Port Stanley Schoolhouse
View Port Stanley Schoolhouse Photo GalleryOverview of Woodwork
Restoration
When I was hired to complete the
restoration of the interior woodwork on the Port Stanley
Schoolhouse the building had been vacant for many
years. Mice, birds and bats had been living in the
building and the existing woodwork was covered in guano.
The woodwork had also been gouged, scratched and damaged
in many areas. Hay had been stored in the building and
there was dust and dirt everywhere. Almost two thirds of
the woodwork, baseboards and trim was missing, some of
it taken out to be used on other buildings. All the
doors were missing and only a few of the windows were
still salvageable.
I took on the job with a determination to honor the
integrity of historic preservation.
The very first thing that I was asked to do was to finish
the windows so that they could be installed. Most of the
windows had to be replaced with new custom windows built to
match the originals. All the windows needed to be painted
on the exterior and finished on the interior to match the
rest of the wood. The few old windows had to be carefully
cleaned up. There were over three hundred glass panes which
had to be masked on both sides and then the wood carefully
finished.
Once the windows were all installed I was able to proceed
with finishing the interior woodwork and doors. The first
thing I did was to slowly clean the original woodwork,
scraping off mud and guano and carefully revealing the
finish below. Once I determined the original stain color
and finish I set out to clean all the existing woodwork and
restore it to its original look.
To replace the woodwork that was missing, the historical
society was able to purchase vertical grain fir trim,
doors, tack boards and chalk rails which came from an old
Bellingham school that was being demolished. The school was
from the same era so the wood was very similar except that
this wood had all been painted. There were many layers of
brown paint on all the wood pieces and doors and they all
had to be stripped and then stained and finished to match
the original woodwork.
There was still a need for more trim pieces and baseboards
since the salvaged wood from the Bellingham school was not
enough to complete the project. New vertical grain fir was
purchased to fill in the gaps and this wood had to be
stained and finished to blend with the rest of the wood.
The entire project was challenging and fun. I am very happy
with the final result and was told by the State
Preservationist that I had done a superior job. I used a
dye stain, then a pigmented wiping stain and finally
glazing to complete the aged appearance of the wood. All
the woodwork had three coats of urethane over the stain.
The final result is that you can not tell the difference
between the different woods.
View Port Stanley Schoolhouse Photo Gallery