When it lets water through. Technically it then becomes an open door, or as near as makes no difference. Just before we went on holiday in September we found our front door had rotted to the extent where a finger could push into it, a fact cunningly hidden by the gloss paint which looked perfect. Not exactly secure whilst we were away so we got a new one fitted two days before going on holiday. Now we are faced with getting another new door as there is a steady trickle of water coming through the corner of the bottom panel despite copious amounts of external grade wood varnish. Fortunately the builder, the wholesaler and the supplier of the door have all had a look and agree it is not a good door and needs to be replaced without cost to us. Actually we may have to buy the varnish but in the scheme of things it’s not worth arguing about.
Funny thing was that it only leaked whilst the wind was blowing the rain in a particular direction. Less funny was that the direction the wind was blowing from was south-westerly which just happens to be the prevailing wind in these parts. I’m told if it wasn’t for the mitigating effects of the Island, Lymington wouldn’t be anything like as calm and serene. Easy to believe actually, you only have to go down to Milford on Sea on a blowy winters day to understand what wind chill really means.
We still have to go choose a new door, we have been informed that reports in the joinery industry suggest we should not get a direct replacement as there has been an unreasonable failure rate from this manufacturer. So we won’t. We’ll have to find one that looks like it, but fulfills all the basic door-like functions like keeping the rain out. Pity, it was a nice door and on a dry day can still be a nice door. But quite frankly in Britain in winter the odds are stacked against it.