Caveat Emptor - E-Joinery - La Porte French Doors

Just by way of an update on the new studio, Damian's work has weathered the winter wonderfully, the pond is populated with plants, frogs and scurrying water beatles. The insulation has meant that the studio is usable throughout the winter and it's nice and dry. We haven't sullied the space with computers as yet and would like to keep it as non computer painting/printing studio. In fact the only problem is the only thing that we had to buy in - the doors.

We found these wonderful doors at a reasonable price on the internet from a company calledE-Joinery based in Coleshill, Birmingham. The doors were called La Porte (American White Oak french doors). They looked very good, simple, Oak doors with a big double glazed window to allow the maximum light into the studio. They also came with a one year warantee which reassured us about buying over the internet and showed that the retailer had confidence in their products. We gave the doors 3 coats of yacht varnish, hung them and they looked fantastic.

Until it started to rain. The problem was that the seal between the window panel and the wood had been fitted badly and with the wet summer, water was left standing where the seal had dropped into the frame - soaking directly into the inside of these doors. Where this happened the joints began to swell,discolour and the bottom of the doors swelled and distorted so much that they couldn't be properly closed.

A simple manufacturing error, you may think, but when refusing our claim for a replacement it turns out that the seal wasn't the problem at all but the fact we used yacht varnish rather than stain to finish the doors!

The message I suppose is double check your purchases immediately - don't let any seemingly minor fault pass, send goods back, and don't necessarily trust a guarantee, as there can be wiggle room to void it. We're pursuing the matter as we paid a lot for faulty doors and as you can see the doors have spoilt the look and utility of our bautiful new studio and we're really upset!. - I'll keep you posted.