Period Door Maintenance: How to Look After your Victorian or Georgian Front Doors

Period Door Maintenance

Georgian and Victorian-era homes can be identified from their unique styles; both striking for their own individual reasons. A Georgian house typically incorporates columns and parapets within its exterior, and large tall windows to allow as much light into a home as possible. Victorian era homes are more diverse. They can range from drawing architectural features from Ancient Rome and Greece, to having a strong gothic influence. But whatever the particular style, one of the most noticeable features about any Georgian and Victorian homes are their distinctive doors.

Additional Articles You’ll Also Like:

Article: How to Repair Leather Furniture
Article: Importance of Dryer Vent Cleaning
Article: Dealing With A Flooded Basement

If you are planning to add a new door into your Georgian or Victorian property, or if you already have such a door and are not sure how best to maintain this, then please just read the information below. As a door is one of the first parts of the house your guests will see, you want to make sure it looks immaculate at all times.

Having glass clean is worth spending time on

Many Victorian and Georgian doors have glass incorporated in them somewhere, whether inset in the door or in an archway above. This can be plain glass or stained glass. Sometimes there are fantastic engravings in the glass panels which you’ll want to bring out clearly. To get your glass sparkling again, you can do this yourself. All you’ll need is some alcohol and cloth (or a toothbrush) and make sure you give it all a good scrub. But if you want some help (maybe your door is in bad shape) there are many professional companies who’ll restore the glass for you. You can have your door re-glazed if you think this would look better in the long-term.

Re-painting

Repainting your Georgian or Victorian door will freshen it up, whether you stick with the same color or go for something new. Many people think that Georgian and Victorian doors should be repainted every three to four years to stop water seeping through the door. If you do regularly repaint, however, make sure that moldings and features don’t become clogged up with layers of paint. Victorian and Georgian doors can have intricate features, so be careful to preserve these. If your door becomes too clogged up with paint, you’ll need to carefully strip it. Liquid paint strippers or a hot air gun should be suitable for this job.

Door handles and fixtures

There inevitably comes a time when your door handle starts to wear out, or your door knocker begins to fall to pieces. But you need to be careful when choosing a replacement. Retain the original Georgian or Victorian style is important, so make sure that you choose something that reflects this. The best thing to do is to go with a company who stock authentic fixtures and have this fitted for you. They can advise you on what to choose and that way, you can be certain that you will achieve the right look.

So, if you follow this simple advice, your Georgian or Victorian door should last a very long time.

BYLINE:

This article was written on behalf of Old English Doors, a company selling quality traditional Victorian and Georgian wooden front doors, run by father and son in Nottingham UK.

Watch this video for some examples of Victorian and Georgian front doors: