The house where our daughter and family live in France is a bit of a curate’s egg. It’s hard to be sure how old it is, possibly mid-1800s but was obviously built from reclaimed materials possibly 200-300 years old. – one foundation stone has a date of 1661 and, in another place, a stone sink has been used as a paving slab. As far as we know, after WW LL it seems to have become somewhat derelict until a carpenter/joiner with his own furniture, stair door and window making business bought it and renovated it with a new roof (using the old rafters but taking out the old dormer windows) and putting in a number some new external doors and windows and a new staircase. However, over time, the building has suffered again.
Some 10 years or more ago, we had to replace some double doors on the upstairs corridor on our side of the house as the old ones were falling apart. We wanted the new doors to match, as closely as possible, the old ones partly to maintain the look of the house and partly because the house is in a conservation area where any external alterations have to meet the requirements of the Batiments de France. The old doors were similar to these at the other end of the corridor Pictures Upstairs corridor and Doors 2.
The new doors have double glazed units and door seals and are well made. However, it was suggested that that, when building the doors, we incorporate the glazing bars within the double glazing but I don’t like that look so asked for external glazing bars. These are the pictures of the new doors and respective glazing bars. The glazing bars on the new doors were fixed with glazing tape but, several times in recent years, these have failed in several places and, each time, I have tried to refix them using a reel of Reddiseals security glazing tape. The doors are subject to direct sunshine for about 5 or 6 hours in the mornings in summer with temperatures reaching over 30C whilst in winter, temperatures can drop to -10C. The doors can also get a battering from rainstorms which, as happened recently, resemble having a pressure washer spraying the doors. The latest episode was when we went to France this year for our summer break to find that about another half a dozen bars had fallen off which again I refixed. However, I wonder of there is any other solution to using glazing tape.
Some 10 years or more ago, we had to replace some double doors on the upstairs corridor on our side of the house as the old ones were falling apart. We wanted the new doors to match, as closely as possible, the old ones partly to maintain the look of the house and partly because the house is in a conservation area where any external alterations have to meet the requirements of the Batiments de France. The old doors were similar to these at the other end of the corridor Pictures Upstairs corridor and Doors 2.
The new doors have double glazed units and door seals and are well made. However, it was suggested that that, when building the doors, we incorporate the glazing bars within the double glazing but I don’t like that look so asked for external glazing bars. These are the pictures of the new doors and respective glazing bars. The glazing bars on the new doors were fixed with glazing tape but, several times in recent years, these have failed in several places and, each time, I have tried to refix them using a reel of Reddiseals security glazing tape. The doors are subject to direct sunshine for about 5 or 6 hours in the mornings in summer with temperatures reaching over 30C whilst in winter, temperatures can drop to -10C. The doors can also get a battering from rainstorms which, as happened recently, resemble having a pressure washer spraying the doors. The latest episode was when we went to France this year for our summer break to find that about another half a dozen bars had fallen off which again I refixed. However, I wonder of there is any other solution to using glazing tape.
