Drying out a Damp Front Door to Treat and Repair it General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[Bertie2012]

Hi, I'm in need of some advice in how to dry out my front door after years of soaking up water due to previous owners neglecting to paint the underside.

I've done quite a bit of work already but due the the lovely great British summer I've not been able to completely dry the door out before working on it.

I've stripped all paint, treated with wood preserver, removed rot and treated with wet rot hardner, Ive dried the door out as best as I could with a heat gun before filling the holes. I left it in this state for a few days to try and let it air and used heat gun repeated to try to remove the moisture - then sadly due to change in the weather I felt I had to get some paint on to protect it. So I've applied primer undercoat and a coat of weather coat.

The problem is the damp is still there and is causing white patches on the paint. The back of the door is still bare so I'm trying to use heat gun to dry it out from here but it doesn't seem to be working.

I have no porch and my door opens straight onto a busy main road so I can't leave the door off to dry it out.

Is there anything I can do?

Sorry for the essay
Amy

[Ioanaoi1]

Okay, so it seems your door is a bit 'stubborn'. Before replacing your door, start all over one more time. Since you're talking about persistent problems, it means your door needs restoration. Take the door down, remove the existing finish, use sandpaper, sanding against the grain. Now, apply a suitable primer, letting it dry completely. You can repeat this step, just to be extra safe. Only after the primer is completely dry, apply the finish coat. Take in consideration that the primer and the coat have to be compatible.
Good luck!