On 24/12/2020 11:56, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message ,
newshound writes
On 24/12/2020 11:22, Davidm wrote:
On Wed, 23 Dec 2020 21:21:22 +0000, newshound
wrote:

On 23/12/2020 12:58, newshound wrote:
I have an old front door and even more ancient door frame, these move
about a bit in damp weather and get tight but free up when it gets
drier
and warmer. This was an area that is currently bare wood (but it is
old
oak).

Needed a spot of fettling today, took a light skim of the tight bit
with
a little plane and manual coarse sandpaper, but it was still slightly
tight. Rather than faff about longer removing material, I thought I'd
try a spray of Mr Sheen which has transformed it from "needing a
shove"
to "just kissing".

I know it's not ideal, in the better weather I will need to clean
it up
properly and repaint, but I was surprised what a quick and easy fix
this
was.

Also, I just discovered why the door is giving problems. There's a
blocked hopper (probably moss washed off the roof) up at the second
story, which in peak rain is overflowing down the house walls and
flowing back along the doorway lintel reveal, into the door frame. Not
quite sure if my biggest ladder will reach that, may have to get the
tower out tomorrow :-(
What's the lintel made of? Could you cut a shallow grove along it's
length, about 5mm back from the face, to form a drip bar and stop the
water from running into the door frame? Or attached (glue) a piece of
semi round beading near the front edge.

Oh, I thought of that but I needed to solve the primary problem with
literally a cascade of water running down the outer face of a rubble
stone wall pointed with proper lime mortar, in any heavy rain.

Anyway it just turned out to be a blocked cast iron hopper (I was
worried that it might have been cracked and needing replacement, which
would have been a scaffold tower job). In the event I was able to
clear it from a ladder.

A possible alternative would have been to feed a garden hose up from the
bottom.

Yes with a more normal layout, but in this case the hopper and downpipe
deliver to a gutter on the two story part of the house. And that means
you don't have access "upwards" without at least unclipping and bending
aside that gutter, and even then it is not good because it is a cast
iron downpipe and spout which don't come apart.