Workmanship: Doors & Architrave

Workmanship Series
 1 Good Workmanship
 2 Workmanship: Dispute Resolution
 3 Workmanship: Walls & Floor
 4 Workmanship: Laminated Floor
 5 Workmanship: Electrical Work
 6  Workmanship: Air-Conditioner
 7 Workmanship: Doors & Architrave
 8 Workmanship: Gas Piping & Gas Dryer
 9 Workmanship: Kitchen Works
10 Workmanship: Hide Ugly Pipes
11 Workmanship: Windows
12 Workmanship: Plumbing

The photos below show in detail the workmanship with respect to the doors, frames and architrave for the bathroom, toilet, and bedrooms. Note that all the doors and hardware i.e. lockset, door knob, stainless steel hinges for this HDB flat came from our old apartment. They were in good condition and we felt it was a pity to trash them. Although the doors were installed at our old apartment in 1988 some 20 years ago, they still look astonishingly good despite their age. hmmm...makes me wonder how would you know the doors you had ordered from your ID were not in fact refurbished goods? *grin*

Musings aside, we felt a tinge of sadness because we had to leave behind several doors, furniture, wardrobe, and cabinets that were still in good condition as our HDB flat could not accommodate all the beloved paraphernalia from the old apartment.*sigh*

Well, judge for yourself whether the workmanship was up to scratch:

Closeup view to show accurate mitre-joint of architrave

Another perspective

Closeup view of architrave, door frame, and door

Note how the architrave and frame seamlessly meld into a single solid piece?

Architraves
If you've never thought of fixing architraves to your doors, well you don't know what you're missing! Architraves are the wood moldings that frame a door, window or other rectangular opening. In other words, you use an architrave to dress up a door or window, without which the door would look plain. Just look at the "undressed" door vs the door with the architrave added:

Bathroom Door before fixing the architrave

Same door after architrave installation - what a difference!

Bedroom door before architrave

Bedroom room door with architrave

Plain door frame at bathroom and toilet

Door Fixing & Installation
I once tried to re-attach the doors of our beloved 2-door wide rosewood wardrobe. That item was bought from Cheng Meng as part of our bedroom suite. My dear wife had wanted to rearrange the furniture in the MBR (uh-oh, don't they do that all the time?). And I had to remove the 2 heavy wardrobe doors to lighten the load for the shift. In the process of re-attaching the doors, one of the bronze hinges broke.

Being a D-I-Y kinda guy, I bought a replacement set. Screwing on the hinge was simple enough. I found, however, getting the heavy mirrored door to align and shut correctly in perfect alignment with the other door was another proposition altogether. No matter what I did, I could never get the doors aligned! I was not one to give up easily however. But after several days of unmitigated frustration I finally realized getting the doors aligned was beyond me and I had to admit defeat!

Meet Mr Ding Men Hoo, a master carpenter

Door installation is thus not simply a matter of correct measurement, cutting the door to size, and screwing on the hinges to install the door at the job site. It is a complex job requiring a good eye, fine judgement, and skills honed by years of experience.

Meticulous attention to detail

I rue the day when skills such as door installation and fitting are no longer with us because the younger generation don't fancy picking up such skills: they prefer to work in an office environment instead.

I saw how the old master first fitted the door, then took it off, did some swift planeing here and there, all a matter of judgement, then re-fitting the door back again. He did that 2-3 times. Until he was satisfied with the fit and closure of the door. I was indeed fortunate and thankful these skilled craftsmen were still around to fix and install my doors.

Toilet door before architrave installation

Toilet door after fixing architrave

Bathroom door with architrave

Workmanship Series
 1 Good Workmanship
 2 Workmanship: Dispute Resolution
 3 Workmanship: Walls & Floor
 4 Workmanship: Laminated Floor
 5 Workmanship: Electrical Work
 6  Workmanship: Air-Conditioner
 7 Workmanship: Doors & Architrave
 8 Workmanship: Gas Piping & Gas Dryer
 9 Workmanship: Kitchen Works
10 Workmanship: Hide Ugly Pipes
11 Workmanship: Windows
12 Workmanship: Plumbing