? what's the best protecting finnish for oak external Door

[pepi]

:? ? what's the best protecting finnish for french oak external door. The door is made out of 1/4 sawn kiln dried french oak and is to be used in a East facing mid UK location. The design is of a traditional farmhouse door 1/3 glazed, the bottom is three vertical floating flat panels.
I have been told by the supplier that the best way to protect this door from splitting is to saturate it with an oil.
I would apritiate any advice or experiences regarding the above please?

 

[RogerM]

Pepi - I suspect you may get as many different opinions as you get replies! Whilst we've covered this before it's always interesting to read the differing opinions.

I'm assuming that you want the fresh wood look rather than the grey weathered look? I know many people like Sadolin Classic, with or without a covering coat of Sadolin Extra. Whatever you do, do not use varnish unless you want an annual job for life - the oak will react with it in sunlight and it will start to peel in no time, even if it is yacht varnish.

I have a similar project in mind but without any rush - there are plenty of other projects which take precedence, so I plan to treat some test pieces with various finishes and hang them on the wall beside the door to be replaced and see what happens! If nothing else it will be a talking point for anyone coming to the door!

This is an interesting observation from the "Sikkens" website

I don't want to colour the wood. I just want to protect it from the weather. What should I use?

Using a coating with no colour and expecting it to work well is like using sunglasses with no shading.

In order to protect timber from the effects of sunlight (and ultra violet light in particular), it is necessary to reduce the amount of light reaching the surface. In order to do this, the coating must contain a pigment/colour, which by their very nature will alter the appearance of the timber.

In addition, clear finishes have less protection for themselves from sunlight, and may become brittle, peel and crack, leading to extra work at redecoration.

Sikkens Cetol woodstains offer the ideal compromise between protection and colour, giving long-term protection with an easily maintained coating, along with a translucency which enhances the natural features of the timber.

Not sure how the Oak will weather if it is just oiled - but someone will surely be along soon who can advise you.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think that, if at all possible, the best way to approach this is to do as much as you can to stop the weather getting to the door in the first place. If it's at all possible to build some sort of porch or overhang at the top, this will solve a lot of the problems. My front door is inset a little, hardly gets any sun and is seldom wet, and I have to do very little maintenance on it. The back door, on the other hand, gets all the weather, except the top one-third of it, and needs regular maintenance. The difference in the condition of the top third of back door and the rest of it is significant.

I would second the advice of not using varnish. It's no better than paint and that's no good. I've no experience of oil finishes out doors. I favour Sadolin Classic. But whatever you use, you will need to keep re-doing it if it gets a lot of weather.

Hope this helps,

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[RogerM]

Paul - do you advocate just using Sadolin Classic or have you any experience of adding a topcoat of Sadolin Extra? The latter is what the
Sadolin website recommends, but then "they would, wouldn't they"!

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi Roger,

I've used Classic on its own and also as an undercoat with Extra as a top coat. I've now gone back to using Classic on its own. Classic is very runny so sinks in more and it doesn't leave any sort of surface skin, so you don't get any problems at all with peeling and flaking. It's a matt finish but the more you apply it over the years, it gradually assumes a bit of a sheen.

Extra, on the other hand, is less runny so doesn't sink in so much. It has a sheen finish and a bit of a surface skin - not at all like paint, but a slight surface skin nevertheless - so there is a tendency towards something to peel and flake.

I think the surface you apply it to also has some effect. Some woods react more to weather than others. With some the surface of the actual wood becomes rough with the effects of sun and rain. Other woods don't do that :? The point about mentioning that is that Sadolin say you can just brush the surface down and re-apply when you come to do maintenance. Sometimes you can but other times you might need to sand the surface. But that, I think, depends more on the wood than any deficiency with the finish. Either way, it's better than paint or varnish that invariably needs stripping right off every time.

I've also bought some of the Sadolin microporous paint but with all this rain haven't got around try trying it yet.

The bottom line, it seems to me, is that we are always looking for that ideal outdoor finish and frankly there isn't one In my view the only one that really works is creosote - but that stinks so you can't really use it on your doors and windows. But I still use it on fences On the subject of fences, have you used any of that environmentally friendly, water-based stuff they sell for fences these days - that stuff that's usually a horrible orange colour? My daughter used some on her fence - awful stuff. It took forever (rather like painting with melted chocolate) looks horrible and offers little or no protection.

Don't know if any of this helps - I'm no expert, just a frustrated DIYer like everyone else :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[RogerM]

Hi Roger,

The bottom line, it seems to me, is that we are always looking for that ideal outdoor finish and frankly there isn't one

Paul

:lol: Isn't that just so true! Thanks for the observations Paul.

 

[pepi]

Hi Chaps thanks for coming back to me on this. I had read your previous posts, about the door that had been oiled and the garden furniture.
I had also read up in various books. It would seem that all advise some sort of opaque or semi opaque finish, even deck oil with colour.
I tried sadolin some twenty od years ago on some soft wood tannalised window frames. after twelve months it had severely pealed. I don't know whether the tannalising affected it though.
My trouble is I don't have the time to do testing. Hence the post.
I must admit I agree with you chaps. I have a slight advantage that the door needs to be taken down in colour to mid oak.
Cheers for you input
Regards Pete

 

[pepi]

Well it's now 4 years on and the door looks good!
I used pure TUNG OIL with a little amount of spirit stain in it as a first coat. I must admit I have persevered and put some twenty very light coats on it over the first twelve months and one per year after that. quick and easy to apply and finish looks good and natural, also seems to be kid proof as well as weather proof.
I also have used this on the kitchen worktops and they are amazingly almost impervious to marking.
Thanks every one, I hope my last post helps someone else,
cheers Pete aka pepi