New entry door? Or paint old one?

[Anonymous]

We just bought a 1930s colonial in DC with very few renovations made on it over the years.

The entry hardware is not particularly functional, and there are a 2-3 deadbolts. The peephole has been sealed.

We plan to put in a new handle and deadbolt and paint the door red. We'll have to remove one of the extra deadbolts and open a new peephole. I suspect because of age, it is probably a full wooden slab, but I'm not 100% sure.

Questions:
1) How can I be sure it's a full wood slab?
2) If 1) is true, should that make me more inclined to keep it? (Even if it has some minor cracks inside the panel portion)?
3) Does it make more sense to patch the hole from the excess deadbolts and repaint? Or just get a brand new door altogether?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Replacing our old front door is one of our home improvements that still makes me happy every day. The old door had been painted several times (as it sounds like yours has) and it just never closed well. So nice to have a brand-new door that closes easily and looks great. I'd vote for replacing it.

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it, look into getting a new door unit (with a new frame). Your home will be much less drafty and more secure. Also, the door will open/close much easier.

[Anonymous]

If it's original keep it and get a good storm door. You can't get those quality doors any more. Likely a custom size too so $$$ to replace unless you are willing to go with metal or fiberglass. A carpenter can patch the holes for the deadbolts. We also have a 30s colonial but the original door has been replaced with a poor quality door. We got a special order semi-custom solid wood door that we had to add on to at the bottom to fit and a storm. Looks fine and not so pricey (painted) but our door is still not as nice/strong as the neighbors will have original doors but much better than the low grade one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Replacing our old front door is one of our home improvements that still makes me happy every day. The old door had been painted several times (as it sounds like yours has) and it just never closed well. So nice to have a brand-new door that closes easily and looks great. I'd vote for replacing it.

Ditto. New front door was one of the first things we did. Old door was hideous 50s steel and the sellers had painted it an awful hue, on the recommendation of their agent, to serve as a "spot of color" on an otherwise all white house.