wood/paint choices - woody but not boaty

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catalac08

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I have a front porch door which is an oak "laminate" product from Wickes. It was an appalling buy and even worse I weatherproofed it as per the manufacturers recommendations (flexible varnish 6 coats) and disregarded some knowledge of marine varnish preparation and simil;ar weatherproofing.
The varnish failed and the door became swollen and developed black patches at the bottom of the panels on the lower part of the door.
Now have managed to dry out the door to some extent (can open and close the door & not sticking now) by covering the outside on wet days and fan heater inside the porch.
I need to apply a seal that works and I am wondering about the best coating to apply - epoxy paint, epoxy coating and then epoxy paint, primer and then conventional paint, perhaps marine if this is better. Any coating that may move and crack will I think take me back to where i am now so i am thinking that epoxy is the way to go. Has to be a coating rather than penetrating oil type as I am not sure what the core of the door is made from. I did wonder about cetol base stain and sealant coat but I am not sure that the stain density for light/medium oak would cover the black bits and give me a reasonably even coating colour.
Or any other bright ideas-got to fix before I am allowed out sailing!
 
None of the above! Sikkens Novatec/Top is probably the best but the full treatment would mean buying two cans at nearly £20 each and you would use only a fraction. I use it on the boat. great.

Next best thing, and might even be as good is Ronseal 5 year woodstain. I renovated an old (20 years+) shed and cedar conservatory window frames with it 2 years ago. So good I also did front door and garage door (also cedar) with it. Available in a number of tints and small sizes from DIY places.

All except front door are in exposed positions and still look good.
 
[ QUOTE ]
None of the above! Sikkens Novatec/Top is probably the best but the full treatment would mean buying two cans at nearly
£20 each and you would use only a fraction. I use it on the boat. great.

Next best thing, and might even be as good is Ronseal 5 year woodstain. I renovated an old (20 years+) shed and cedar conservatory window frames with it 2 years ago. So good I also did front door and garage door (also cedar) with it. Available in a number of tints and small sizes from DIY places.

All except front door are in exposed positions and still look good.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for suggestions.
When I referred to cetol I was meaning Sikkens Novatech/novatop system - does the base stain coat have much colour density to it, is there a possibility it would cover black marking? Also the product is called "microporous" ie allows the wood to breath - does this actually work, if it does it would be ideal for my purpose as this may allow the door to dry out even more?
 
As you said yourself the door was a duff buy. Bits of tatty softwood glued up with a paper thin skin of oak veneer - doomed to failure as an external door. The 'instructions' for such doors make a great deal of the need to 'seal' all surfaces in order to stop the product from self-destructing, but we all know from experience that it is near impossible to permanently create a vapour-tight covering on wood by brushing on something out of a tin. Even with the greatest care the weather soon takes its toll, varnish comes sheeting off and the wood soaks up water, swells, rots. 'Stiff' coatings like expoxy will fail when the timber moves and cracks it.

I am a woodworker by trade, and I've noticed a few things as I've repaired and replaced external doors over the years.

Doors need to be properly made from solid wood, of a durable species.
Clear finishes are doomed to failure. Opaque paint can work well, or heavily pigmeneted woodstains.
Microporous paints or woodstains work best - but you get what you pay for. Sikkens or Osmo for stains, Dulux Weathershield paint can work well if you follow the instructions to the letter. My favourite is Holkham Linseed Oil paint - good old fashioned breathable paint with a service life of 7 years+. Wood needs to be as dry as possible before painting, so mid-summer, hopefully!

To summarise: top quality door, carefully fitted, top quality coatings carefully applied, regular maintenance.

Not sure if your current door is worth wasting more time on - may be better to start again. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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