Front Door Restoration

[lionel762]

Our front door is on my to-do list and I'm looking for advice on the best method for restoring it to its former glory. You may be able to see what it used to like at the top of the door.

The front door faces the east and has a large covered porch protecting it. The rougher portion in the center of the door is where the screen was from the original screen door.

The inside of the door is beautiful, and I don't want to do anything to it so this project would only entail the outside portion of the door.

Thank you!

[watergirl (WavyGlass)]

What a beautiful door. My first major project I did on the house myself was to completely refinish the original front door. Mine was painted, though, so I imagine your process will be different. Good luck, and post pictures when it's finished.

[1913trio (WavyGlass)]

Let me start off by saying what a lovely front door you have! It has a unique look to it, and I totally agree with you leaving the inside just as it is and saving as much of the original stain and finish as is possible.

My husband and I moved into our 1913 vernacular bungalow six years ago. Unfortunately our house was modernized too much during renovations done prior to us buying the house by a fix and flipper. We had the dreaded "box store" metal door with the little half moon window at the top (among many other old house tragedies which we are gradually fixing). We managed to find a picture of what the original door looked like through a series of coincidental events. Since we are on a budget we bought a door at an architectural salvage store for a good price that fit the original door frame's measurements perfectly. The door need to have quite a bit of restoration done to it, and I wanted to learn how to tackle the job myself...it took tons of research and reading, but I figured it out and now we have a lovely old door back on our old house.

I am not an expert with decades of experience, so know that there are a lot of different ways to get the job done, and I did what worked for me in my particular situation. From what it looks like in the pics your door is in great shape minus the area where the sun came through the screen and faded the stain/ate at the finish. I found some miracle products that in the end worked better than I could have possibly fathomed, and I doubted that they would!

First get the door nice and clean to remove old wax and dirt build up (read up on how to do this). Next see if you can figure out what type of finish is on the door. The type of finish used on the door will impact how you fix that faded spot and put new finish on if needed. Read Bruce Johnson's book "The Weekend Refinisher". The book talks about antique furniture mainly, but I like how he simplifies restoring antique wood MUCH better than the other books I looked into. Bruce is all about saving an original finish whenever possible and avoiding stripping down the wood completely unless absolutely necessary which I liked compared to other approaches. He also has a newer book I haven't read yet called "The Wood Finisher" that may help too. Check out lots of videos on YouTube too.

In addition to learning techniques from Bruce Johnson's book which I haven't listed here I used Howard's Restor-A-Finish. It will put stain back into the wood and spares the old finish too. Then I used Howard's Wax-N-Feed afterwards. Apply some wax on the door as needed after the restoration process to keep the door intact from the many insults it bears being on the porch (many nice waxes have a UV filter too). A year later the door is holding up great.

A couple months later I used the Feed-N-Wax on kitchen cupboards. They looked faded like the stain had worn out (similar to your pics) and they maybe needed the Restor-A-Finish too instead of just wax. I tested a spot with wax ONLY. To my surprise they just needed a proper good waxing so badly it was making the stain look worn off. Didn't need to refinish at all! Wax on and pronto! The vivid color of the stain appeared and the cabinets still look like I just waxed them.

Check into some of the books/resources, and perhaps even start by just cleaning the door well and test a spot with Feed-N-Wax to see if perhaps the door is in desperate need of wax to feed the badly dried wood. I learned how amazingly important a good cleaning and then waxing is to work wonders on a rough looking piece of antique wood.

Feel free to ask me any questions as I know I have given you a very small summary for a lot of info, and I have more resources. I can also send pics of my door before and after. You will do great!

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

1913Trio is right, there are many way to get the job done. As many as there are people doing it. But some have been proven over time and others fail sooner than they should. One thing that I really disagree with is the statement that wood needs to be fed. That tree died when it was cut down and no longer needs any nourishment, of any kind. (Take a look at this picture (https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 3416_n.jpg), the top used to be an old, seriously weathered, silo. It was cleaned, hand planed, and finished, no "feeding" needed. Oils and some waxes attract dirt and will eventually dull the finish. Unless you want to do a restoration vs. refinishing, there is no need to determine what is on the door now. In fact from your picture I'm pretty sure there is nothing on the door now where the weather got to it through the screen. Products for exterior finishes have improved greatly since this door was originally finished, so your best bet to protect the door for many years is to get rid of the existing finish in its entirety, and add a new coat overall. Use a powerful stripper, neutralize, sand, stain (if wanted), and apply a good exterior finish with UV inhibitors. The best exterior finishes are usually those formulated for marine use. Yea, the sanding is going to be a PIA, but it is a vitally important step to bring out all the potential beauty.

[Casey]

The biggest challenge will be toning the finish all the same, because the wood is progressively more weathered as you go down. You could start by cabinet scraping the whole thing, then wetting with mineral spirits to get an idea what the spar varnish would look like, then decide if more drastic steps are called for; depending on the look you want. Blonde oak may not be achievable, nor may that have been the original shade. Bleaching will lighten it further (two part peroxide-type wood bleach kit). You can bleach up to two times. Then, when it's dried back out, sand with fine paper, with the grain, and try the mineral spirits again. Right there you will see how dark a stain you would need to use to even out the tone.
Up the block from me some folks stripped their front door, a nice Italianate style; they finally had to re-paint because the screen door's stiles and rails had left what were essentially indelible shadow marks across the door where the sun had not hit.
Casey