What to Use on External Oak Doors?

[ebaxter]

Hi, My back door is going to be hung in the next coupld of days and then the plastering starts. The joiner has recommended I get the first coat on now as he said Oak stains really easily.

I quite like the natural colour so don't really want to put anything too dark on it, I wondered whether I needed to stain it and then varnish?

Any products anyone cal recommend. My internal doors are very similar so I would like to replicate the colour internall also.

Many thanks.

 

[Robbie uk]

Your Joiner is right. Plaster will stain oak easily and its hard if not impossible to rectify. If you looking at the exterior of the door you dont want varnish as this wont last long with the elements on it.
I would use something like Sikkens THB in "Deal" or Filter 7, its nearly clear but has a very slight yellowish tint to it. It is a micropourus stain so will let the wood breathe a bit and wont come off like varnish. A maintanence coat each year will keep it looking nice.

 

[regsmyth]

The problem with most clear finishes is they don't protect the wood from the UV light.
This is why the THB spec advises it's use on more sheltered areas. The Filter 7 plus has UV resistance, but I suspect the nice oak colour will still fade/deteriorate after a while.



We used Sadolin Classic (basecoat) and Extra (topcoats) on our exposed exterior oak. The colour in the stain is what really protects the wood, and the grain is perfectly visible, it's just not brown.

Before applying the Sadolin, I also gave a generous application of clear wood preserver, which took several days to dry out.