This has been bugging me for years

I'm with you Wolffie - one can only assume that the unreconstructed tradie does not do the housework at home. When renovating I have painted all tops of doors and windows, and have also ensured that all potential dust-catchers are modified to ensure that they still look good, but don't make housework harder than it has to be.

You should paint the tops and bottoms of doors because it seals the damn things and the doors dont absorb moisture, and last longer. A lot of doors, the manufacture voids all warranty if they arent sealed properly.

As far as cleaning the tops of doors, you are probably being a little @nal retentive.

(joking, no true offense intended)

Originally Posted by Wolffie

1) Why are door and window surrounds fitted with the bullnose facing towards the door/window?
If they are fitted the other way with the flat side facing the door/window, less dust etc. will be settling on the edge.
I have asked that question many times and the only answers I have managed to get is "because that is the way it has always been done and it looks better"

Well asthetics aside how would putting the flat surface on top be less dusty :LOL. It's essentially a ledge. At least with the bullnose it has a chance to "slip off", Not sure your logic on this is as sound as you think .

Originally Posted by Wolffie

2) Why are the tops of window/door fitting and the tops and bottoms of doors always left rough and unpainted?
They are impossible to clean.
Again, I have not been able to get a satisfactory answer. I was married to a painter and

Mostly because people forget and it's out of sight. Bottoms of doors are easy to explain. Usually you have fitted the doors and no one is going to go through the hassle of taking them off the hinges just to paint the bottom. Most doors are painted while hanging which is the easiest way which means taking the door off to get to the bottom. Too much effort. How much dirt could there be on the bottom if you clean regularly?

Saying that this time round I needed to do some sanding etc and had the doors off the hinges so before putting them back on I painted the edges all around first. That wont be the case if u get a painter in. Doors will be on hinges.

As stated above..
The door should be sealed on the bottom edge at time of installation !!
It is not the task of the painter to remove the door from its hinges and paint the bottom edge.
As for the top edge of the doors and top edges of window trims if your painter has not painted these I am afraid he is not a trade painter and shows very bad work practice..
these edges need to be sealed to prevent moisture from penetrating into these areas..
as far as painting them to allow for easier cleaning iam not even going to comment !!!

Originally Posted by Wolffie

1) Why are door and window surrounds fitted with the bullnose facing towards the door/window?

I suspect it'd be harder to paint the walls and architraves if the bullnose is to the wall as you'd have to cut-in to, and on, a rounded ramp.

Originally Posted by chrisp

I suspect it'd be harder to paint the walls and architraves if the bullnose is to the wall as you'd have to cut-in to, and on, a rounded ramp.

One good reason behind the design is that it as you are walking in and out it 'softens' the passage. Ie if you bump into the the edge of the door frame with your knee or elbow with a soft edge than a corner edge, it does not hurt as much.
Soft bullnose edges also take less of a knocking & damage than sharp edges. Therefore less painting repairs.
One other reason is, if you are ever moving a piece of furniture into or out of a room with the door on a hallway, you will have to take it through the doorway at an angle. If you have sharp heavy architraves, that will reduce your opening(on angle) by between 10 to 20mm.
So yes there is as the saying goes (method in the madness).

The other thing i can think of is, if the round bullnose was installed the other way around, when the architrave meets the skirting board, it wouldn't look right. There would be the round edge hitting the full thickness of the skirting board.

I was thinking along the same lines as ekiec that they do it so you dont have sharp corners in the doorways where you might knock your elbow etc, like the way they used to round off the edge of corners in walls so you're less likely to chip off the corners or hurt yourself if you knock into it. I dont find bullnoses hard to clean though

Originally Posted by Wolffie

Not really, skirting boards have the rounded edge facing the wall.

I was actually saying that putting the bullnose facing up would be easier to clean

I don't get it. The bullnose is facing up the wall. Are you saying the bullnose at your place is facing the floor?.. If so someone stuffed up :LOL

Code:

 / --- ||||||||||||
/      | Wall
|      ||||||||||||
|      ||||||||||||
---^--------------  <floor
   | bullnose board..

This is typically how it's installed. Same with windows but the "window" is the wall.

I really don't see how it would be easier to clean. Dirt slides down a circular surface. It hangs on a flat one she the way bullnose is installed makes perfect sense even from a clean perspective where anyone can touch it generally. The only trade off is at the top of the window which makes it act as a ledge and we all know how much dirt sticks up there..