maintaining finish on a fiberglass door questions, picture attached
#1
05-30-09, 04:51 PM
maintaining finish on a fiberglass door questions, picture attached
My fiberglass entrance door is a few years old now. The door faces a lot of sun, so we have to keep up on the finish. We purchased the door finished from the home center, they stained it and urethaned it before we installed it. A few years went by and it looked great, last year it was looking weathered. My wife reapplied the urethane and it looked like new again, now a year later it looks bad already. It has light spots that kind of look like the new urethane is peeling as shown in the picture.
Any tips or advice on making it look good again?
Any tips or advice on making it look good again?
#2
05-30-09, 07:06 PM
Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 6
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
I have the same problem with our fiberglass door. A solution is adding and maintaining a coating that protects the color coating from ultraviolet light.
I bookmarked this document from Woodkote after running a Google search of
"stain uv-inhibitor fiberglass door"
for when I get around to stripping and refinishing the door.
http://www.woodkote.com/faq/JeldStainFiberglassDoor.pdf This document notes that "In cases of
extreme exposure to sunlight, re-coating may be required every 6 months."
I bookmarked this document from Woodkote after running a Google search of
"stain uv-inhibitor fiberglass door"
for when I get around to stripping and refinishing the door.
http://www.woodkote.com/faq/JeldStainFiberglassDoor.pdf This document notes that "In cases of
extreme exposure to sunlight, re-coating may be required every 6 months."
#3
05-31-09, 04:09 AM
The problem with polyurathane finishes is they don't weather well. As noted above, sand and reapply as needed. With full sun exposure this likely means every year
Don't use just any poly. It needs to be a spar or exterior urathane. Minwax's helmsman is one such coating that is available most anywhere.
Failure to maintain the door [letting the failing finish to remain] will make it difficult to restore the original finish
Don't use just any poly. It needs to be a spar or exterior urathane. Minwax's helmsman is one such coating that is available most anywhere.
Failure to maintain the door [letting the failing finish to remain] will make it difficult to restore the original finish
#4
05-31-09, 04:12 PM
What Mark said. Helmsman is a good marine type poly that will outlast most exterior polyurethanes. I am using it on my 36 Plymouth woody restoration, which may or may not be a wise decision.
Sand lightly, vacuum, wipe with paint thinner, then alcohol, several coats of thinned poly, sanded between coats(#320 or finer). Comes up like glass.
Sand lightly, vacuum, wipe with paint thinner, then alcohol, several coats of thinned poly, sanded between coats(#320 or finer). Comes up like glass.
