What's The Best Way To Stain/laquer Pre-hung Doors?

jiriki87

I'm prefinishing some white pine doors and I was hoping to get some input on the best way to stain/laquer the doors and the case. Pre-finishing, meaning before they are installed in the building.

I was thinking opening the door and using the door and case to keep the door standing upright, but their has to be a better way.

Thanks,
Peter

jiriki87

Nobody has prefinished pre-hung doors in their shop?

Peter

premierpainting

We take the doors off the casing and find the middle of the top and bottom of the door. Place a three inch screw into the doors center and place the remaining screw on two saw horses. You can then spin the door and get all sides. We do the casing after it is hung. Otherwise what will you do with the nails that are used to install the door?

JMGP

I suggest staining the doors after they are hung. Thats how I do it. It will save you time & You want to handle the doors as less as possible. Less of a chance of chipping the bottom of the doors or ding it on something. Stained doors are more fragile. Try to Stain trim before it is hung. If you stain after you tend to get that dark ring around the nail hole.

jiriki87

thanks for the replys. The contractor insists on having the doors/case stained before they are installed. The overall job is really cheap- - even stated by the contractor- -going to spray sanding sealer laquer, sand and then high build satin laquer on the doors/case and call it good.

Believe me this is not the steps I want to take, but that's all he wants and is all he's willing to pay.

Peter

Teetorbilt

Down and dirty. Use medicine cups and mix poly and waterbased stain. Work a few sample sticks with a brush to get the color right and go into mass production. With a HVLP you should get one coat coverage. 90% of people won't know the difference. We hang doors horizontally on 2 centered nails, this allows you to seal the tops and bottoms more easily.

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jiriki87

Question for you HVLP experts? Today I'm working on the door slabs- contractor changed his mind to one coat laquer sanding sealer, and 1 coat hight build satin laquer. Now for the problem, I'm spraying with a Capspray 9100 4 stage turbine HVLP. No matter what material volume and air volume both products appear to spray evenly, but the end appearance looks like an uneven splatter. Thus creating a rough surface. This appeared first with the sanding sealer, so I sanded it down with 220 paper-- -looks fine, then repeated with the top coat laquer- -same effect. I'm now to the point of going and just brushing on both products, but a waste of my perfectly good Sunday.

I'm spraying Gemini laquer and sanding sealer on knotty pine doors.
Any advice would be great.

Answer Man

As a painting contractor in a former life. I wouldnt recommend doing (staining) it prior to the installation if quality is a factor. If it isn't, Mix the stain with the sanding sealer & line them up on a clean floor over cardboard & shoot them 1 side at a time after dry do the other side. you will have to do this several times to get the finish you want.
Switch to polyurethane for the finish coat it is harder. I suggest against laquor because of the fumes. Lightly sanding with the grain with 220 between coats. Colored putty should be applied after the sanding sealer before the finish clear coat.

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jiriki87

I'm profecent with the cs9100 HVLP sprayer, but the splatter effect, thus giving a rough feel and appearance is driving me crazy.

Any advice would be great it's Sunday at 9:00 A.M time to start working!!!

hack_houslege

I dont use an hvlp, so I might be off the mark but it kinda sounds like your doors were dry. Your post didn't say how familiar you are with spraying lacquers and it might not be so much of a sprayer problem as a material unfamiliarity.

In my case, I had always sprayed alkyd sealers and varnishes. The first time that I sprayed Gemini lacquers, I went at the same wet mil thickness as I would have for the alkyds. Problem was that the lacquers evaporate a heck of alot more than the alkyds do and the doors were dry and rough.

As I was learning to spray the stuff, It always amazed me how much I had to slow down and just how thick I could spray it on and still have it hang tight. Using the same technique with alkyds would have produced a 3'x7' portait on pine of "Spring Thaw At Niagra Falls". Even laying it on to its limit, the houses would still need two passes of both the sealer and the topcoat to get any kind of a quality dry film.

Compare the wet and dry mil specs on the Gemini to the specs of a clearcoat that you know well to figure out how much material you need to be putting on.

If you can brush laquer onto a whole door and have it turn out well, I know I would be amazed watching you do it. I always thought I was pushing it just by brushing the narrow strip of wood on the interior of an exterior doorjamb.

hack