Have you ever noticed what grabs your attention when you walk past your neighbours home. Maybe it’s the garden and lawn, maybe the colour scheme of the front house facade or even the car parked in the driveway. What about the front door? Perhaps a passing glance, but as you walk up the footpath to the front entrance you will definitely take notice. The front door needs to make a statement! and the clients of this home know and value the importance of a high quality front door.
Scope of Work
The requirement from the clients was to restore the depth and consistency of the original stain and varnish to the front door, which had faded considerably. It’s deterioration is largely due to it’s orientational position where it sits and faces the strong afternoon sun. The door needs to have the fading stain and varnish removed and several new coats reapplied to the face only.
Preparation
- Remove all door furniture
- Using a small orbital sander attached to a dust extraction vacuum, begin sanding the face of both doors to remove the coatings
- When the stain and varnish is removed, use the vacuum to clean any remaining dust or dirt left between the timber grooves
- Clean/ wipe with a moist rag, ready to be re-coated
Colour Scheme
The colour was the same as the original as it had to match the back of the door and thankfully the client had left over stain and varnish from the original renovation. The original varnish was Wattyl Estapol and the stain that was added to the varnish was walnut. Overall, I applied four coats of the stain and varnish mix to the face of the door and the result is pictured below.
Final Thoughts
Any surface that has a mix of either stain or varnish applied to it looks fantastic, the down side is it needs to be maintained regularly. On this occasion the door faded from the bottom up due to it facing the sun, which left an inconsistent covering of stain and varnish. Painting a front door will last longer before having to recoat it, but if you like a mix of either stain or varnish and are prepared to preserve it often, then I say GO For It!
