EXTERNAL-DOORS-1 | artwoodltd

Blog: External Doors 1

External Doors 1 (Posted 22/06/2021)

In our time we have come across many types of doors, all with different requirement for finishing or re-finishing. These requirements may depend on the following:

Is the door brand new?
Does the door have to be stripped and bleached?
What if the door is just old and tired, damaged, sun bleached, or all three?
Does the client want the door a particular colour?
Sometimes a client may want new wood to match the colour and finish of existing wood, like a new door fitted within an old frame.
What stain will go with what colour on what wood? For example, putting a water based walnut stain on a light oak door is fine if one wants the colour of the door to be walnut. However, if one puts a walnut stain on a walnut door, the colour can go quite pink.
Other times, the door may be patchy in that, through ware and tear, some parts have worn back to bare wood, whereas others still have colour on. To keep the cost down, sometimes, rather than strip back to bare wood, we have stains that will stick to the bare wood, but not to parts of the door that still have some finish on.

All these different conditions require a high level of skill and experience to undertake.

Following are some examples of the doors we have done, and the methods used to produce the desired result.

Example 1:

Here on the far left we see a very tired looking door and frame. The finish is very dry. Parts of the oak are bare. How can the colour all be matched into one?

Above we mentioned about a stain we use that only sticks to the bare wood. Once the colour is matched in, and the repairs done, then an appropriate finish can be applied.

As you can see in the next picture the door now has an even, rich, and protected finish.

Example 2

This example is of a walnut door and frame that had been vandalised.

The doors had to be stripped and coloured back to match the inside of the doors which was not being stripped. Below we see the vandalism.

Here we see the finished doors. Notice that the door colour is matched to the previous colour.

The damage is gone.

These doors and frame were stripped and neutralised. Then they were sanded. The damage was taken care of. The doors were stained and sealed, then re-finished with an appropriate external product. Here is the video showing the before and after. You will be able to see close up much better.

Finally, you will see that this oak door had nothing for it but to strip and bleach it. The client chose an antique oak colour for the stain.

Again, on the far left shows the door before work. It was looking very drab and had been bleached by the sun.

The door was stripped, then bleached to remove stains and even out the wood.

As you can see in the finished picture the door is now full of colour and re-finished.

We have re-finished all kinds of external doors privately and commercially. They can be from a natural wood colour such as light oak or sycamore, through to darker colours such as ebonised doors. We have the expertise to make external hard wood doors look beautiful.