Hi, Helpful thread. Sorry, I don't have advice but have a related question. Hope it's okay if I ask it here! Our 1870 farmhouse came into our hands with a 4 panel stile and rail front door, with panels about 1/2" thick and linear splits as though someone had tried to kick them in. I'm sure it's not the original door... it's both crappy and too flimsy. It often goes down to -40C in January here, so something more solid was needed. Finally bought a very old (1860s est.) solid heart pine exterior door from an architectural salvage place. Our cabinetmaker friend says it's true and will fit fine. It has been stripped (mostly) and the old door latch and key holes patched, probably with epoxy. I'd like to finish stripping the door, stain it and seal it, but when I hang it, the hinge side will be on the opposite side to what it was. (I can't just turn it inside-out, because there is an obvious difference in the panelling on the inside and outside of the door, with the outside slightly more ornate). I think I will have to carefully stain the epoxy to match the wood. Is this even feasible? Any suggestions about any of these steps would be welcome. If it doesn't seem feasible, I'll paint it, which would be more historically appropriate, I guess, but I'd rather stain it as I like the look and think it would create good contrast with the white facade of the house and the grey porch floor and roof. Thanks!

It's all in the prep. You should scrape it with a paint scraper and wire brush it thoroughly (a pleasant task that - wear gogles) before sanding (if you really think sanding is required). You should wash it with detergent or trisodium phosphate. Probly before sanding. If the old paint has stuck good no need to remove it unless you want a perfectly smooth finish. Nobody'll get that close anyway so why bother. If it's really bad a high pressure water jet might be in order (faster) but be careful to miss the glazing. Then scrape etc as above. I spect a pro painter won't really want to do all that. Primer and 2 coats will do it tho 1 coat might be OK. I'd do 2. Gets teedjous.

My own experience is exactly the same. I painstakingly stripped, sanded and did the turp/linseed oil thing that is generally recommended to conscientious old house owners. Then I oil primed, and used SW best exterior paint. Paint has held up just fine, but I have the same need to wash the mildew away every year. I do it just before it gets too cold up here in northern NY, so it's on my list for next week. And, yup, I think the linseed oil is the culprit. I lived in this house for a decade before I did my painting project, and ever since, but never before, I have had to wash off the mildew annually. Of course, linseed oil was a traditional component of paint on our old houses (mine is 160+ yo), but the other components of the paint are very different from modern coatings. On my own house I have quite a bit of heavy aligatored, very chalky paint that is completely different from the side which I painted (which happens to be the northern exposure, but not in shade otherwise). And the rest of the paint never mildews, even in shady and protected areas. It's just the exposure where I did the painting. It's very frustrating! There has been quite a bit of discussion of this phenomenon on Old House websites, both here on GW and on others So the recommendation to use linseed oil and turps as a "feeding" undercoat has been abandonned, as far as I can tell. Though it still shows up in books on old house restoration/conservation. There is another kind of linseed oil, made by the Solvent Free Paint people. Their linseed oil is organic (whoo-eee!) and processed in a different way. I have used it (and am testing it further) in a couple of projects started this year. So far I am not seeing mildew on surfaces where I used the SF Organic product, but they have only been up for about six months, or so. The stuff is quite a bit more expensive, but has a significant advantage in being much nicer to work with. The company makes a line of solvent free paint, which I am also testing on my barns. I am not sure if you could substitute the SF linseed oil in the same recipes, but it would be interesting to find out how that works out, if you do. You can find Solvent Free Paint by googling them, but I think it's solventfreepaint.com HTH, Molly~

I hope Brushworks, Paintguy (or other Pro applicators!) chime in here too!!! You'll have to carefully assess the peeling areas. * Is it just the outer finish layers, OR is some actual delamination of wood occuring too? * If you're sure you're gonna PAINT, do a "medium" intensity sanding of everything. You dont' have to get to bare wood. * You DO have to sand to a sound surface though! * Apply a top-notch primer and lightly sand that when dried well. NOW you're finally ready to paint! However....on beautiful old doors...it's almost a shame to paint them!! Are they solid wood, or a cheaper laminate of some type? Faron