Sliding door needs maintenance
Posted by: kirin on 
Dec 7th, 2008 | 
Filed under: Daily Life
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Japanese tatami room has paper doors, named Shoji & Fusuma. Shoji is a sliding paper door in front of windows, just like instead of curtain, while Fusuma is another kind of paper sliding door designed for closet & berween rooms.
This time my husband and I repapered Shoji doors for the first time in 6 years since they got broken & tanned. (We could have done that earlier but we just postponed dealing with this task, you know…) This time, we chose strong Shoji paper that is something like prastic sheets’ sandwiching a paper from both front side & back side. This kind of paper costs several times more expensive than ordinary paper, but is very strong against impact or shock and so, it can lasts for over 10 years. I’d be willing to pay any extra money if I don’t have to do this again in next 10 years! So, first off, we had to water Shoji doors to remove old papers. That was kinda fun! The next step was to cut the paper to the door shape. And then, we put double-stick tape along on the grids, lengthways first. It may sounds easy, but cutting the paper to fit into the door shape was not that easy as it sounds. I think that was the hardest point in the process. Finally, when adhereing the paper to the tape, we put the tape crossways. Saturday morning was totally over with this task…:( When we live in Japanese styled room, we cannot live without this kind of maintenance. I know we have to think of renewing Tatami mats because they also are damaged, especially because we live with a puppy dog. Even if she doesn’t dig the Tatami floor, she could damage it just by running around there. It was a big mistake that we located her in Tatami room. But we had no other choices when Tatami room is next to living room and was the best location for her…:(
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December 7th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Dogs + 和室 = Trouble!
December 7th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
December 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Well done on spending a little more to save a lot more, very frugal.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Hi Kirin,
That was indeed a sticky job
! I often wondered how those paper-thin doors could keep the cold out during winter, especially for those who lives in the old-style-japanese homes ?
Here we use heavy curtains in front of the windows to keep the warmth within. Even under the doors, we hv anti-draft-rolls in the form of a long colorful snake, for example, to prevent cold air seeping in ! Of course if ur Pi-chan sees that cute “toy” , she might want to play with it –
!
European homes tend to hv wallpaper which needs replacing every 5yrs or so – depending on how discolored it gets. It’s a tedious job n I hv suggested to my hubby that it might be simpler to just paint the walls bec it’s more lasting but he finds painted walls a tad too cold. So, we r still in an impasse
Anyway, stripping wallpaper will hv to wait until next summer bec steaming it off the walls will be horrific in the winter now
December 9th, 2008 at 2:34 am
@Jeshii,
You’re right. I should have considered that before I started to have my dog…
I was concentrated on dog too much, and disregarded the environmental things.
@Walter,
Ahaha…
It’s that simple! No trick!
Japanese houses originally are made up from wood & paper, almost 100% natural. Things are a lot different now but as you can see in my photo, we live in kinda mixed style (Western way & original Japanese way) to make our life more comfortable. I chose to have one Japanese Tatami room because that can be used flexibly, but I regret I didn’t need that by now…
@Contamination,
I could have paid for that but I also wanted to go through the process by myself, and also save money, of course.
Curtains are lot easier, just ask for a laundry! I have no idea why I chose to have it & Tatami instead of curtains & wood flooring…
@Dutchie,
Your info. is very interesting, as I’m interested in how people in other countries live and decorate their house & interior, due to my job. In Japan, we have wallpaper, too. But it’s not a paper touch. It’s coated with vinyl so that it lasts longer like 10 years or more. Also usually in here, it is not for us to DIY but to ask professional skilled people to remove & repaper. That means, however, we cannot change its color or design so often and so, we do not enjoy interior decorations and surroundings so much as you. You’ll see what I’m talking about once you see our way of living. Every ordinary house looks like just the same when you step inside the house. All white walls, that’s it!
BTW, it was funny you mentioned Pi-chan here. Yes, she’ll play with the snake shaped one if I had it here!
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Good sharing..I love your blog..cool..Keep it up..Merry Christmas
December 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
@youlin,
Thanks for your visit.
Merry Christmas!
July 15th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Hello I actually love Japanese style and I think about getting a Japanese sliding doors to my room and also the tatami to make my room like Japanese one but I don't know where I could buy it??The biggest problem is that I live in England and I don't really know where I can get stuff like that
I can buy it on internet but can someone give my a link to that kind of school wo actually sent stuff like that to other countries?????I would be greatfull
July 16th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Hi Karol.
How about this site? They may have shops that deal with Japanese interior materials.
http://www.dankedanke.com/en/
I'm sorry I don't know about the shops in England, I know only Japanese ones.
August 31st, 2010 at 1:51 am
It may sounds easy, but cutting the paper to fit into the door shape was not that easy as it sounds. I think that was the hardest point in the process.
September 1st, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Maybe that's true. I wouldn't want to do it again for another 10 years! lol
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