Pictures don't enlarge so we can't see to help

Greetings Anita Stayner,

Unfortunately, I would have to agree with jck910. The pictures are not big enough, but by the information you provided I would suggest a light sanding and a coat of protector should do the trick to preserve the wood. You also can use a natural home mixtures water repellant to protect your doors.

By the way they do look great. I would love to see the completed project.

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Until such time

Those will rot out in no time. They are not meant to be outside in the weather.

I love your idea but I'm afraid Celadon is right. I had an idea of using an old door like this as the gate to my back garden and I was toying with the idea of adding a flashing over the top to at least protect the top from the rain, if I could find the right profile for the thickness of the door. I haven't done it because I just don't know how long it would last out in the weather. If you decide to go ahead with it, I would definitely use a tough exterior primer and paint, find a way to shield the tops and keep them from direct contact with the ground. Your muted color scheme sounds really nice.

Thank you all. They made it thru 45” of snowy winter in northern Illinois. I did spray them with a clear coat. We also made a cute she shed with 5 of them. They cost me next to nothing. I used up all of the leftover paints I had at home.

Sorry, but I am very out off by your doors. It is great that you are protecting them and, according to one picture, painted them bright colors for decoration in your yard. But they are taller than your fence. What did you do to the back side? I can’t imagine what would be worse if I were a neighbor in what appear to be close houses - faded, worn door sticking up over the fence at odd intervals or ones freshly painted in bright colors that intrude on the view from my house. If one has a very individual taste, I think it should be visually confined to one’s own property.

What a rude and uncalled for comment. There is no reason for posting it, except to make someone feel bad.

It looks to me like there are large shrubs behind the doors, but that doesn’t even matter ... you aren’t her neighbor, so don’t need to wring your hands over her project and insult her publicly.

Thank you Jinx. The neighbors behind us are not tidy people. One neighbor has large amounts of rakes, lawn mowing equipment and a junk collection of scrap metal, windows and metal drums. Next to him the guy bought the house 4 years back supposedly to flip it. It has become an eyesore for those of us who have to look at it from our bedroom windows. The yard had an in ground pool at one time and now it’s crushed concrete with weeds and junk in it. There are some nice yards but unfortunately they aren’t behind mine. So you see, being in a culdesac we back up to several yards. Using the doors as decorations takes the focus off the ugliness behind us. There are bushes taller than our doors on one side so I don’t offend anyone. I do appreciate the pictures of other door uses. I may add some plants to the existing doors.

since these are solid wood doors they should stand up to outdoor conditions at least for a while. Would suggest painting them to protect them. Don't know that it would be that much different from having fencing except the doors have wood joints where water can seep in. Paint will help with that especially if you use exterior house paint. Jinx, I love your potting sheds made with doors. They are awesome!

Jinx, agree with @Norwood Architects, those door/potting sheds are adorable. We have 3 salvaged old doors used on interior spaces. I wonder if DH would notice if one went missing, lol.

Gosh those are cute.

Anita, hearing all that, I admire your project even more! Great solution.

Thanks, Norwood and barncatz. Whoever did those were very creative!

I‘m currently working on one for myself, but using old metal and wood porch columns instead of doors. Very excited about it. :)

I think they will add personality and play around with quantity/spacing.

You could stain to protect and BM brand below comes in 3 finishes and 75 color choices! If you want different colors and don’t mind them eventually breaking down, just use exterior paint.

We have all kinds of wood furniture with no indoor storage (live in Toronto). We place everything on a hard surface in winter and cover. The only bit of rotting is on the feet of the lattice as it rests on earth in summer so it’s important to protect the bottom of your doors (maybe lift off ground with bricks) and store the doors where they will be dry in winter.