Beautiful timber doors are a fantastic addition to any house, providing a substantial and attractive entrance to the family home. However, they do require a little maintenance work in order to keep them looking their best and to prevent them from deteriorating.
While a timber door should last you an incredibly long time, without the proper love and care, you could face some problems sooner than you think. With this in mind, we take a look at the best ways to look after your new timber door.
Reviving Timber Doors
If your timber front door takes a little bit of a beating and picks up some scratches and dents, like most doors will, you can try and revive the natural finish with a little polyurethane or clear varnish. In order to do this, you should first apply timber tint, then use a brush to apply the relevant number of coats of varnish. It’s a good idea to have cleaned the wood with sugar soap and removed all door handles before you do this.
Painting Timber
If you want a painted finish rather than a natural one, you should first sand the wood and clean it with sugar soap, as above. You can then apply at least two coats of your chosen paint (just make sure it’s suitable for timber) and assess whether there is a need for further layers.
Furniture Oil or Polish
There are a variety of furniture polishes available for use in the home, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Whilst aerosol polish is easy to apply, it can eventually begin to eat away at the wood finish. Liquid furniture polishes are much less damaging but take longer to apply and can result in polish build-ups after long periods of time.
Warp
Finally, many homeowners notice that their timber door has gotten smaller or larger and try to ‘repair’ it in some way. This shouldn’t be attempted unless under the supervision of a professional. Timber actually expands and contracts with the atmospheric humidity and slight warp or size alterations are not defects.