New door frames and internal doors

fluffy123

Hi all, just had 5 new internal oak doors installed which are unfinished. They're in a very good condition. Additionally, a wooden door frame had to be built for 2 of them too as they are double doors.

Our installer advised us to use a clear varnish such as Ronseal Quick Drying Diamond Hard Clear Varnish (Water based) and one coat should do the job as we do not want to alter the colour.

With regards to the door frame, we want it to be white to match every other door frame/ skirtening board. How do we approach this? Primer and then a coat of white satin paint? or would we get away with just using the satin coat and possibly applying two coats?

Thanks in advance.

Ebe_Scrooge

If the frames are bare wood then personally I'd do it the old-fashioned way - primer, undercoat, then a couple of coats of topcoat. There are many many paints out there that claim to be "one-coat wonders", "no undercoat required", etc. Personally I'd go the traditional route - do it right once, and you'll never need to touch them again for many years. And it'll be relatively cheap - these "wonder-paints" do tend to be more expensive.


Yes, I'm an old dinosaur, but hey .... :rotfl:

fluffy123

Hi, yes, the frames are bare wood. We've sanded down but what would the worst be to happen if we applied the satin white paint we already have? It's waterered down anyway so should be okay....?

Ebe_Scrooge

I'm no expert - but I think you'd probably end up needing quite a few coats to get a proper even coverage. At the very least, it's probably well worth while investing in a small tin of primer, even if you want to miss out the undercoat.

Furts

I have not used the Ronseal product but would suggest great caution here. Any water based product will tend to raise the grain. Then one coat is far from adequate. Finally expect the coating to vanish after a few years, leaving you with a problem area.

I accept your doors are internal, but light will effect them and if they receive direct sun, or high levels of light you will have a definite problem.

Your choice of course, but a traditional, professional, product applied correctly is the ideal way forward. This could be Sadolin, or Sikkens, or Johnstones for example.

Davesnave

You may not be able to use an oil-based product with the doors. I had this specific problem and ended-up using the Ronseal satin finish.

It wouldn't have been my first choice, but the finish I have obtained is good and proving reasonably durable.

Now the bad news: I have applied 3 or 4 coats of the Ronseal, rubbing down with 320 paper on the final ones! Sorry!