The rich variety of colour, texture and form, the individuality of natural wood and hand-made furniture, the abundance of intricate details from panelled timber and mouldings, flanked by ornate railings and street furniture, set against the softness of mature landscaping, are something special to be preserved.
I know I am waxing lyrical, but a property displaying its original features and charm is a joy to behold, you must admit.
Indeed, a dear friend of mine, rather than get her fine old Victorian front door repaired, replaced it with a version featuring vacuum moulded panels, black rubber seals, modern fan-lights within the door itself, and the icing on the cake - stuck-on strips in imitation of leaded lights.
The result? The building now looks cheap and phoney, and has more than likely gone down in value, as well as losing a lot of its kerb appeal. Being that first thought from a potential buyer is going to be wondering what other period features have been removed from within. Don’t get me wrong, though, because moulded and composite doors do have their place in modern buildings.
So, rather than replace a period door, or any door, whatever its age, that has been designed in harmony with a building’s overall appearance, it is better to call Plastic Surgeon, to repair it. For preservation is their first instinct, which is why the company has a growing list of contracts involving conservation situations and building components so badly damaged that trades like carpenters and French polishers had declared the patient “beyond help”.
In most instances the damage they deal with is due to knocks and scrapes from shopping trolleys, pushchairs and moving furniture, or the modern curse for properties with no rear access – the wheelie bin.
While a carpenter will struggle to ‘let in’ a new section of timber and the average painter - armed with a tube of decorator’s caulk - has to admit defeat, our highly trained finishers have a van full of solutions at their disposal. A variety of tools and fillers, plus a wide choice of smoothing products mean defeat is not an option.
While a build up of two or three pack fillers, and careful sanding enable the original profile to be restored, it is in colour matching that their finishers excel. All of them being trained in blending pigments to replicate the original finish in hue and reflectance, while lacquers are applied to protect the repair in the future.
As well as undertaking repairs to timber doors they also tackle those manufactured from timber, steel, PVC-U and composites; while they can save trims and even door furniture. Plus they can polish out scratches on glazing in doors, by skillfully using a graduation of abrasives on our very controllable powered tools.
Find out more on the Plastic Surgeon website.
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I was confused about the door situation and type for my small guest room. But when Bereco suggested me about the folding sliding doors to open up some space I was quite impressed by them.
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