subject: How To Refurbish Wooden Exterior Doors [print this page] The exterior doors of a home tend to be the focal point for anyone passing by and the homeowner. There are many great and varied options for those wishing to replace exterior doors with something new. Wooden exterior doors can look tired and as though they are past the point of no return, but with a little time and some work they can easily be refurbished and brought back to their original beautiful state.
The first thing you need to do is remove the wooden exterior doors and lay them on a work bench or similar. You may find that the door is much heavier than you would expect so it will be best if you have someone there to give you a hand to remove it. If you only intend to refurbish the exterior of the door, make sure you lay some sort of padding on the work bench to stop the interior from getting scratched.
The first thing you need to do is to remove the hardware such as locks, door handles, etc. and place them to one side if you intend to re-use them. If your wooden exterior doors have been painted, you will need to remove the old paint. You can do this by using either a heat gun or paint remover and scraper. A combination of the heat gun and paint remover works best if your wooden exterior doors are paneled or have any carving detail on them. If they have been wood stained then you should use a palm sander to remove this back to the original wood.
Next look at the surface of the door; if there are any cracks, splits or dents in the wood you should fill these in with wood putty that matches the colour of the wood. Once this has dried, sand those patches with a fine grade of sandpaper until they are smooth and do not protrude above the surface of the wooden exterior doors. You should now sand the whole door again with a fine to medium grade of sandpaper to make sure that the wood is smooth but also has a key for the paint or stain to adhere to.
If you are planning to re-paint the wooden exterior doors then you should first apply a primer coat and allow that to dry thoroughly before applying the external grade paint that you have chosen. It is always a good idea to apply at least two coats of the external grade paint as this will help to protect the door from the elements.
If you have chosen to finish the wooden exterior doors with a wood stain, make sure that it is suitable for external use and apply the first coat, allow it to thoroughly dry and then apply a second coat. As added protection for your wooden exterior doors you could also apply two coats of an external grade clear varnish, as this will help to repel moisture and stop the wood stain from cracking.
Next fit the hinges on the door and re-hang it. Leave the door handle or knobs and lock until the door is in position to make sure that you get them correctly lined up with the door frame.
