Exterior Door Refinish; How to Handle Old Tinted Stain?
#1
09-18-15, 08:24 AM
Exterior Door Refinish; How to Handle Old Tinted Stain?
Hi all,
Ten years ago we installed a new hemlock pine door. We finished it with Minwax water-based stain designed to accept a "decorator" color; in our case, a sort of "spice red." On top we put a semi-gloss spar finish. This finish is good in that it shows the natural wood grain. (Picture of finish attached. You can see the "original" depth of color on door edge, which is protected by the weatherstrip.)
Fast forward ten years, and the semi-gloss is now dulled and the stain somewhat faded. To repair the finish, I'd consider lightly sanding (maybe fine steel wool on panel moldings), touching up the stain where there are any nicks that show bare wood, and then refinishing with new spar finish.
But my wife would like to get the faded color closer to its original shade. If I want to reapply any of the stain (which I still have), would I need to bring the entire door finish down to bare wood? Not a pretty picture.
Are there any other good ways to get the wood grain look--or am I better off throwing in the towel, and just choosing the same color in a good PAINT, and then maybe top-coating with spar finish? The door gets a fair amount of weather.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
Ten years ago we installed a new hemlock pine door. We finished it with Minwax water-based stain designed to accept a "decorator" color; in our case, a sort of "spice red." On top we put a semi-gloss spar finish. This finish is good in that it shows the natural wood grain. (Picture of finish attached. You can see the "original" depth of color on door edge, which is protected by the weatherstrip.)
Fast forward ten years, and the semi-gloss is now dulled and the stain somewhat faded. To repair the finish, I'd consider lightly sanding (maybe fine steel wool on panel moldings), touching up the stain where there are any nicks that show bare wood, and then refinishing with new spar finish.
But my wife would like to get the faded color closer to its original shade. If I want to reapply any of the stain (which I still have), would I need to bring the entire door finish down to bare wood? Not a pretty picture.
Are there any other good ways to get the wood grain look--or am I better off throwing in the towel, and just choosing the same color in a good PAINT, and then maybe top-coating with spar finish? The door gets a fair amount of weather.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
#3
09-18-15, 09:28 AM
Good thought marksr. If it does seem pretty faded still, what about stripping off the old spar? Wondering if that's possible vs. trying to strip/sand down to bare wood (not really wanting to go there... 
)
Thanks
)Thanks
#4
09-18-15, 09:39 AM
While you certainly want to sand the old failing spar urethane you really can't remove it all without removing some of the stain. Hopefully a light sanding and a fresh coat of spar poly will be enough, otherwise you'd have to either strip the door and start over or switch to paint.
