Door Restoration at Transfiguration

Henninger's was contacted by Transfiguration Church in Lakewood, OH to restore their main Church doors, which were the original doors from when the Church was built in 1930.  The doors had been poorly maintained and were in need of serious repair and restoration.

The doors were removed and transported back to Henninger's for restoration:

 

Once the doors were back in the shop, the interior of the doors were stripped - with some of the stripper revealing multiple layers of paint (brown, teal, and red) that had accumulated over the years on the soon-to-be-replaced exterior of the doors:

After the interior of the doors were stripped, the exterior facing was removed so new exteriors could be added.  When the exterior facing was removed, it revealed the inner mechanisms of the door, with the 85-year-old hand-cut wood easily visible:

The new exterior facings of the doors were then constructed to match the previous exteriors, which had been rotted out over the years by wind, rain, and snow.  The original stained glass panels were inserted into the restored doors:

While the doors were being worked on in the workshop, the wood in the exterior of the transoms above all three sets of doors was removed and replaced with new wood that replicated the original design:

After the doors were completed, three layers of varnish were added to them for protection while the hardware that was usable was refinished and all hardware in need of replacement was replaced.  The doors were re-installed into the jambs with the newly varnished transoms and jambs matching the luster of the "new" doors:

Though the doors look completely different, the history of the original doors of the Church was restored and preserved for a stunning "before and after" project that turned out even better than anyone involved could have dreamed.