Treatment Guide

Joinery treatment/painting instructions and general advice

If the product we have sold you comes with treatment instructions inside the wrapping, these instructions will override the following if different. If there aren't any please ask if there are any available, as they are very important to any guarantee that may be with the door.

Always read and follow the treatment instructions on the tin.
Always use the treatment manufacturers complete system, i.e., preservers, fillers, end grain sealers, knotting, top coats etc... Don't just apply a top coat only thinking that will be good enough.
The main objective when using treatment is to cover the whole product including any mortices and cut outs.
Always use a stain or paint. A stain is not a wood dye. Dyes don't give any protection, they are just a colour.
Do not use waxes, dyes, oils to treat. They only seal the door temporarily.
Application of treatment should be done out of the rain and in a cool dry place.
Use methylated spirits to remove grease and debris from the product before applying treatment. Don't use white spirit as it takes longer to evaporate and doesn't lift the debris as well as meths.
Use lint free clothes to apply the methylated spirits. Lint free clothes do not leave debris behind.
Always stir the tin of treatment all the way to the bottom to ensure a good mix; shaking is not good enough.
Before the first coat of any treatment is applied, you must rub down the product to make sure there is no dirt or grease. Treatments will not adhere properly if there are contaminates on the products surface. Contaminates will also colour differently from the product.
Use a fully synthetic brush on water based treatments as hogs hair will clog.
If you are to clean your brushes use our special brush cleaner as white spirit is not nearly as good.
It is best to purchase all your treatment at once as colours may vary. We have never heard of colours varying from tin to tin and manufacturers do not mark the treatment up with batch number like wallpaper.
If there are any gaps in the joinery product that are not supposed to be there you must fill them with a suitable filler to stop water getting in. 'v' joint sealer from Teknos is a very good joint filler.
All our treatments are non-returnable. We sell very expensive doors and we do not want them ruined by applying treatment that has been returned to us previously. Once treatment leaves our shop door, that is it, we will not accept it back.
Engineered timber usually has to be treated with solvent/oil based products as water based treatments can damage them including delaminating them.

Doors

Please check to see if you have an engineered door. Engineered timber usually has to be treated with solvent/oil based products as water based(acrylic) treatments can damage them including delaminating their over veneer. If in doubt always use solvent based treatments. Any fast setting treatments, i.e., dry within 30 minutes, will undoubtedly be water based(acrylic) and will not be suitable for engineered doors.
Immediately after the door has been fitted you must unfit and remove all the ironmongery. Then you must treat the door fully, i.e., treat behind all the hinge cut outs and inside of the mortises. The manufacturers warrantee will be invalid if you don't do this.
The same treatment must be used all over the door inside and out if external.
One step of the guarantee is to use the correct finishing product, in most circumstances this is oil (solvent) based treatment. Please check the documentation that comes in the doors packaging, to make sure you are using the correct type of product. If no documentation is present in the packaging, please contact us, so we can advise you.
In the case of an external door you must fully treat the faces of the door before fitting. This way, if it rains you will have instant protection. Do not treat the edges as this will hinder fitting.
Always use 3 hinges on a door. Most of the time two hinges are sufficient to carry the weight but the manufacturer's warranty will mostly insist on having three. The middle hinge also helps keep the hinged style in line.
Only use microporous treatments on external doors.
External doors must be fitted with weather boards to deflect the rain from getting to the end grain at the bottom of the door. Without weather boards the rain could soak into the end grain and swell the door.
On outward opening doors, a drip must be fitted to the head of the frame to deflect the rain from reaching the top of the door.
Regarding stable doors, a weather board need to be fitted to the bottom of the door and a drip needs to be fitted to the bottom of the top half of the door.

Inspecting goods before unwrapping.

Joinery products, in particular doors, should be fully inspected before unpackaging and hanging. We always recommend that you personally check the doors rather than leave it to your fitter, as you will have a more critical eye. You need to check for: splits, cracks, poor finish, marks, water marks, mould, scratches on glass, movement in panels or glass and finally to check the door for twist and warp. This needs to be done before organising fitting as you may be charged for the joiner turning up and being unable to fit the door due to damage. Although every care is taken here to minimise damaged items leaving the store, some faults cannot be seen until the door is unpackaged. A problem arises where 'paint and peel' is employed. 'Paint and peel' is cellophane which used to cover glass(installed by the manufacturer) which is supposed to help stop treatment being applied to it. The problem is that if there is a fault in the glass you might not see it until the cellophane is removed and by that time you might have fitted and treated the product/door. This is a grey area and we are not sure how our suppliers would deal with this so we would recommend removing the cellophane before fitting and treating the door. If a fault is found you must not cut or hang the door as this denotes acceptance of the faulty door and invalidates any warranty. Faults must be reported within 3 days of receiving the door. If the fault is discovered after this period it is up to our own discretion whether or not we accept the door back.

Manufacturers warrantee for doors will be invalid if:-

The door hasn't been entirely treated, i.e., no treatment on top or bottom edges; no treatment in mortices or behind hinges or behind levers.
The door has been down in size by taking more than 6mm from each edge. Always check the manufactures guidance if you need to take more off.
Incorrect treatment used or not enough coats applied.
Rebating doors together may invalidate the warrantee. We always presume that it will as rebating takes 12mm from one edge.
If you used external treatment, internally or vice versa.
Different product treatments applied to opposing faces.
A water based treatment has been used when the manufacturer's instructions have stated to use an oil based treatment or vice versa.
The door hasn't been treated before cutting it down to fit. Treating the door can reveal defects that can't be seen with the naked eye, e.g., clear silicone.
If weather boards and drips haven't been fitted where appropriate.

Once the door has been cut down it cannot be returned. This is why it is so important to identify any defects before the doors is fitted.

Windows

It is a common belief in the building trade that a coat of primer on a window will suffice. This is untrue. Windows must be fully treated prior to installation. We have had several instances where we have sold softwood casement windows that have not been treated correctly and the casements have swollen so they cannot be opened. We would only recommend the use of microporous external treatments on windows. We use the 'Teknos' system of water based products to treat the windows and doors that we manufacture. It's microporous, thorough and durable.

Rubbing down in between coats

It is best to use a light grade sandpaper as you can use it with a block and it breaks up. Try to avoid using wire wool as if have leave a lot of dust. If the wool is old and dirty if can force dirt into the product which is hard to get out.
After rubbing down with sandpaper use a clean brush to brush away any dust and debris.
Using a lint free cloth wipe the product down with methylated spirit and then you are ready for the next coat.

Reason For Treating

To inhibit the ingress or loss of moisture which will help prevent rot and warping. Warping is mainly caused by the product losing or gaining moisture on one side more than the other. This can happen to untreated doors in homes that have been freshly plastered, i.e., high humidity levels. Doors that are between rooms of high temperature differences, e.g., between a bathroom and hall way, lounge and hallway. Doors must be sealed to help prevent this.
To stop dirt getting in.
For external joinery, microporous treatments are to be used to let moisture out if it happens to get in.

Maintenance

External joinery items including doors and windows will have to be retreated at regular intervals. The length of time between treatment will vary depending on what material it is made from and which way the door is facing. South and West elevations of a building get the most adverse weather conditions so will treating more frequently. The less sun and rain the joinery gets the less it will need treating. Treatment adheres to softwood a lot better than oak thus oak will need treating more frequently. If any gaps appear in joints or beads they will need filling to prevent water getting in. Some external door manufacturers recommend building a canopy to give further protection.

Storage and Handling

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, e.g., 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 unusable.
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.

Treatment Products By Ron Currie

We stock Sadolin, Sikkens and Teknos timber treatments. The important differences between these treatments are that some are water based and some are oil based. Make sure you use the correct one for the product you are treating.

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. 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.