After moving in to our new house a few years ago the front door was looking very faded and sad with paint peeling off from the side panelling and danger of rot setting in to exposed wood.

The first job was to remove all of the old paint from the door and surrounding panelling. There were years worth of paint layers smothered on so removal wasn’t easy. We used a combination of chemical paint stripper, heat gun and power sanders. Four (very long and dirty) days later the paint was off and the bare wood sanded back to a nice finish.

The next stage should have been to apply a couple of coats of Wood Preserver as the door and panelling looked original so any preservative treatments would have expired long ago. However, due to time constraints we skipped this stage so will have to keep a close eye on the sections of wood to the bottom of the panelling that were looking questionable.

On some of the more resinous looking knots a knotting agent was applied to prevent any possible resin bleed staining the new wood stain coating. On the majority of the knots nothing was applied as the timber is well-weathered and if any resin bleed were to occur it wouldn’t look unattractive in this situation.

To colour and protect the door and panelling we selected Protek Royal Exterior Superior Wood Finish. It is a hard-wearing high quality wood stain with great water repellency properties. Protek Royal is a hybrid between a wood stain and wood paint, creating a lovely coating that isn’t as dense as a paint so allows the wood grain and natural beauty of the timber to show through.

Protek Royal Exterior Somerset Blue was applied to the door with China Clay used as a contrast on the surrounding wood panelling. No base coats are required for Royal and only two coats required to produce a hard-wearing protective coloured coating that will stand up to the rigours of the elements and family use.

The new wood stain was applied by brush and being water-based has no nasty odour and is easy to clean up with water and a spot of detergent. Royal is a pleasure to use, easy to apply and the results are stunning!

The coating should last up to 5 years but the door is in a very exposed spot so the high levels of UV that it is exposed to throughout the day may fade the colour within 2 – 3 years. If it does start to fade then it will be a very quick and simple job of applying a single maintenance coat and there will not be the need to spend days stripping and sanding again!!