The Sustainability Review:Door Finish
The Sustainability Review:
by Mike Forbes, from the October 2006 Newsletter
We’ve been spending a fair amount of time recently finishing doors for the house. We wanted to take advantage of the warmer weather to make door refinishing easier, plus we need to install a few of the exterior doors before more forward progress can be made. This month’s article is on our quest for an appropriate finish to put on the doors.
Our criteria for door finish (in order of importance as well):
We’ve tried every number of things in the past and have had a number of successes and failures. Many products have some of our criteria satisfied but few with all. We recently discovered the Bioshield line of products and I thought it fitting to mention them and how we have used them. I’ll make one disclaimer in that the durability aspect of our criteria hasn’t been fully evaluated by us since we’ve only recently applied them so look for a follow up sometime in the distant future.
We purchased about 14 clear fir doors for our house (9 interior and 4 exterior) that are beautiful. The exterior doors will see a variety of weather conditions from drifted snow to a greenhouse environment. Bioshield makes a variety of products to satisfy our exterior and interior needs. First our exterior choices.
Most of the products start with an oil pre-treatment to set the base for the final finish. The #5 Penetrating Sealer Oil was our choice of base for the door, which primarily contains linseed oil. The final finish, which gives the protection, is the #3 Resin Oil Finish. This final coat contains a resin and clays that protect the door and give what appears to be a protective layer to the door. (We’ve splattered plaster on the doors already and the doors wipe clean very easily.) This #3 finish comes in everything from clear to dark stains (we chose the lightest color – pine because is gives very little color change and still provides UV protection). This finish has the feel and durability of a door treated with a polyurethane; I’m very impressed so far. The finish is a little tricky to apply since it’s the consistency of water it flows easily and a small container will go a very long way. You might ask why we didn’t go with a polyurethane finish on the exterior products. First, we don’t care for the plastic coated look of wood, they generally smell very strong, and they are expensive.
As for the interior products we tried them all. I took all the different woods we’d use in the house and did a sample swatch of most combinations (oils, waxes, resins, etc…) What we found to be the most durable, pleasing to the eye, and easy to apply was Hard Oil #9 by itself and #9 with the #32 Floor Furniture Hardwax. The #9 is a linseed and tung oil based oil that hardens well. We have had good success with wax coatings in the past but some have solvents that help keep the product liquid during application.
The #32 wax is in a paste form but is extremely easy to apply and has no nasty solvents in it. Just rub it in and buff it a little while later. We tried treating the interior doors with 2 coats of #9 and also one coat of #9 followed by a coat of #32. We’ll see which seems to be the best but they both feel equally durable and beautiful.
All in all I’m extremely satisfied with the products. It’s nice to be able to work on finishes without having to wear a respirator and the characteristic headache afterwards.
Mike Forbes is about to embark on a journey into masonry with his wife Lahde as they build their new heat source. Stay tuned next month for that story…
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