I have cherry veneer solid core doors finished with polyurethane in my basement. We got flooded with about 18 inches of dirty water for about 24 hours. The doors have dried and are generally in good condition, but there is a visible line with some dark areas where the dirty water was.
Does anyone have experience or advice on how to remove the stains and refinish the doors?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Replies
Oxalic acid should help. Real milk paint company sells a product. Dunno if you’re gonna be able totally clear that up. I’d try a finely tuned card scraper first and see what I could get done.
I agree that Oxalic Acid might help. It's the active ingredient in Barkeeper's Friend.
I like to mix Barkeeper's with water to make a slurry and apply with a toothbrush. Then rinse well and allow time to dry.
Try it on an inconspicuous spot before commiting to the entire door.
Mike
I would try sanding on the back of a door. If I got a good result I would look for a local shop with a wide belt sander. Pay to have them run and all you have left is finishing. You're gonna wind up stripping them anyway...
Why is the discoloration not on the edges of the door and the door frame ?
Thanks for the suggestions. The discoloration is only on the veneer. All of the standing and running trim is solid cherry, and none of that has a problem.
It's not all of the veneer though. The veneer on the edges isn't affected. Which makes me think that it's whatever is under the veneer that's causing the trouble. There is solid wood under those edges, for sure. What's behind the rest of the door panel? Could it still be wet?
The absolute first thing I'd try is oxalic acid. Do a part of a door not normally visible. You can get the oxalic acid at good hardware or paint stores, or Amazon. If it doesn't work you won't harm anything.
Potentially the hollow core filled with moisture and keeping it moist. Try a pilot hole on the backside and shine a light in there.
That was my concern, the white marks under the varnish are caused by water under the finish, I would drill holes from the bottom to find out.
I probably should have mentioned it originally, but the flooding occurred about two years ago and the doors have been in a low humidity environment since then, so i don't believe any moisture is still in the doors.
I’d try a few of the mentioned cleanup methods and then try to reblend with orange shellac.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled