Wood Door Restoration London: Cost and Repair vs Replace

Published 30 September 2026 · 9 min read · London Handyman Pro

Wood door restoration in London typically costs £150 to £350 for a single internal door and £350 to £900 for a front door, depending on the extent of rot, the number of coats, and whether hardware needs replacing. Restoration is usually cheaper than replacement and is often required rather than optional in conservation areas across Chelsea, Kensington and Wimbledon, where councils expect original doors to be repaired rather than swapped for new ones. Get a local handyman to assess before ordering a replacement.

What Wood Door Restoration Actually Involves

Restoration means keeping the original door and rebuilding it back to working order, rather than pulling it out and fitting a new one. That covers stripping old paint or varnish back to bare timber, filling or splicing out rot, re-gluing loose joints, sanding, and refinishing with primer, undercoat and topcoats, or a stain and varnish if you want the grain visible. It is a different job to a quick sand and repaint, which does nothing for structural damage and often traps moisture behind fresh paint.

Most of the doors we restore in London are period pieces: four-panel Victorian doors, six-panel Edwardian doors, and the glazed 1930s doors common in the outer suburbs. Pitch pine and oak hold up well to repair. Cheaper softwood doors from the 1970s and 80s sometimes have less worth saving structurally, though the frame and casing around them often are worth keeping.

Wood Door Restoration Cost in London

Prices vary with door size, timber type, the extent of rot, and access. Oak takes longer to strip and sand than pine, and a door removed and worked on in a workshop is often cheaper per hour than one worked on in situ because drying time between coats does not eat the whole visit. The figures below are typical ranges, always confirm against an actual inspection.

Job	Typical cost	Notes
Single internal door, strip and repaint	£150 to £300	Per door, hardware not included
Front door full restoration	£350 to £700	Higher for glazed or panelled doors
Front door with rot repair or timber splice	£450 to £900	Depends how much timber has gone
French or patio doors, pair	£500 to £1,200	More if glazing bars need repair too
Stain and varnish finish vs paint	+£50 to £150	Extra prep, more coats, longer dry time
Small touch-up or single panel repair	£60 to £120	Often our minimum call-out covers this

For a like-for-like new door made by a joiner in a period style, expect £800 to £2,000 or more, which is one reason restoration wins on cost most of the time. If you're weighing this against other jobs on a to-do list, our small jobs and odd job handyman service covers everything from a single sticking door to a full list of snags in one visit.

Restoration vs Replacement: How to Decide

Rule of thumb from the trade: if rot has taken hold of less than around 30 to 40% of the door's structural timber, usually the bottom rail or a corner, a splice repair is normally cheaper and just as durable as a new door. Beyond that, especially if the frame is also going, replacement can work out cheaper once you factor in the labour to keep chasing rot through a door that's mostly gone.

But cost is not the only factor. In conservation areas, which cover large parts of Chelsea, Kensington, Wimbledon Village, Richmond, Barnes, and pockets of Islington and Highgate, the local council can require you to repair the original door rather than replace it, even with an identical copy. Listed buildings go further: alterations to doors, including material and finish, can need listed building consent. Always check with the local conservation officer before you order a new door for a period property in these areas. It's a slower process to find out afterwards that the replacement wasn't allowed.

Signs Your Door Needs Restoring, Not Just Painting Over

A screwdriver sinks easily into the bottom rail or corners, that's soft rot, not just old wood.
Paint is bubbling or flaking in patches rather than fading evenly, which usually means moisture underneath.
The door sticks in wet weather and swings free in dry weather, meaning the timber is absorbing water somewhere.
Hairline cracks running along panel joints, common on older doors that have moved with the seasons for decades.
On flush doors, the veneer is lifting or bubbling at the edges, which points to water getting in at the frame.

Any of these on their own is usually a straightforward repair. Two or three together, especially rot plus swelling plus paint failure, mean the door has been letting water in for a while and the frame is worth checking too.

The Restoration Process, Step by Step

Assessment. Probe suspect areas with a screwdriver or bradawl to find the true extent of rot, not just what's visible on the surface.
Hardware removed. Hinges, letterbox, handles and locks come off before stripping so the finish coats sit clean around them later.
Stripping. Heat gun or chemical stripper back to bare timber. On doors likely painted before the 1960s, lead paint is a real possibility and needs safe stripping practice, not sanding it into dust.
Repair. Small rot gets cut out and filled with a two-part epoxy wood filler. Larger sections get a timber splice, cutting out the rotten piece and gluing in matching new timber, then shaping it to match.
Joints. Loose mortice and tenon joints, common on older panelled doors, get re-glued and clamped rather than just filled over.
Sanding. Progressive grits to a smooth, even surface, keeping any original panel mouldings intact rather than sanding the detail away.
Finishing. Primer, undercoat and two topcoats for a painted finish, or wood filler colour-matched plus stain and varnish for a natural finish.
Rehang and adjust. Door goes back on, gets planed if needed for a snug fit, and hardware is refitted along with new draught seals if the door needs them.

The most expensive mistake: painting over rot without treating it first. Fresh paint over a soft, damp bottom rail seals the moisture in rather than out. The rot keeps spreading under the new paint where you can't see it, and six months later what would have been a £200 splice repair has eaten into the door frame too, turning it into an £800 or more rebuild. If a door feels soft anywhere, treat it before you paint it, not after.

Areas We Cover

We restore period and modern wood doors across most of London, with a lot of our work concentrated in the areas with the highest concentration of Victorian and Edwardian housing stock: Chelsea, Kensington, Wimbledon, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Belgravia and South Kensington, where original panelled doors and conservation area rules go hand in hand. We also cover Notting Hill, Holland Park, Fulham, Marylebone, St John's Wood, Hampstead, Primrose Hill, Battersea, Clapham, Putney, Richmond, Barnes, Kew, Dulwich, Highgate, Islington and Canary Wharf. If you're outside a conservation area entirely, replacement is more often on the table, but the restoration cost comparison usually still holds.

How Long Does Wood Door Restoration Take?

A single door with straightforward stripping and repainting, no rot, usually takes one to two working days once you count drying time between coats. A front door with rot repair or a timber splice generally runs three to five days if the work is done in situ around the property, because of drying time on the repair before sanding and the multiple coats after. Taking the door off and working on it in a workshop can compress this to one to two days, plus the time to rehang it.

If you're dealing with a door damaged in a storm or a break-in and need it made secure the same day, that's a different job to full restoration. Our emergency handyman service can board up or temporarily secure a damaged door, then we schedule the proper restoration once it's safe to leave.

Landlords managing several properties across areas like Fulham, Clapham or Wimbledon often bundle door restoration into a wider maintenance visit rather than calling separately each time a tenant reports a sticking door. Our property maintenance service is set up for exactly that, regular visits that catch small door and frame issues before they become rot repairs.

FAQ

How much does wood door restoration cost in London?

Expect £150 to £300 for a single internal door restored by stripping and repainting, and £350 to £900 for a front door depending on how much rot repair is needed. French or patio doors as a pair typically run £500 to £1,200. Prices vary with timber type, door size and access, so a proper quote needs an inspection rather than a phone estimate.

Is it cheaper to restore a wood door or replace it?

Restoration is usually cheaper. A full restoration on a front door runs £350 to £900, while a new custom-made period-style door from a joiner typically costs £800 to £2,000 or more. Replacement only tends to win on cost when rot has spread through most of the door and frame together, at which point you're paying for two jobs anyway.

Can a rotten wood door be repaired instead of replaced?

Yes, in most cases. Rot confined to the bottom rail or a corner is usually cut out and repaired with an epoxy wood filler or a timber splice, restoring full strength to that section. As a general guide, if less than around 30 to 40% of the door's structural timber has gone, repair is normally viable and cheaper than a new door.

How long does wood door restoration take?

A single door with no rot, just stripping and repainting, typically takes one to two working days accounting for drying time between coats. A front door needing rot repair or a timber splice usually takes three to five days if worked on in place, or one to two days if removed and restored in a workshop before being rehung.

Do I need permission to restore or replace a front door in a conservation area?

Restoring the original door generally does not need permission. Replacing it, even with an identical copy, can require planning permission or listed building consent in conservation areas, which cover large parts of Chelsea, Kensington, Wimbledon Village, Richmond and Barnes. Always check with the local council's conservation officer before ordering a replacement door for a period property in these areas.

Can old paint on wood doors contain lead?

Yes. Paint applied before around 1960 can contain lead, and doors that have never been fully stripped since often still have layers of it underneath. Dry sanding disturbs it into dust that can be inhaled. A competent tradesperson will strip it with a heat gun or chemical stripper and proper dust control rather than power-sanding it off.

What finish should I use on a restored front door, paint or varnish?

Paint gives better long-term weather protection and hides any filled repairs, which is why most restored front doors in London end up painted. Stain and varnish looks better if the timber grain is good quality and there's little to no filled damage, but it needs more coats, more prep, and more frequent recoating every few years to stay protected.

Can you restore a door while it's still on its hinges?

Yes, and for minor work like a repaint or small filler repair it's often quicker to leave it on. For rot repair, joint re-gluing or a timber splice, taking the door off usually gives a better result because it can be worked flat and the repair clamped properly while drying, then rehung once finished.

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