Refinish My Door
How We Refinish Your Door
Four steps, done at your home, with the door on its hinges wherever possible. Most single entry doors are finished the same day.
The first step is the one that decides everything. When a refinished door fails within a year, it is almost always because somebody sanded over the old finish instead of removing it.
Step 1: Strip to Bare Wood
Every layer of failed finish comes off. Not scuffed, not sanded smooth, removed.
This matters because of how finishes fail. The Forest Service's research describes clear coatings failing by cracking together with degradation of the wood surface underneath, at the wood-to-finish boundary. You can identify it by looking at the back of a chip that has come away and finding wood fiber stuck to it. Coating over that boundary just buries the problem for a season.
Step 2: Repair and Sand
Rot, checking and water damage in the bottom rail get addressed before anything else. The bottom of a door takes splash from the step, run-off from the door itself and, in this region, de-icing salt.
Then multi-grit sanding until the grain is smooth and even. If we find damage that changes the price, you hear about it at that moment with a number, not at the end as a surprise.
Step 3: Stain and Color Match
We match your trim, your shutters, or whatever color you have wanted since you moved in. Species matters here: mahogany, oak and fir all take stain differently, and a color that looks right on one reads completely differently on another.
You approve a sample on your own door, in your own light, before we go any further. Photographs and fan decks lie; the door does not.
Step 4: Marine-Grade Topcoats
Multiple coats of UV-stable marine-grade finish, the same class of product used on yacht brightwork, because a front door faces the same enemies: sun, water and movement.
Coat count is not a marketing number. The Forest Service's moisture-exclusion data shows how much difference each additional coat makes, and a fully exposed south or west door gets more than a sheltered north one. That is a judgement we make on your door, not a fixed recipe.
What the Day Actually Looks Like
We arrive in the morning and protect the entry, the threshold and anything nearby. The door stays on its hinges for most of the work, so your house is never standing open and never left unsecured.
Hardware comes off and goes back on. Glass, sidelights and transoms are masked. We clean up before we leave, and you get the written price you agreed at the start.
More About Us
Ready for a price?
Send your number and we text you straight back. No email, no waiting.
- On-site — your door never leaves the house
- Most single doors done in one day
- Itemised written price before we start
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you take the door away to a workshop?
No. Almost everything happens at your home with the door on its hinges or on a stand a few feet away. That is the whole point of the on-site model: your house is never left open, there is no gap of days living behind plywood, and there is no risk of a door being damaged in transit.
How long does it take?
Most single entry doors are stripped, stained and top-coated in a single day. Double doors, or an opening with sidelights and a transom, usually run one to two days. We tell you which before we start and we put it in writing, so you can plan around it.
What is the weather window for this work?
We work year-round, but finishes have temperature and humidity limits and we respect them. If conditions on the day would compromise the coating, we reschedule rather than push on. Pushing through bad conditions is one of the fastest ways to produce a finish that fails inside a year.
Will the smell be a problem for my family or pets?
Exterior work is done outside with the door in the opening, so odor indoors is minimal. For interior doors, cabinets and staircases we use low-odor products and full dust control. Tell us if anyone in the house is sensitive and we will plan the sequencing around it.
Free written quote
Get a Free Door Refinishing Quote
Send your number and we text you straight back. No email, no pressure, and no “starting at” figures that change when we arrive.
- Just your number is enough to get started
- Itemised written price, agreed before any work begins
- We tell you if your door is not worth saving — that happens, and we say so
- Most quotes answered the same day, Mon–Sat 8am–7pm