This guide is about the finish materials themselves: what paint, oil, wax, stain, varnish and lacquer actually do to a door, how to apply each one properly, and how to look after the result. It is the practical companion to two related guides.
If you are deciding whether to buy a door pre-finished, primed or unfinished in the first place, start with our pre-finished, unfinished and primed guide. If you are choosing a colour or a look for a particular room, our homeowner guide to door finishes covers that. Doors2Floors has supplied doors and flooring to homes and businesses across the UK.
Before You Open a Tin
Know what the door is made of
A veneered engineered door, a solid timber door and a laminated door all behave completely differently under a brush. Our guide to internal door materials covers what is what.
Do not finish a laminated door
Our over 20 laminated doors from £75.00 arrive with a factory surface that is not intended to be painted or oiled. Buy the finish you want rather than trying to change it.
Trim before you finish
Planing after finishing exposes bare timber on an edge. Do any trimming first, within the manufacturer allowance. Our guide on planing a door covers the limits.
Take the door off and lay it flat
Finishing a hung door is possible and always worse. Flat, supported and horizontal gives a better result with fewer runs.
Remove the ironmongery
Handles, latches and hinges off, or masked properly. Paint on a handle is the detail that gives away a rushed job. Our handles guide covers refitting.
Work in the right conditions
Warm, dry, dust free and ventilated. Cold or damp conditions ruin more finishes than poor technique does.
Plan for the edges
Six faces on every door: two faces, two stiles, the top and the bottom. The top and bottom are the two people skip and the two that matter most for moisture.
A lead paint warning for older homes
UK homes decorated before 1992 may carry lead paint on existing joinery. Do not dry sand it and do not burn it off. Take advice on safe removal before disturbing old layers.
Paint
What it does
Covers the surface completely with an opaque colour film. It hides the grain, which is either the point or the problem depending on your door.
What it suits
Primed doors above all. Our over 80 white primed doors from £30.84 exist specifically to be painted.
Preparation
Light sanding to key the primer, then dust off thoroughly. A tack cloth picks up what a brush leaves behind.
Application
Thin coats, always. Two or three thin coats beat one thick coat every time, and thick coats are what cause runs on a vertical stile.
Order of working
Panels and mouldings first, then the horizontal rails, then the vertical stiles, then the edges. Working in that order stops brush marks crossing.
Sanding between coats
A light rub with fine paper between coats is the single biggest difference between an amateur and a professional looking finish.
Sheen levels
Matt hides surface imperfections and marks more easily. Satin and eggshell are the usual compromise. Gloss is hard wearing, wipeable and shows every flaw underneath.
Drying versus curing
Touch dry is not the same as cured. A door that feels dry can still mark or stick to the stop for days. Give it time before hanging and before closing it fully.
Maintenance
Our guide to maintaining painted doors covers touching up and repainting, and our painting an interior door guide covers the method in more detail.
Oil
What it does
Penetrates into the timber rather than sitting on top of it, giving a natural matt look that keeps the grain visible and the surface feeling like wood.
What it suits
Unfinished timber doors. Our over 80 unfinished internal doors from £92.25 and the unfinished part of our over 290 line oak range from £87.75 are the natural candidates.
Application
Thin coats worked into the timber, then the excess wiped off before it becomes tacky. Leaving excess oil on the surface is the most common error and it leaves a sticky bloom.
How many coats
Usually several, with the timber deciding how much it takes. End grain on the top and bottom edges drinks far more than the faces.
The main advantage
Repairability. A scratch in an oiled surface can be sanded locally and re oiled almost invisibly, which is not true of any film finish.
The main disadvantage
It needs redoing. An oiled door in a busy hallway will want attention periodically.
Oily rag safety
This matters more than anything else on this page. Cloths soaked in oil finishes can self heat and ignite. Lay them flat outdoors to dry or immerse them in water before disposal. Never leave them balled up in a bin or a bag.
Aftercare
Our guide to cleaning and maintaining oak doors covers keeping an oiled finish right.
Wax
What it does
Sits on the surface giving a soft sheen and a pleasant feel. It is the most traditional of the finishes and the least protective.
What it suits
Low traffic doors in period interiors, and doors that have already been oiled or sealed.
Application
Thin, buffed off, repeated. Wax builds by layers rather than by thickness.
The limitation
It offers little protection against water or heavy handling, and it will need renewing regularly.
A warning about waxing over other finishes
Wax on top of a lacquer or varnish can interfere with any future recoating. Decide the long term plan before you wax.
Where it works well
Cottage and period interiors. Our 11 cottage doors from £55.99 and 6 internal pine doors suit a waxed look.
Stain
What it does
Colours the timber while leaving the grain visible. It is not a protective finish and it always needs sealing over the top.
What it suits
Bare timber only. Stain cannot penetrate a primer or a factory finish.
Test first, always
Oak in particular takes stain unevenly, and different boards in the same door can take it differently. Test on an offcut or a hidden edge before you commit.
Application
Even and quick, working with the grain and keeping a wet edge so you do not get lap marks where one pass overlaps another.
Matching existing joinery
This is the main reason people stain. Take a sample of the existing timber to compare against rather than working from memory.
Sealing over stain
Oil, lacquer or varnish over the top. Stain on its own offers no protection at all.
Going darker is easier than going lighter
You can always add another coat. Removing stain means sanding, and on a veneered door there is a strict limit to how much sanding is safe.
Where staining pays off
Matching a new door to existing walnut or oak. Our oak versus walnut guide covers the tones, and we list over 30 walnut doors from £167.45 if buying the right tone is easier than matching it.
Varnish and Lacquer
What they do
Form a protective film on the surface of the timber. They are the hard wearing option and they keep the grain visible.
What they suit
High traffic doors where an oiled finish would need frequent attention.
Sheen levels
Matt, satin and gloss. Satin is the usual choice on internal doors because gloss shows every ripple in the surface beneath.
Application
Thin coats, laid off in one direction, with light sanding between. Dust is the enemy and it shows far more in a film finish than in an oil.
The main advantage
Durability. A well applied lacquer will outlast an oiled finish considerably in a hallway.
The main disadvantage
Repairability. Damage to a film finish is difficult to touch in invisibly, and the usual fix is to strip and redo the whole face.
Water based versus solvent based
Water based products are lower odour and quicker drying. Solvent based products tend to be harder wearing and can amber over time. Follow the manufacturer guidance for the product you buy.
Ventilation
Ventilate properly while working, and never block ventilation serving a gas or solid fuel appliance to keep fumes in.
Matching the Finish to the Door
Veneered engineered doors
Most oak doors sold in the UK are engineered with a real veneer. Sand very lightly and never aggressively, because the veneer is thin and you cannot put it back.
Solid timber doors
More forgiving to sand and the best candidates for oil or wax.
Primed doors
Paint only. There is no point in an oil or a stain on a surface that is already sealed and opaque.
Laminated doors
Leave them alone. They are finished products.
Glazed doors
Mask the glass carefully and cut in around the beading with a small brush. Our over 280 glazed doors from £107.25 and over 110 clear glazed lines all need this patience.
Panelled and moulded doors
Far more surface area than a flush door and far more places for paint to pool. Our 9 shaker doors from £106.50 are simpler than most.
Flush doors
The easiest of all to finish well, and the least forgiving of dust because there is nowhere for a flaw to hide.
Fire doors
Finish the leaf only where the specification allows. Never paint or fill an intumescent seal groove and never let a finish bridge it. Our over 240 fire doors from £87.39 are certified assemblies, and our FD30 versus FD60 guide explains why. Confirm anything you are unsure about with your local building control body or a competent fire risk assessor.
External doors
Different products and much harder conditions. Our over 90 external doors from £86.79 need exterior grade finishes, and our wooden front door care guide covers them.
Finishing a Door Step by Step
One: take it off and lay it flat
Across two trestles or supports, off the floor, in a dust free space.
Two: remove the ironmongery
Everything off, in a labelled bag, so it goes back where it came from.
Three: prepare the surface
Light sanding with the grain, then remove all dust. Rushing this step ruins more finishes than anything else.
Four: do the edges first
Top, bottom and both stiles, while you still have the enthusiasm. Doing them last is how they get skipped.
Five: first coat, thin
Thin and even. Resist the urge to get coverage in one pass.
Six: let it dry properly
Follow the manufacturer timing rather than your own judgement.
Seven: sand lightly
Fine paper, light pressure, then dust off completely.
Eight: second coat
Same discipline. Most doors need two or three.
Nine: turn it over and repeat
Only once the first face is properly dry.
Ten: let it cure before hanging
Touch dry is not cured. A door hung and closed too early can stick to the stop and pull the finish off.
Eleven: refit the ironmongery
Our over 350 door hinge lines from £2.37 for ball bearing patterns and over 280 handle packs from £8.99 are worth replacing at the same time if the old ones are tired. Our hinge guide covers the choice and our guide on where to fit door hinges covers positions.
Twelve: check the swing
A freshly finished door is very slightly thicker than it was. Check the gaps before you decide something has gone wrong.
Looking After a Finished Door
Cleaning
A soft damp cloth and a gentle product. Avoid abrasives and heavy solvents on any finish.
Marks and scuffs
Deal with them early. A mark left for a year works into the finish.
Touching up paint
Keep a labelled jar of the topcoat. Matching a colour two years later is far harder than it sounds.
Re oiling
Clean, light sand if needed, and a fresh thin coat. This is the easiest maintenance of any finish.
Repairing lacquer
Difficult to do invisibly. Plan on doing a whole face rather than a patch.
Seasonal movement
Timber moves with humidity, and unsealed edges are the reason it moves more than it should. Our guide on stopping doors swelling covers the causes.
Sticking and squeaking
Our guides on stopping doors squeaking and fixing a loose door handle cover the common complaints after a refresh.
Pets and children
Our guides on dogs scratching doors and cats scratching doors cover protecting a finish you have just applied.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which finish is most hard wearing?
A well applied lacquer or varnish. The trade off is that it is harder to repair.
Which finish is easiest to repair?
Oil, by a long way. Local sanding and a fresh coat blends almost invisibly.
Can I paint over an oiled door?
Not without thorough preparation, and often not successfully. Oil resists paint adhesion.
Can I oil a primed door?
No. Primer is a sealed opaque coat and oil cannot penetrate it.
Can I stain a veneered door?
Yes, but sand very lightly and test first. Veneers are thin.
How many coats of paint does a door need?
At least two topcoats on every face, three on strong colours.
Do I really have to do the top and bottom edges?
Yes. They are the main route for moisture into a door.
Should I use a brush or a roller?
A small foam roller for flat areas and a good brush for mouldings and edges is a common combination.
Why does my paint keep running?
Coats too thick, or the door finished vertically instead of flat.
How long before I can hang the door?
Follow the manufacturer curing time, not the touch dry time.
What sheen should I choose?
Satin or eggshell for most internal doors. Matt hides flaws, gloss shows them.
Can I finish a fire door?
The leaf, where the specification allows. Never the seals or the groove.
What about old doors with layers of paint?
In homes decorated before 1992, assume lead may be present. Do not dry sand and do not burn off.
Is it worth buying pre-finished instead?
Often, yes. Our over 350 fully finished doors from £75.00 remove this entire job, and our pre-finished versus primed guide works through the maths.
Where do I start?
By deciding whether you are actually going to do this, honestly, across every door in the house.
Doors and Finishes From Doors2Floors
We have supplied doors and flooring to homes and businesses across the UK. Our over 710 internal doors from £30.84 cover every state, from over 80 primed lines ready for your colour, to over 80 unfinished lines ready for oil or stain, to over 350 fully finished lines that need nothing at all.
The rest of this cluster covers the other two questions. Our pre-finished, unfinished and primed guide covers which state to buy, and our homeowner guide to door finishes covers choosing a colour room by room. Our full advice centre covers measuring, fitting and aftercare.
Manufacturer finishing instructions always take precedence over general guidance, particularly on fire rated assemblies. Prices and product counts are correct at the time of writing and are subject to change. If you are working on joinery in a home decorated before 1992, take advice on safe removal of old paint before disturbing it.