GUIDENCE FOR DOORS AND JOINERY
The below advice is all for doors, but it is sound advice for our made to measure joinery items also. You must follow this guidence in its entirity to be covered within the manufacturers warranty and to get the best from your doors. THis is our own advice that we know about looking after our doors, but if any manufacturers instructions are within the doors packaging they must be followed.
Purchasing Doors
- Make sure you check your sizes before ordering. We may not accept products back. When we do accept returns there is a minimum 10% handling charge on stock doors. If the door has been ordered in specially, then the handling charge may be as high as 50%. It is also your responsibility to get the door back to us.
- Make sure to buy and collect all your doors in one batch. We recommend this course of action as we cannot guarantee doors will match from different batches, even from the same supplier. Also, there is the possiblity of supply problems (eg doors being discontinued.) If your doors are being delivered, we will only dispatch them when we have all your doors and the order is complete, to avoid any of the above problems.
Storage and Handling
- Make sure your doors are checked for damage on receiving them. This is especially important if the doors are delivered to you. Please be sure to follow the advice on the delivery page if this is the case. Note - Any alteration to the door (cutting, planing, chopping, treating) denotes acceptance of the door so always thouroughly check the door before commencing work on it.
- Handle doors very carefully. Generally moving doors around site can result in damage, so we encourage careful handling of them. Try not to lift doors with their glazing bars. Its best to treat them like a piece of furniture.
- Doors should be stored flat in a dry environment. Doors should be laid flat on 3 bearers. Its not advisable to lay them directly onto the floor. You should not store the doors on edge or leant up. Its also advisable to shade them from sunlight until they are treated as they could discolour.
- Doors should not be stored near any heat sources. Store your new doors away from heat sources, eg radiators as these can cause the doors to twist.
- Do not store doors in a freshly plastered room. Fresh plaster is notorious for causing high humidity and so untreated doors will absorb the moisture from the air and as they dry out will become twisted and may be unuseable.
- Doors should be fitted and treated as soon as possible. It is best to get the doors fitted and treated as soon as possible. This will minimise moisture loss and ingress.
Installation
- Doors should be fitted square, true, plub and fixed in accordance with the manufacturers instructions
- 3no 100mm (4") Hinges should be used for external doors and fire doors
- 3no 75mm (3") Hinges should be used on internal doors
- You should not put any mortices or cut outs where the rails of the door are jointed. This can weaken the joints of the door and reduce performance
- Doors should not be reduced by more than 6mm from any one edge. The engineered doors are only suitable for planing to fit. If you do have to reduce the door by more than this the warranty will be invalid.
If any part of an external door or door frame is cut or drilled, swab the newly exposed timber with suitable preservative material and re-coat with primer or stain. Fire resisting doors should not be altered on site. Cutting of glazing apertures on site must not be carried out without the approval of the door manufacturer and the local fire officer. Ideally, the door frame should be set well back from the outer face of the wall or else be protected by a canopy. If not, the head of the frame should be provided with a projecting head drip. External doors opening outward should be particularly well protected. Glazed panels in doors must satisfy the requirements in respect of safety glass. Bead glazing must be correctly fitted using compound or glazing tapes to both sides of the glass.
Treating Doors
- Doors should be treated before fitting. We recommend that all but the finishing coat of the treatment be applied before the door is fitted
- Doors should be fully finished immediately after fitting. The doors should have their final coats of treatment immediately after fitting.
- All areas that have been cut during fitting should be treated. All lock or latch mortices, hinge cut outs and cut edges should be treated in full.
- Every surface of the door should be treated in full. You should make sure that every edge and surface is treated, including the top and bottom is treated
- Do not use Waxes, Dyes or Oils to treat. These types of treatment do not provide a sealing coat and in the case of wood dyes, can actually damage the doors veneer. Only good quality Woodstain and Paint systems are recommended. See our sundries pages for the treatments we stock.
- Always treat doors out of the elements. External doors should not be exposed to the elements until they are fully treated as they will not be protected. Internal doors should never be exposed to the elements.
- Always follow the instrctions on the treatment tin. Whatever system you use it is imperative that the application instructions are fully followed from the treatment tin. Also any advice given on maintaining the treatment as the years pass must also be followed. Applying the finish according to the instructions is important as it will give maximum protection and the best finish.
- The minimum recommended coats of treatment is:
|
|
Recommended coats of base coat stain/primer |
Recommended coats of finishing wood stain/paint |
|
Exterior
Hardwood |
2 |
3 |
|
Interior
Hardwood |
1 |
3 |
Getting a Good Finish
The secret to a smooth finish is a series of sanding stages (either work by hand or use an electric sander). Always work with the grain and progressively change to finer sandpaper. Make sure that sharp edges are slightly rounded, especially on doors designed to endure weather conditions, as these areas are where breakdown of any coating usually begins.
Note: Recommendations from the manufacturers of wood stain and preservatives differ, for example some recommend a different base coat preservative. It is essential that the manufacturer’s instructions are followed closely. Below is a guide to ensuring the finished door is fully protected and sealed. However, our recommended number of treatments is the minimum required, irrespective of manufacturers’ recommendations. Also ensure both sides of the door have the same number of coats.
Preparing and Cleaning
Ensure all carpentry enabling the door to be fitted is completed, remove any hinges or door furniture. Remove all dust and grease, by wiping all surfaces with methylated spirit, (check the recommendations from the manufacturer of your Preservative, stain or wood stain). A vacuum cleaner with a small brush or nozzle will help you get into all areas. Remember to wipe down again after rubbing down.
Base Staining/Priming Untreated Surfaces
Use TWO coats of a clear base stain or primer for all exterior woodwork, one coat for any interior Woodwork that requires protecting. Follow the Manufacturer’s recommendations regarding application closely (e.g. using the correct brushes). For water based treatments you will generally need a fully synthetic brush.
Applying Wood Stains/Paints
Most wood treatments are toxic and/or flammable – Follow the manufacturer’s instructions closely and consider the ventilation aspects of the location where you will be working. Choose the type of product you wish to use carefully. Consider the product you will be applying the wood stain to. Do not use an interior wood stain on an exterior door.
Important
Always treat the end grain and ensure that a good treatment is applied to all surfaces. Pay close attention to top and bottom edges, cut areas for lock and hinge housings and holes for letter plates.
Coat all Areas
Always apply the correct number of coats of stain or paint at the right time intervals as recommended by the manufacturers of the treatment. Always sand the door lightly between applying coats, and remember to re-clean all surfaces.
Staining the Door
A number of differing treatments are available to change the colour of the wood. If possible, save any off cuts to test the colour on, if this is not possible, always test a less conspicuous small area beforec applying the full covering. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding application and ensure that the requisite amount of recommended coats is applied. Remember the final colour is dependent on the type of wood being treated.
Maintaining the Door
Inspect the condition of all external joinery, especially the decorative and glazing systems, at maximum intervals of one year and carry out remedial work as required. Care should be taken to also follow the recommendations on maintenance inspection from the manufacturers of the stain or paint. Always follow the inspection regime that has the shortest interval of inspection.
Overall
The golden rules in achieving a fine long-lasting surface for your door are to ensure you have enough time to do the job; consider where you will be working, the weather conditions (if applicable) and be fully aware of the manufacturer’s instructions before starting work.
Manufacturers Warranty
Any warranty that comes with the door is from the door supplier/manufacturer and not from ourselves. The above steps are a summary of what they expect you to do with the doors you purchase. There are usually some instructions given within the packaging of the door. While the above advice is sound, it is always best to follow the instructions in the packaging first and foremost, as different suppliers/manufacturers have different conditions. Our guide above is purely a summary of all our manufacturers instructions.
Any warranty will be void if:
- The door is not fully treated as detailled above or in the manufacturers instructions. The most common reasons for refuting a claim are: Top or bottom edge not treated and no treatment in Lock or hinge mortices
- The door has been reduced by more than 6mm from any one edge. The doors are not guaranteed to be cut by more than this
- Insufficent or incorrect treatment used. Eg using internal stain on an external door
- The door has not been stored or fitted correctly. eg Wrong Hinges used
Aftercare
Occasionally, even if these instructions are carried out to the full, doors can develop problems. If you discover a problem with the door and you are confident that all the instructions have been fully followed, you will need to contact us first of all. Please use our claim form by clicking here. It is essential to have some pictures of the faulty area to email us as this will expedite the process. We will also need your receipt for the original purchase. Once we have the information needed to process the claim we will contact the supplier. At this point it is up to the supplier to either perform a site visit or not. Some suppliers will perform site visits and some will not. Suppliers tend to take the claims on a case by case basis and so the process is different for every door. We will take every measure possible to ensure your claim goes as smoothly as possible, however, this process can be quite lengthy.
The door comes with a manufacturers guarantee. This guarantee is given by our supplier and it is strictly their decision as to whether to replace a faulty door or not. The guarantee of the door only covers the replacement of the faulty door. The suppliers will not refund fitting, treating or delivery costs. Should the supplier want the door returning to them it is your responsibility to get the door back to us. We will then forward it onto the supplier. When we are satisfied and an agreement has been reached we will dispatch a replacement door free of charge.
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