Wood varnish over glossy doors

[cheekydollar]

Hi,

I have some internal doors with a verry glossy finish. I want to repaint them to achieve a Matt finish.

I have sanded already sanded one down, but the other is super glossy and I'm struggling to get the gloss off!

two questions,

1 - On the door that has been sanded, what type of wood varnish can I use?

2 - On the very glossy door, if I cannot remove the gloss can I apply some sort of primer to then apply another coloured wood varnish?

Also if anyone has any idea what kind of wood this could be it would be great to know!

some pics attached.

Thank you!

 

[Furniture Restorer]

Question 1: you can use any varnish you like. However, I would avoid any oil based varnish, purely on account of the drying time, which is likely to be at least 12 - 16 hours, during which, every particle of airborne dust in your house will likely find its way to your freshly varnished door and stick like the proverbial to an army blanket. Water based lacquer/varnish will be much quicker drying and the Matt finish you desire will also be very forgiving of brush marks and dust specs etc. Osmo would also be another good option. Personally, if using the former, I would first seal up with some thinned a French polish as it’s more forgiving of any contaminants, which can otherwise cause some aggravation.

The unstripped door could be dulled slightly with 0000 wire wool and wax, though don’t expect anything close to a Matt finish.

if you do go down the route of stripping the door shown in the last pic I’d suggest first stripping with a chemical stripper, rather than sanding. That’s a rotary cut pine veneer and trying to sand that nasty brown varnish off without blowing through the veneer in places (thus completely ruining the door) is unlikely.

 

[cheekydollar]

thank you so much for the reply, that's really useful info.

I think I may just leave the heavily varnished door, and maybe just use some sort of pine coloured varnish on the other door. I'm assuming I don't need to sand it down any further if I do this?

thanks again

joe

 

[pete50]

If you don't sand it down all those patches will show through. Varnish is relatively clear. It needs to be sanded back to bare wood and what you have looks like a veneer so it will be thin. It might be easier and cheaper to buy new doors. Pine doors are reasonably cheap.

 

[cheekydollar]

ok thanks for the tips. I will give it a go and try to sand it back down to remove the dark patches, and use some dark oak matt water based varnish on it!

Cheers

 

[Furniture Restorer]

You will get a far better result if you first get the door properly stripped and sanded (not forgetting to neutralize any stripper with meths) and then *stain* the timber to the appropriate colour and then apply a clear varnish over this. Coloured varnishes such as you suggest are anathema in my game. They are pigmented, which means that you are essentially applying a thin brown paint over the surface, which is likely to result in an awful, streaky, chocolate brown Ronseal-esque finish, if you are not very careful.


* Stain, in this sense being a wood dye, which is simply a colouring agent on its own without any finish added. Not to be confused with stain (as in the DIY sheds version, which can be anything from Fence Life type finishes to Ronseal and few more in between.

 

[cheekydollar]

ah great idea, I might not get the door dipped etc but I will sand back, stain, and then clear varnish it.

I think I will just leave the really heavily glossed door as it is.