I am a door and window installer (retrofit) and am running into more situations where the customer wants me to apply a finish to their doors. I have stayed away from this because of fear… so far. But I am willing to look at the idea anyway. I do not sell the doors , I install only , so that any warranty issues outside of installation are not mine….applying the finish may change that (warpage issues).
My main questions would be:
1) What is the easiest and best finish to apply ( both for exterior and interior).
2) What is a good set up to build to apply said finish ( ie some kind of work table or device to hang the door while applying finish).
Thanks!
Don Garrison Construction LLC Bend, Oregon
Replies
Here's a variety of thoughts in no particular order...
For exterior doors, I encourage my customers to use paint. Even several coats of the best varnish will eventually deteriorate with UV exposure. If they insist on varnish, I prefer to do both sides the same. If it's a pine door, I even more strongly encourage paint (interior or exterior) because I don't think pine doors really looks that good stained and varnished. There's too many different grain patterns and the stain is not absorbed evenly.
For painted doors, I pretty much stick with latex paints as I think they actually hold up better for exterior use since latex allows moisture to migrate out. I haven't found that doors warp when painted, but they definitely swell.
All bare wood gets primed including all 4 edges. After removing all hardware, I use a sawhorse and prime one side and the edges. A quick wipe on the bottom to remove any build-up and then allow to dry. Then, prime the 2nd side. A light sanding at this point will knock down any fibers that were raised by the primer.
For the top coat (2 coats are best), I like to have the door hung. This way, I can paint both sides at the same time. I paint around the hinges (I hate to see paint on hinges), but I remove the door knob and any other hardware. I paint the hinge side and the latch side, but I don't worry about the top and bottom since they have primer. I suppose they really should be painted too, but I haven't had any problems yet.
-Don
I have used a marine grade polyurethane, such as McCloskey's Spar finish for exterior doors with good results and longevity. Obviously a recoat every several years would be beneficial.
I plan on using tung oil(Waterlox)on several interior fir doors.
I saw an ad in FH for a rack. You put two lags in each end of the door. The lags fit on two rails with the door laying flat. The rails are long enough the door can be finished on one side, flipped and finished on the other side and then hung from the lags to dry.
I rigged up something similar when I had to stain and spray several doors. It took alot of room, but worked well.
I will try to find the ad again. Maybe someone knows the name of the company?
Thanks you guys.
After careful thought I have decided that I'll leave the finish to the customer or they can farm it out , just too much stuff to go haywire for my liking!
Thanks for the feedback,
Don