Process for Re-Staining a Front door

jwmckinney

Need help making sure I'm doing the right thing. Any advice is helpful.

Gonna re-stain the front door, it's oak, natural looking, with a clear coat on it. I'm not sure what is on it, I just want to make sure I take the proper steps to end up with a "professional" looking end result.

Can I just sand it down, wipe it with mineral spirits, and then stain? Do I need to take it down to bare? Should I use a stripper to remove the top coat, or can I just sand it off?

Thanks in advance

gregzoll

Can you post a picture of it? I used Marine Poly on our front door, along with Marine stain, since it gets hit with sun for half the day. As for cleaning it up, if painted strip it and use 00 & 000 steel wool. If stained, sand it with a belt sander, then use a orbital after removing the stain to get a finished look, before staining. As for using mineral spirits, I never have when removing the finish from my door.

If painted and it has a lot of coats, it may be easier to take it some place that can dip it, then use a good quality gel stain to finish it for you. They can also clean up the hardware or replace with newer hardware that you would supply.

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Gymschu

A pic would help. If it's the clear coat that is failing, you will indeed need to sand it down until you get a sound surface. Lots of sanding produces dust which will need vacuumed off then the door should be wiped down with a wet rag. Then you can recoat the door with whatever clear coat was used originally. It may be spar urethane or marine varnish. Two or three coats will be needed. Now, if you're trying to change the color of the stain, that's a whole different can of worms and really needs the attention of a pro. That requires some tricky sanding to remove the stain which has penetrated the wood.

joecaption

If you want the best sealer you can buy then go with Bristal Finish. Not cheap but will give you at least 5 times the UV protection of any marine spar.
Any Marine supply store should have it or on line West Marine has it.