Please recommend a door varnish

[os1kne]

My front door is an old oak door that is in very good shape, but the exterior side is fading. I've been meaning to refinish the exterior side all summer, but time flies and now time is not on my side.

Can someone please recommend a finish to put on the exterior side of my door. I was planning to sand it down and use spar urethane, but I don't know if there is something better. For weather elements, my front porch has a roof that covers the door from above and I have a glass "screen door" (no screens). Thanks for your help.

[Uncle Cracker]

Spar urethane is a good choice.

[Woodshark]

is the door stained or painted? I just did this to our front door. Ours is stained with a Minwax spar prtective poly coat.

It was about 10 years since it was last finished and it was starting to look a little beat. The spar had failed around the bottom and the wood was getting sun bleached. I didn't want to strip the door and start all over. I just lightly sanded the exterior, then I restained the door with the same stain that was used 10 years ago. Minwax Mahogany if you care. I applied the stain with a old t-shirt, waited 10 minutes and wiped it off. The areas that where worn through accepted the stain. The good areas that were still protected by the spar did not. This really evened it all out again and brought the color back to the door. After it dried I put on two coats of the spar finish and it is looking as good as new.

[mschrank]

Spar is the common choice for an outdoor application, but if I'm not mistaken you are limited to a glossy sheen with spar (don't know that for sure...just seems everything I've seen finished with spar was very glossy). It sounds like your door is pretty well protected from the elements, so you can also get away with regular polyurethane, giving you more sheen options. Just make sure to sand between coats if you allow it to completely cure between coats.

I put a new front door in my house early last summer. It's fairly well protected by an overhang and gets very little direct sunlight. I used a gel stain and three coats of poly, and so far it's showing no signs of deteriation. I expect it'll need a recoat once every 3-4 years.

[Uncle Cracker]

Mike, I think Sherwin-Williams makes a flatting agent that can be added to spar urethane, and I know Minwax (or Helmsman) makes a satin spar urethane. Haven't had need of it lately, so I can't say how easy it is to find (perhaps an online source).