Sad doors

[LadyArowana]

Just when you think it’s all over and beautifully done and you’ve made it shiny…… Someone else comes along, and well here I am again begging for help! TBH this probably belongs in “Grump of the Day” The front door to our apartment block was refinished/ polished/ goodness knows what they did….. and initially it looked ok, not great but not awful. I volunteered to polish the big brass knobs, which involved stripping off the battered lacquer and polishing them properly whilst masking off the woodwork. It looked nice. Fast forward to now. The finish on the wood has deteriorated significantly and it looks dried out and awful. Someone else polishes as part of their duties, and uses the Brasso liquid liberally without masking tape. The result is as shown.

Does anyone have any good advice on how the managing agents / freehold board should be advised to proceed? I am keen to avoid another bodge so would like to be armed with my own knowledge ahead of time. One director has suggested ‘French polishing’ but it is exposed to weather so I have doubts. FYI I ‘think’ the wood might possibly be mahogany as the inside undamaged looks very nice. The building is a typical London red brick mansion block.

 

[Cubist]

Hi there Lady A,
Good to hear from you and sorry it's about those rather nice old doors. Before they become a grumpy and maybe angry white elephant at the threshold some simple changes to current maintenance practice will go a long way to putting off the moment when more radical intervention is needed.

1. Take the Brasso off the person/persons who have thus far failed also to adequately protect the doors timbers.
   1. Brasso, like most other metal polishes, is made of finely ground hard stone held in an alcohol/spirit suspense. When used it effectively 'grinds' the tarnished surface material away to reveal the underlying raw metal. All well and good if it were solid brass but most door furnishings like those handles are electro plated brass over a base metal and theres some evidence of that nonbeing revealed in the photos.
   2. As far as the door furniture and scuff plates are concerned a good wipe down with say methylated spirit will remove any oily deposits left by peoples hands and also remove any surface dirt. The sheen of the brass can then be refreshed and protected with a coat of wax which can also be rubbed into the surrounding woodwork.
   3. Before doing that however it would be wise to use a fine nylon nail brush with some meths to wash/lightly scrub out the white/greenish Brasso residues proximal to the brass plates.
2. As far as the woodwork is concerned a lot of the damage is the product of minor scrapes and knocks some of which have chipped off the old hard varnish/lacquer finish. The biggest concern though would be where cracks and cavities are starting to open up near the beading around the door panels and jambs. Left alone these will allow water penetration with the obvious long terms results.
   1. French Polish or even a heavy coat of Shellac will be of little help as this could and would be compromised and perhaps destroyed by any fluid that may contain a spirit/alcohol. It is also prone to chipping if applied thickly.
   2. Given the damage seen on the door panels I would suggest that, after cleaning, multiple coats of wax are first used and pressed or brushed firmly into all those little crevices to effectively fill them and also to provide a final and protective coat and sheen.
3. Long term, as with all such, the doors and perhaps the frame too will have to have its old hard varnish/lacquer finish fully stripped away and replaced.
   1. That's a big job best done on a bench as otherwise traffic through that doorway could be made very difficult for days and perhaps weeks.

Hope this helps and that others here can maybe offer easier/simpler solutions.

Cheers for now,
Cubist

 

[a twig]

From my very limited experience with teak outdoor furniture - timber like that should just need annual oiling with tung oil if you want to keep the colour, rather than letting it grey naturally.

Knobs tend to wear naturally (ooerrr) - if they are electroplated and the Brasso has stripped it then the only solution is re-plating. DIY kits are available and require only the requisite chemicals, a large tub and a car battery charger.

 

[LadyArowana]

Thanks so much for the reply Cubist. Those great big nobs are actually solid brass. I was surprised because I thought they were probably the cheap plated stuff, but nope. I made a start on getting rid of the varnish on them which enabled proper polishing and they looked nice, but then it became Autumn and I hibernated and never finished the job. I tried telling the chaps who do the polishing about how to keep them shiny and not damage the woodwork but alas they are wedded to rags doused in Brasso liquid applied enthusiastically everywhere. This was after the ‘whatever’ was done to the woodwork and I got my Marigolds on and did the brass. The only good thing to come out of this sorry situation is that I love our own front door which gets my attention alone and is lavished with gentle care, as well as a collection of seasonally appropriate decorations…….

 

[a twig]

In the past I have applied a spray lacquer (as used in automotive applications on top of car) to protect external brass fittings and keep the shine

 

[LadyArowana]

In the past I have applied a spray lacquer (as used in automotive applications on top of car) to protect external brass fittings and keep the shine

That could be a plan once the doors have been made nice and then the dreaded cans of Brasso could be confiscated.

 

[Cubist]

My eyes obviously deceived me, nowt new there. Too often the modern stuff is coated in some kind of lacquer that is so thin frequent contact with skin can can abrade to allow tarnish accumulation. Now, I need to be careful about my choice of words here because I've just noticed @a twigs latest contribution which merits retort. Yes, a lacquer will protect the brass for little while but eventually it will become a real PITA for some marigold armed lady of the house to attack at a later date. Not that I'm suggesting this a job that should only be conducted by a member of the gentler sex. Rather its my having a healthy respect for and terror of, acerbic ladies in pinnies nurturing an utter contempt for menfolk.

Now... the cloud of dust you can see on the horizon is a cubist looking for the hills. Bye for now.

 

[LadyArowana]

Now... the cloud of dust you can see on the horizon is a cubist looking for the hills. Bye for now.

Be careful with use of the phrase “gentler sex” too, you know we only have the marigolds because deathcap mushrooms and quicklime are nasty things.

And it took me an embarrassing number of years ( decades actually ) to realise why I hated wearing Marigolds. I wanted some gloves and our local wonderful DIY shop only had large or XL in the heavy duty, I asked for ones in my size, nope, no have, but we do have regular Marigolds, handed me small ones and I decided they would do. Yes, I had always bought M previously and no they were not comfortable, S = Perfect.

 

[Cubist]

Just got off a call with the First Lady, she's still in the US and not best pleased and was looking for some good news from home. As part of that I let her know that I had been warned about my intemperate language by the good Lady A. Seems that the First Lady shares the same outlook and asked me to let Lady A know that she is writing a scathing email for my personal attention that will arrive wrapped around a brick when she gets home.

BTW - Your 'marigolds' anecdote brought to mind a Hannah Fry video report of a messy problem experienced by the US Space Program and a novel solution used to solve it.

 

[LadyArowana]

Seems that the First Lady shares the same outlook and asked me to let Lady A know that she is writing a scathing email for my personal attention that will arrive wrapped around a brick when she gets home.

My compliments to your good lady, I trust it will be signed “Regards”. She may also enjoy the method of complimenting someone I was recently advised of “He sounds like he deserves a pat on the back… with a sledgehammer”