Triang No.24
Introduction to Triang No.24
From 1939 Catalogue:
‘Wonderful value. Imitation half timbered gable. Metal-framed windows with curtains, imitation shutters, tiled roof and brick front with spacious balcony. Four rooms and staircase. Front hinged to open in two places.’ [4029]
22 inches [56 cms]wide inches [ cms] deep 22 inches [56 cms] high
This model dates between 1930 and 1941.
This is the new addition to my doll’s house collection a Triang No.24.
It is a lovely looking house with brick facing and a porch/arch around the door, and a window box under the top window. It has 4 good-sized rooms. Although not all the windows are complete, each window has a frame which is a bonus, as inserts can be sorted out later. The main problem with this house is the woodworm, luckily the front panels have no worm holes. The upstairs windows had shutters on either side of the windows, I had made some of these for one of my other dolls houses, so they will be no problem to replace.
This shows the inside of the house, it looks a bit untidy at the moment.
The above picture shows one of the walls of the house which is full of woodworm holes and dust, the middle of this piece of plywood is as thin as paper where it has been eaten through. Each layer has separated, this is the worst area.
All the wooden carcus of the house shows signs of woodworm. I have tried to gently remove the wallpaper so the wood could be treated, but this was not successful, so I have been treating the house with a syringe, putting woodworm treatment in each hole, and soaking the edges of the house. What I hope to do is to fill each hole with PVA glue, the walls do not feel spongy so I hope this idea works, what fun.
The pictures above show the wallpaper, although at the moment it all looks a bit tatty, I am sure I can tidy it up. I am still trying to convince myself of this, as I don’t know quite where to start. Some of the walls have paper stickers on which will have to be gently removed. I think a few well placed framed pictures, or high pieces of furniture, will cover up the very bad pieces, nice rugs on the floor will cover up the worm holes and the scuffs. I have been working the floor paper, so I might replace it.
The windows are very rusty and will need to be completely restored. Each insert has a little piece of curtain, but I am not sure I will have enough to make out the pattern as they are very faded. I am not going to change the brick paper on the front panels, as it is in quite good condition, and will add character to the house.
The roof is complete and is made of plywood with a tile pattern stamped into it, but I will have to take it apart to check for woodworm, but it shows no real sign. There is also a metal Triang label on the roof, a little rusty.
Woodworm
The whole house was treated with woodworm treatment, filling every hole I could find, every edge and all over the walls. I had every intention to keep the wallpaper, as it was all original. The problem I had, was that the treatment was spirit based and soaked into the wallpaper making the walls very patchy. My idea of filling the woodworm holes with PVA glue had failed. I used a syringe and the glue was popping up everywhere, following every little tunnel it could find. I decided therefore to remove the wallpaper, I could not believe what I found.
Once I had removed most of the wallpaper, which was stuck on with very strong glue. I decided to dismantle the house and treat each piece separately, it was much easier this way than doing the whole house. I removed the roof and gently separated it apart. There were no signs of woodworm, so I gave it a good soaking with woodworm treatment, especially as the roof itself is wood and not cardboard as in some of my other houses. The woodworm problem was much worse than I thought, especially the middle panel with the door openings.
The woodworm had eaten through the top layers of the plywood on both sides, and partly though the next layer leaving one thin piece of wood. I was about to give up and make a new middle panel. A simple restoration project has turned into a woodworm nightmare. So much of the house had been eaten, I had discovered more and more as I removed the wallpaper and paint. I dug at each little hole and followed the tunnels, I found nothing except what they had left behind.
The above panel is one of the sides, they had not tunneled very deep, so this would be able to be filled with wood filler, so would not be a problem. What was I to do with the other panel, it was too much to fill with wood filler. I then had a brain wave, I would make a paper mache with kitchen roll and PVA glue. [who knows where these ideas come from?] The kitchen roll sheets worked well as paper mache as it was easily moulded into the holes. It looks a bit squishy but should be a good sandwich filler for the new pieces of wood I will add to each side.
I have glued thin strips of wood on both sides, taped and clamped it all together, now I just have to wait for it to dry. It is still very cold in the shed so I will have to leave it at least a week, I think that it will take longer for the sandwich filler to dry.
The wood panels I repaired have now stuck, I have filled in the cracks and sanded it all down, I am very pleased with the result. Once the wallpaper is on, it should be a good smooth surface.
This picture shows the result of my woodworm repair, a complete transformation. When all the pieces of wood have been filled and sanded, I will treat them all once again with woodworm treatment. They are no longer welcome in my house! This house has caused me many problems, especially with the woodworm. Each piece of wood has been treated at least 3 times. Each panel has now been painted.
Painting and Rebuilding
I put the middle wall into the floor/ceiling panel, then I attached them to the outside walls.
Strips of wood have been put ontp the underside of the base to give it a bit more strength, as it was a bit weak. Then the back panel was fixed to the back of the panels. I have glued and put more nails in the frame to ensure equal stress on each panel.
Next I fitted roof base panel. To ensure that the wall panels were straight, I lined them up with the holes in the roof panels and the walls.
This picture shows my woodworm repaired door frame panel painted.
Rebuilding the Roof
The roof panels have been separated and painted with woodworm treatment. The red paint has been removed, but some of the impressed tile lines are not very deep so will need touching up. The picture above shows the tools I used to impress the tile lines, a soft brush, a screwdriver, a pointy tool and a hammer. Lines are marked out with a pointy tool, then I gently hit the screwdriver with a hammer [very technical] to mark out the line. Once the lines were complete, there were various holes and edges had to be repaired.
The panel was painted black as a base coat and then brick-red on top, I tried to keep the tile lines black which showed through the red. I found that this effect was a bit strange and too regular. I gave the roof another coat of brick-red, reducing the black lines, then put on a coat of antique pine silk varnish.
The roof is in place and nailed to the supports around the edge of the roof. 
While I was busy deciding the colour technique of the roof, I forgot that I had to seal the edges with parcel tape, which would need painting and also the nails. So more roof painting to do.
I placed the door panels in front of the house to make sure it was all level, they still need a bit of work doing, as I have not finished the windows yet. I am not sure if I will put curtains in the frames.
Finishing Off
The outside and roof are now complete on the No.24, all sealed with a coat of clear matt varnish for protection and ease of cleaning. The brick paper has been removed from the front panels of the house, as I think it would look better replaced. I have tried to clean it up but it has scribble and crayon on it which cannot be removed. I have painted the door frame, and sanded and varnished the front door.
The door knocker is incomplete and has lost its knocker, but the letter box polished up well, and I replaced the rusty nails with some nice brass tipped ones. I have found that the best way to put nails into the door is to cut them down to about 1/4 inch, drill a hole and tap them in, this gives a neat finish. The original door knob broke when I removed it, it was very rusty. I replaced it with an upholstery pin which was the perfect size.
I tried to make my own brick paper but so far I have not been very happy with the results. The paper you can see behind the windows is a reproduction of the one that was originally in the house. I think this was one of the best ones I have done.
This house also has shutters, I had reproduced shutters for my No.42 so I just had to print them off.
The large one is for my Stockbroker house, which I have not done yet. [scanned picture]
First I cut each shutter out, then glued them on to a piece or stiff card. Then I varnished each one with antique pine satin varnish, they look quite bright in the picture but are the same colour as the scanned shutters above. When everything was dry, I carefully cut round each one. I then put them between two pieces of thin wood and clamped them together, so they would stay nice and flat. I cannot fix them on yet until the windows are finished. The frames have been painted brown, and the inserts painted white. They just need new plastic windows.
The shutters are now fitted to the house, I need to make some temporary inserts for the windows. I adapted some standard shop bought brick paper. Each brick has been coloured in with a darker reddish-brown pastel felt pen, and then varnished with antique pine varnish.
I have also varnished the cream paint on the house with antique pine, to take off the brightness of the new paint, it gives it a bit more character.
Beams have been fitted to the roof section, the last thing I have to do is to put on the front panels, with suitable hinges.
Inside has now been decorated with wall and floor paper, from patterns I have made myself.
There were quite a few window inserts missing on this house. I was lucky enough to find some windows at an antique fair, ten for £15 quite a bargain. So the house is now complete.