Expert: Eileen Cronk - 5/27/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Eileen I saw a question similar to mine and I saw your answer but I wanted to double check somethings.

We just put in 2 sets of French Doors,I think they are pine. We are deciding if we should paint them or stain them. My husband decided to try and stain them and did a test area right on the front of the door(I know now that was a mistake). We finally got to a color we thought we liked and he did the whole door. After it was blotchy,streaky and we didn't like the color. It is dark but not the tone we wanted.

We want to remove the stain as much as possible and either reapply a similar shade or possibly a little lighter.

My questions are how do we remove most of it? We thought a refinisher to get most of it off and than sand it.

Also how do you get it not to be so blotchy? And is it possible to go a little lighter if we want?

I might get a professional to do it because I don't want to mess it up again. I'm just concerned if not all of this color is gone that it will look different then the other doors that are still not stained.

If worse comes to worse we will just paint them.

One more question is my husband thinks if we stain the side of the door that is in the inside of the house we should paint the part that is on the outside of the house to the patio. So it would be one side stained the other side painted the color of the house. I disagree and think they should both be the same color, painted or stained. So is it o.k. to stain the outside part or do you need to use exterior stain?





ANSWER: Hi Bonnie
Nice to hear from you.
Gosh this is going to be a miserable job getting this dark stain off of pine doors in order to go lighter.
So I would start with a paint stripper then sand..nothing else for it.
Pine is terrible stuff to blotch as you found out.
A sealer is used prior to staining to prevent this.
And you are right. If the color is not all gone the door will look different than the others.
But if you get it off you can certainly go lighter no problem.
I don't want to cause a family fued here Clare LOL, so I'll say both ideas of paint or stain have merit.
You use the same stain as you use on the inside, but the top protective coat must be an exterior one.
Spar varnish would be a good choice for the exterior.
Whenever we do an exterior door such as this it is absolutely imperative that all surfaces be sealed. Not only the inside and outside but the top edge and bottom edge and both sides.
Here is a stripper I recommend for trying to get the stain off

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1694&familyN

Good Luck
Regards
Eileen


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Eileen

Thanks so much for your quick reply. We have decided that we most likely won't go lighter. Most likely a similar tone or maybe a little darker.

Right now it has a little grayish brown to it and I want it to be more brown. We were thinking of either stripping it and starting over but maybe to avoid that just sanding it down some and putting another brown over it.

If we did that than we can do the same for the other doors so it would be the same(hopefully).

Also should we have put a sealer over it before we started staining it to avoid the blotching? Do the sealers really help or is pine just too hard to stain and better off being painted? What kind of sealer do you use for that?

I think in the end we will end up getting a professional.

Sorry for all the questions. I guess we should have looked into it before we jumped right in. We are used to painting that you can fix.

Thanks so much

Bonnie

Answer
Hi Again Bonnie
You seal before the stain is applied.
Read this link in the section that says "pre stain wood conditioner"
This is what you need to apply.

http://www.generalfinishes.com/finishes/oil-base-finishes/oilbase.htm

Bonnie to be truthful, this does help but I have run accross pine that there was no help for. So you will just have to try.
Personally I would try another door with the sealer first, then you stain.
If this comes out not to your liking you have the option of paint.
But if you like it I would make every effort to get the stain off of the first door.
If you send the doors out they will likely use a colored lacquer spray for the job.
Hope I got all your questions
Regards
Eileen