drdoor

Hello I am just learning about refinishing garage doors. I have to bid on refinishing 3 single rough sawn alder garage doors that have a semi transparent sealer on them. The bottoms are weathered as well. I tried to post pictures but could not seem to achieve the task at hand. It looks like they need to be stripped before anything else. I have a small residential power washer and have applied finish to garage doors before. Any help would be appreciated. This is in the scope of a very large project which involves MANY alders doors which I will refinish, so I would like to have an answer for the garage doors as well. I am providing a link to my picasa web albums which has the garage doors Picasa Web Albums - puulboy - garage doors# thanks Don

Thanks for all the details everyone. A few questions. How does the stripper and neutralizer get applied? hudson sprayer?? What kind of protection do I need for surrounding brick and driveway. when the suggetion of sanding or buffing was give.... Is that something I can do with a nylon brush?/ since these are rough sawn? Forgive me for my ignorance , This is the very first part of my investigation. I have added some pictures, to the link, so you can at least see the rest of the doors involved. There are actually multiples of each type in the pictures. I may be there awhile. Picasa Web Albums - puulboy - garage doors# thanks Don

I definitely wasn't trying to steal anyones thunder. Your refinsih job looks awesome. I know you can appreciate the detail required in door refinishing. thanks for sharing your talent. Later I will try to post a few projects I have done recently. Thanks Don

I tried to add a signature but it isnt coming up on previous posts. Maybe it will come up on the next one. I am not selling anything. my service is area specific for now thank you Don Edit now that I posted again it has appeared

Thank you for the welcome. I didnt want to come off like a know-it-all. This just happens to be my bread and butter. I love working with doors because this is becoming a lost art. I end up being the cleaner so to speak. I have to try to repair doors that other have almost ruined. I see there is a gallery area. I am not sure how the rules are about posting my projects or my company information because of vendor rules. I would just like to share my knowledge, without giving the farm away. I have a niche and when you specialize like I do you have to be careful of creating new competition. I do need to gain some knowledge about exterior wood treatments, fences, decks, gazebo's , garage doors ETC. I get those requests all the time from my clients Thank you again for the warm welcome. Don

This would not be a good idea . The doors you are working on are douglas fir veneered . Veneered doors require finese so you don't go through the surface. blasting them will ruin them.... period. I do these all the time. You must chemically strip these before you touch them with a sander. I remove ALL finish before anything else. Put them on Saw horses, Remove hardware, chemically strip the exterior face of the door. I apply a semi paste stripper liberally and let it lift the surface. The scrape the old finsih (only with the grain) . Using a nylon brush I scrub the insert areas thouroughly. sand the flat areas with a quarter sheet sander or even a nice half sheet sander, 100 grit norton 3x is what I use. Use sanding sponges to smooth out the insert areas. Blow off the door to remove any grit left from the sanding sponges. Then sand it with 220 grit . You will need to take a small razor knife and clean out all of the corners as well. I have probably refinished better than 1000 fir doors, I do them onsite and complete them in 1 day. I have better than 12 years experience with just doors so what I have explained to you works well, but my experience makes it work. No detail sanders, wire brushes, belt sanders, gouging tools none of that is either necessary or recommended. thanks Don