How to Refresh A Weathered Wood Door

If you have a wood exterior door, then you know that even if you use a good quality sealer, eventually it will look a bit weathered. I refinished our front door about 8 years ago. Even though it sits under a porch and is partly protected from the elements, it still was showing wear. I just got a new kitchen door (details coming soon!) and it made it even more obvious that the front door needed some attention. So here is how to refresh a weathered wood door!

This post is sponsored by HomeRight but all ideas and opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.

Before

The sealer started to crack and fade. You can see the line along the side where the edge of the door was inside the frame and protected. It still looks great. But the rest, not so much.

How to Refresh A Weathered Wood Door

It is so much easier than you might think! And it is the perfect weeknd project.

Supplies:

Sandpaper (120 & 220 grit)

Damp Rag

Spar Urethane

HomeRight Sprayer

Painters Tape

Sanding

You don’t need to completely sand it down to the bare wood. All you need to do is hand sand it until it is smooth. You don’t even have to remove all of the old sealer.

Use a 120 grit sandpaper first and then use a 220 grit paper. Always sand with the wood grain.

Clean Surface

Once you are done sanding, wipe it clean. Let it completely dry. Once dry, if there are streaks, wipe again.

Seal!

Now it is time to re-seal! Make sure to tape off anything you don’t want to get sealer on it.

Use a quality sealer that is meant to withstand outside elements. I used a spar urethane (Helmsman by Minwax). Spar Urethane has resin and is more yellowish than polyurethane but is better at blocking UV rays and protecting against water.

In the past I have always brushed it on, but recently I tried out using a sealer in my HomeRight sprayer and it was awesome! I decided that since it is Fall, and I have a limited amount of time before it gets dark (thanks daylight savings…), that I would use the sprayer on the door. It was so fast and worked like a charm!

I used the Finish Max Super and was done in just a few minutes. I waited the appropriate amount of time for the first coat to dry, sanded lightly grit 220 grit sandpaper, and applied a second coat. Since the door had already been sealed, I probably could have just done one coat. But since the sprayer made things go faster, I thought I might as well!

Add Hardware & Hang

When it started to cool down and get dark, we brought the door inside to finish drying. I allowed it to dry for as long as possible (until Shane started falling asleep on the couch) and then carefully put it back up and added the hardware back on. Since we only had a sheet covering the opening while the door was getting worked on, it was nice the project went so fast so we could do it all in one day.

Now the outside looks as good as the inside of the door!

It looks so mice we even got our family pictures taken on the front porch :)

GIVEAWAY!

HomeRight is offering to giveaway a Finish Max Super to one lucky reader. Fall is the perfect time to complete some last minute projects outside. This sprayer will definitely help you do that!

Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget. Email me if you have any issues.

You must be at least 18 years old to enter. You must be a resident of the USA to enter. The giveaway will go from November 16, 2020 until November 23, 2020. The winner will be chosen by random.org and will be notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be chosen. The shipping of the prize is the responsibility of the company, in this case HomeRight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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