As promised Simon blocked the cold winds from whistling through the door.
We bought an amazing draft excluder that blocks huge gaps but unfortunately, we had no door frame to fit it. Our old front door literally shuts into the hard granite stone frame with huge gaps all the way around.
As we’re not as hardy as our French countryside neighbours we had to get the door sealed properly. Simon made a beautiful oak door frame and glued, screwed and grip filled that whole thing together. We have a storm guard at the bottom to prevent the rain from blowing in. The next part of the project is just the rain guard on the foot of the door to replace the old rotten one.
We’ll be searching the brocantes for a new black iron door handle, escutcheon and possibly a replacement lock and bolt in the spring.
We can’t take our front door off to fit a new frame or cut the door down in size slightly (we think the house was built around it). Simon had to hand saw on his hands and knees with the door in situ. The door is made of tough old oak with just a slight bit of rot at the bottom where the rain got in. This was cut off eventually and the storm guard fitted. Our backs ached just watching Simon methodically saw through. He then had to drill into the stone to fix the storm guard in place because everyone who walks through the door kicks it, dislodges it and trips over it. This will be solved when the new coir matting arrives for the doorway. Bringing the levels up to match and hopefully preventing future trip hazards.
Rebated oak door frame to fit draft excluder.
