Sanding Doors?
Hoping for some advice from the wood-savvy among you… We are doing some minor improvements to a co-op we’re buying. The bathroom and two bedrooms all have solid wood doors (stained) that are in great shape. However, we are sanding and staining the floors and once we do, the doors will be a completely different…
Hoping for some advice from the wood-savvy among you… We are doing some minor improvements to a co-op we’re buying. The bathroom and two bedrooms all have solid wood doors (stained) that are in great shape. However, we are sanding and staining the floors and once we do, the doors will be a completely different color and I expect it will look odd. Do you think it’s reasonable to imagine that the folks who are doing the floors could take a hand sander to the doors while they’re at it? We’d probably paint the doors rather than re- staining them. Thanks!
Make sure your guys use an orbital or palm sander to 120 grit. If the door is in good shape should be easy. If you’ve got good wood under there, maybe run a test with oil on a small area before you paint it. You may like the results. If not, put on some primer, sand and then get some good oil paint and an experienced finisher.
Best,
Gerald
info@brooklynmodern.com
http://www.brooklynmodern.com
Mos def NOT reasonable to expect the floor sander to work on the doors – it’s really different equipment. Why don’t you wait and see if they really look so bad with the new stain?
I had my doors “dipped” by a place in Staten Island. They picked up painted doors, dropped off raw sanded doors, and I did steel wool/stain/varnish.
If you’ve got nice old doors, I think it’s a waste to hide them under paint….
A tag-along question–any recommendations for which make and motor size to buy?
The floor guys may not have a small finish sander; the edgers they use are monsters that would make a mess of the door.
If they have a small random orbital (not a belt) it is worth asking them. I am not sure what finish you are saying is on the doors, you say stain, but does that mean a poly or varnish or shellac over that? I think what you may need to do is sand them down to 120. Prime them with a shellac based primer (Bins) and then go over them with a good oil primer before painting.
The reason I say use a shellac based primer is because without knowing exactly what is on there and if you are going to get it out of every crevice or if you are just going to rough it up with 120 grit paper, I can bet that the shellac based primer will stick to it (ever try to get Bins off glass??) But the shellac based primer does not prepare for the best top coat; it leaves brush marks. Hit it then with the oil base undercoated (Ben Moore) and that will give you a nice surface for paint. If you want this to look top shelf, paint it with Ben Moore Satin Impervo. I would stay away from latex paint – it looks poor on doors and trim.
I’ve just told you about all I can think of for something like this – and I do a lot of this kind of finishing.
Steve
http://www.thetinkerswagon.com