooms or doors leading off the front hall, sturdy but cheap on the kitchen or scullery, good on the master bedroom, cheap and nasty in the servants rooms and attic.

Great advice - thanks so much 😊
I’m not sure if the door frames are 1960s (something for me to check out!) - what would I need to look for if I was to fit 44mm doors? Would they fit a standard frame?

Ours are varied to be fair.

So downstairs a mix of the oak panelled ones I showed, with also a couple of walnut ones, and one with blown glass, then on first floor, it's all oak, but the ones made with long planks of wood, and same on the third floor. The hardware matches throughout though, all black iron.

If you're contacting heritage England or whomever then they will advise on what would have been there originally.

What date was the listing? I'd be very, very careful here, because the listing is what's in it at the time, and if that means mahogany doors, then they stay, if the original doors were ripped out Post the listing, then it's a criminal offence, and as the current owners you'll be charged with putting them back as per the originals...or face a fine or jail.

So be very careful before you invite them into your home. Removing original features without permission from a listed building is a criminal offence and the current owners are liable. Irrelevant of who did it.

Build date c16th, listed 1952, altered in 1960.

We are getting advice via our sol, as current owners have done some work over the past 5 years, and cheerfully admit having made no contact with council for lbc.
We don’t want to be carrying the can if they’ve breached the law. Plus I’m a huge rule-keeper, and general scaredy cat 🙀

Oh dear.

Some issues there. You can get indemnity insurance, but it's not valid if you invite the council in.

If you invite them in then it becomes a question of what was there at the time of listing. If you argue it was what's currently there, then thy stay for good. If you argue the original features were removed illegally then it's your job to put them back. Or the council will and will bill you.

Personally I'd replace for what I think was originally there, so they don't question it if you get them in later for something else, and assuming no original pics exist.

Otherwise it's not even a case of putting in oak doors, you'll be getting salvaged originals and won't have a choice.

Ours is a similar age and we’ve got doors like this throughout (but darker to match beam colour.) Was done in the 70’s when you he previous owners did lots of work.

I have a similar issue. We live in an old coaching inn-it dates from 1475 and was an inn until 1971. Lots of original
Features but the doors are not (bar one which is crumbling) and none of them match. Door frames are a variety of sizes none of which match any available in modern shops.
We have old panelling in our living room so a plank cottage style door would
Look weird (though we might be able to get away with it upstairs potentially).
I also dare not ask the conservation officer over as lots of things have been done in here , not by us, that probably contravene listing.
We do need to do something however as none of the doors stay shut without a wedge and they look really scruffy.

Naturalblonde's photo shows a ledged and braced door.

The ledges are the horizontals, and the braces are the diagonals. Layout varies.

If it was LBF, there would be thicker members around the sides, top and bottom, hence a "frame" which makes it stronger and more secure.

P.s.
The braces in the pic are round the wrong way.

Ooooh Murray have you been able to do anything at all?
Have any of you gained LBC to do anything in your houses?

Doors can be a very local thing. Made by the local joiner. Ours are very specific to our village so all the houses of a similar age have the same doors. Ask around or even your neighbours what they have.

Make sure you know what was in place at the point of the property being listed. Friends had a huge potential issue with the location of the kitchen. ( Moved without consent before they bought the place) but turns out it was done 9 months prior to the listing being applied. This means that in the end it was ok to stay put. Saved them a fortune, so worth understanding what was done when.