colsp2  
col3  
 
col2  
 

site by Stefan Hepner

Newsletter

 

 

Door and Windows Restoration, Hewn Timber Framing, Weight-Balanced Operation, Clapboard or decorative shingle Siding, Ornaments and Roofing.

Olek Lejbzon & Co. fabricates all styles of doors and windows, spanning the periods Medieval, Gothic, Georgian, Federal, Victorian, and modern. Ornate arched carved mullions and Gothic tracery are a routine part of our fabrication.

PRINCETON COLLEGE - MC KOSH HALL DOOR RESTORATION

Olek restored all of the doors of Mc Kosh Hall around 2002 when the building was being restored. Every entry door to this building is unique, and deserving of fine preservation efforts.
Chair

The doors, made in 1875, were made with a 1/4" white oak veneer over pine or fir stave core. The pine stave core was less rot resistant than the white oak, and often rotted inside the core of the door, retaining moisture and eventually rotting the white oak veneer as well. To repair these doors, it was necessary to remove the weakened veneer over rotten cores, and to replace the veneer after Dutchman inlays into the stave core substrate.
Chair Chair
Chair

After pulling off the original 1/4" thick rot-weakened veneer easily, the rotten stave core was visible beneath. The construction is not very different than the 1/8" veneer over lumber staves or "engineered" core accepted by AWI today. Instead of lasting 100 years, todays' construction more typically lasts 20 years. Solid white oak with mortise-and-tenon construction should last well over 200 years with some finish maint.

See this door restored below, installed into a grueling Southern exposure, nine years later:
Chair

 

Nine years post-completion with no maintenance, all the Dutchman inlays are intact

Chair

 

Door after stave core repair with original and inlaid replacement quartered white oak veneer
Chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair

 

Door after restoration, finishing and reinstallation, and nine years aging with no maintenance. Leaded glass replaced by Olek.
Chair chair v chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair Chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair

ALL THE MAGNIFICENT DOORS OF MC KOSH HALL

 
Chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair Chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair
Chair chair chair chair chair chair chair chair Chair chair chair chair chair chair chair
Chair chair chair chair chair Chair Door Restoration
Chair Chair
Chair Chair