External teak door - where do I start?!!

positron

Hi,

Quick question to the knowledgeable boardsies.

Fitted old / used teak doors to the shed (super heavy and very strong doors), but they are a bit rough. There are a few holes to patch, and they seems to have some sort clear varnish on them. I am wondering how to I go about making them look good, while protecting them from the elements as they are exposed to rain - sand down and just clear varnish, or perhaps Sadoline. Sanding unavoidable?

PS: Also have red deal (I think) gates that could also do with a protective layer or something. Again not sure where to start.

Doors:



Gate:

positron

May be I should have posted this on Woodcraft?

tabby aspreme

Doors and gates both iroko, sand and varnish, they will look great, it is a long weekend you know. 😊

positron

Its the perfect weather for working outside alright!

I don't think the gates are iroko. When I trimmed the sides slightly to fit them, its' fairly soft wood, and the saw dust was light red in colour, so I assumed (probably incorrectly) that they were 'red deal' or something like that. Gates are starting to crack and rot around the bottom, but only obvious from the back. The doors are solid teak (perhaps Iroko) - super heavy and sold all around.

There are some holes to fill as well which will need staining to match rest of the door. The doors are different colour now, but if sanded back to bare wood they should look okay, and stain the filler, and varnish? Or sadoline?

Bonzo Delaney

Door is iroko alright
Gates look like what's sold as mahogany these days some of it
Sapeile I think it's called is ok for joinery as close to mahogany as we'll get these days then there's other stuff been marketed as mahogany and it's woeful sh1te altogether dreadful colour , grain , soft and rots where as sapeile wont rot...well generally won't.
Regards sanding just sand of any loose stuff and replace any rot/ damaged pieces then 2/3 coats of sadolin teak varnish it'll bring it all in the same shade
If you go stripping right back which would be the proper job be prepared for a good days work in each door/gate as all the grooves have to be striped also with varnish remover / nitromores and brought back raw cleaned up and start varnishing from there

Calahonda52

I would not varnish as once it begins to weather/peel then it retains moisture behind it.
Strip them down to bare and use a "breathable" finish like sadolins which does not require subsequent stripping.

The other thing to be aware of is that in winter they will swell and maybe stick so think about that now

Bonzo Delaney

Thanks Calahonda
I did intend to mean an all weather exterior sadolin when I said varnish.
No matter how much you think you cover a question around here, there's always someone to pull you up. 😉😉

positron

Thanks Bonzo and Calahonda.

The gate might be that 'woeful sh1te' stuff I suspect.

Gate:
http://i.imgur.com/BxpGsPe.jpg

Door:
http://i.imgur.com/ZmKEyTG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IgKo2Fo.jpg

Thanks for the advice. I am going to patch the door with Ronseal wood filler (dark) and then I will dig out the sander and gently sand, wipe clean and do couple of coats of Sadolin teak varnish and see how it looks. I think I will start at the back of the gate first .