I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the sheds,
nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and they've got a
"Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

--
Nigel M

Nigel Molesworth wrote:
I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the sheds,
nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and they've got a
"Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

Well it aught to be a five lever lock at least.

Nigel Molesworth wrote:
I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the sheds,
nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and they've got a
"Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

Nothing, they're very competitive for doors. That is, provided you
don't mind timber rather than luvverly uPVC. I bought a Magnet door not
long ago and it was fine.

Presumably you'll need to pay for the glass and door furniture on top,
though?

David

Nigel Molesworth wrote:
I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the sheds,
nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and they've got a
"Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

Probably dowelled joints instead of through mortice and tenon. if this is
the case, you get a weaker construction and you have to be careful how much
you cut off the top and bottom rails when fitting.

Possibly inferior quality timber - although it's difficult to ANY good
quality timber these days!

May have to pay extra for the glass.


Brian G

"Brian G" wrote in message
...
Nigel Molesworth wrote:
I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the sheds,
nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and they've got a
"Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

....

Possibly inferior quality timber - although it's difficult to ANY good
quality timber these days!

Trees not what they used to be?

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:
"Brian G" wrote in message
...
Nigel Molesworth wrote:
I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the
sheds, nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and
they've got a "Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

...

Possibly inferior quality timber - although it's difficult to ANY
good quality timber these days!

Trees not what they used to be?

Mary

Correct there, its a problem caused by over-foresting of the best timber
over many years which has forced up the prices for it and reduced the
quality of the remaining stocks - and ergo, it just *leaves* the inferior
stuff for the run-of-the mill joinery that we see today.

BTW, that's one of the reasons why many people 'in the know' will use
salvaged doors, floorboards, roof timbers windows et-al from demolished
buildings of the 19th and early to mid 20th century (especially schools and
public buildings). The clients of those days wanted even the most mundane
of items made out of 'real' mahogany, teak, English oak, yellow pine, pitch
pine etc and the old foresters of yonks ago, seeing a ready and lucrative
market, cut down and imported millions of these trees willy-nilly without
thought of conservation for the future.

The thoughts of a now very (well relatively) old carpenter :-)

Brian G

"Brian G" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:
"Brian G" wrote in message
...
Nigel Molesworth wrote:
I've been looking for a replacement exterior door. Been to the
sheds, nothing took my fancy. Then I went to Magnet Trade and
they've got a "Richmond" style door for £35. What's the catch?

...

Possibly inferior quality timber - although it's difficult to ANY
good quality timber these days!

Trees not what they used to be?

Mary

Correct there, its a problem caused by over-foresting of the best timber
over many years which has forced up the prices for it and reduced the
quality of the remaining stocks - and ergo, it just *leaves* the inferior
stuff for the run-of-the mill joinery that we see today.

I don't understand that.

There is still plenty of very good timber of all kinds around. It doesn't
matter that we have to pay more for it, that applies to most good things and
in the long run it's worthwhile.

BTW, that's one of the reasons why many people 'in the know' will use
salvaged doors, floorboards, roof timbers windows et-al from demolished
buildings of the 19th and early to mid 20th century (especially schools
and
public buildings).

We've been doing that for fifty years! We don't do it on economic or timber
type reasons but on environmental ones. We hate waste.

It also needs to be desperate for us to take things to a metal scrapyard,
when we do the owner sometimes offers us things he knows might interest us -
for the metal, not the item.

The clients of those days wanted even the most mundane
of items made out of 'real' mahogany, teak, English oak, yellow pine,
pitch
pine etc and the old foresters of yonks ago, seeing a ready and lucrative
market, cut down and imported millions of these trees willy-nilly without
thought of conservation for the future.

There has been a lot of re-forestation of all species.

The thoughts of a now very (well relatively) old carpenter :-)

Mary
possibly even older.

Brian G

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:35:09 -0000, Brian G wrote:

ask him about the quality of timber today

You can't get the wood you know.

--
Nigel M

"Brian G" wrote in message
...

Possibly inferior quality timber - although it's difficult to ANY
good quality timber these days!

Trees not what they used to be?

Mary

Correct there, its a problem caused by over-foresting of the best
timber over many years which has forced up the prices for it and
reduced the quality of the remaining stocks - and ergo, it just
*leaves* the inferior stuff for the run-of-the mill joinery that we
see today.

I don't understand that.

Mary,

If you know a good joiner near to you, ask him about the quality of timber
today.

Spouse does what joinery we need, he doesn't have a difficulty finding
decent timber - but he is particular. We have a daughter and son in law who
are fine cabinet makers, they have no problem finding what they want either.
And they often acquire timbers at no cost.You just have to know where to
look, as with everything in life.

I don't know how much you know about wood,

No, you don't.

but take it from me the
quality has degraded over the years (my own experience from when I became
an
apprentice in 1964 to date bears that out).

So you ARE younger than us:-)

Over foresting has diminished most of the 'true' joinery trees to the
state
where timber such as Teak has to have a licence now to import it into this
country - let alone cut it down.

Quite right too.

As a result, we are now reduced to using
substitutes such as Iroko for Teak or Sapele for Mahogany - both inferior
in
finish and longevity to the 'true timbers'.

You see, we prefer native timbers anyway and wouldn't use the best or any
other kind of teak for any application. We don't like the look of it. I
thought it had gone out of fashion anyway.

This has come about about
because our ancestors used trees such as Mahogany for silly things such as
railway sleepers during the industrial revolution

That wasn't silly. Damn good use for mahogany in my opinion - it's in the
same category as teak!

(I still have a small
amount of this in my garage from when Dr Beeching closed the local railway
down and they flogged off the sleepers)

Super.

There is still plenty of very good timber of all kinds around. It
doesn't matter that we have to pay more for it, that applies to most
good things and in the long run it's worthwhile.

Good for what?

For whatever you need.

Grade 1 Joinery or 'stress' graded constructional timber -
there isn't a great deal of that around within the price range that would
make it economical to use.

I did say that you have to pay for good timber.You do for anything which is
worthwhile.

Hence the reasons why over the years the TDRA
(Timber Research and Development Association) have devised the roof truss,
sectional timber beams, casement windows along with developing various
methods of 'finger jointing' small pieces of rare and high value timbers
together to make bigger pieces, the increasing use of plywood, hardboard,
chipboards and even the ubiquitous MDF boards have evolved from their
research.

And excellent they are, for some applications.


BTW, that's one of the reasons why many people 'in the know' will use
salvaged doors, floorboards, roof timbers windows et-al from
demolished buildings of the 19th and early to mid 20th century
(especially schools and
public buildings).

We've been doing that for fifty years! We don't do it on economic or
timber type reasons but on environmental ones. We hate waste.

You are I believe in the minority there for 'environmental' reasons. most
people I know who do that, usually do it purely for economic reasons or
because the stuff is a better quality than can be got today.

Each to his own. Price shouldn't be a consideration.

The clients of those days wanted even the most mundane
of items made out of 'real' mahogany, teak, English oak, yellow pine,
pitch
pine etc and the old foresters of yonks ago, seeing a ready and
lucrative market, cut down and imported millions of these trees
willy-nilly without thought of conservation for the future.

There has been a lot of re-forestation of all species.

It can take over a hundred years for an oak. teak or beech tree to grow to
full maturity and suitabe for converting.

And re-forestation has gone on for longer than that, even before the
Forestry Commission was developed.

The timbers they use for
re-forestation usually mature within 25 - 50 years and are inferior in
relative terms.

Not always.

Look, the sellers will produce what sells, in other words what people are
prepared to buy. If there was more demand for the finest timbers there would
be more reason to produce them. Yes of COURSE trees take a long time to grow
but there are plenty of suitable mature trees around, as has been shown in
emergency circumstances. If people WANT good timber and are prepared to pay
for it it's there. Why should prime timber, which has taken more than a
lifetime to care for, be sold at the same price as mdf?

The thoughts of a now very (well relatively) old carpenter :-)

Mary

possibly even older.

That as well may be Mary, but to be that old, the quality has to be there!

In my case it is.

Grow 'em slow and season 'em slow to last longer and get a better finish
in
my opinion!! LOL

Indeed. And be prepared to pay for that extra time. Are you growing any
timbers to use? We have done in our back garden and are now benefiting from
it.

Mary


Brian G