Hi there. May be an unusual question as my Google search didn’t give any advice
We recently bought a barn door (already painted white). It has herringbone design etchings.
I’m wondering if there is a product (clear caulk) which can be used in these crevices to fill them yet keep the design visible?
My concern is dust! The etching is deep and a little rough. Was hoping to find method to fill in so it actually creates a flat surface to the touch. While keeping the beauty of the design.
Replies
I don't know about a caulk, but lots of people are using clear epoxies these days with live edge wood to fill in cracks and so on, even making decorative elements by suspending things or using color in them. Not sure of the right epoxies, but a Rockler or Woodcraft store could help you, I imagine.
Thanks so much for your feedback!
Filling the grooves and winding up with a flat surface will be a challenge. You will likely wind up sanding through the paint to get back to "flat" and lose the shadow lines that you liked enough to buy the door. Any fill, once sanded, will require a coat of paint and that character will be gone.
Applying a perfect fill to the grooves without affecting the flats of the door feels impossible to me.
If you are open to a suggestion, (frowned upon around here sometimes), sand the insides of the grooves smooth and repaint. The grooves will no longer hold the dust you fear in the current rough texture.
Thank you so very much for this advice! I’m definitely leaning toward your suggestion of sanding the grooves smooth! That makes the most sense and I guess I had hoped in some magic product…haha! I love the door and design. Just unsure why they chose not to smooth it out to begin with!
Not sure what to tell you. Caulking is going to skrink. Latex caulk will grab dirt and silicon can't be painted if you get it on any other part of the door. I have filled knots with epoxy and before it got real hard used a card scraper to cut it down smooth and flat with the surfice but I can't see doing that and not scratching the paint. It might be quicker to fill it with spackling or bondo depending on how deep it is, repaint the door and paint a pattern on it. Could you sand the groves in the pattern enough to make it easy to dust and repaint the door?
Yes I think the sanding of the grooves option will get best results! I truly appreciate your feedback! This all helps so much!
I'm going to take a guess here but I'm betting that the door is made with a hardboard outer surface that was CNC routed with that pattern. The outer surface is hardened and underneath is softer more porous stuff that doesn't machine smooth. It would have been relatively easy to fill and sand those grooves before painting but that would have involved humans.
I take it that you don't want to repaint the door but if you were to do that you could fill the rough edges with something like vinyl sparkling or a non siliconeized caulk like painters caulk or even drywall compound and sand smooth. Then repaint.
Sanding just the grooves may change the sheen and you might not like the result. If you sand only I'd suggest that you go to the paint store and purchase the finest micro sanding sponge(s) preferably in white- different manufacturers will call them different things but 3M will say " superfine". Counter help almost anywhere these days is some 20 year old. Advise you might get will be from someone that has never painted a thing in their lives, but somewhere where you live is a paint store that a 7am there will be a bunch of guys wearing white coveralls picking up supplies. That's the place to go!
Wow! This is all such incredible advice! We are not completely opposed to painting it again. So your suggestion of filling the grooves and then sanding them and repainting the whole door might just work! I plan to review/research this all some more with my hubby this weekend!
But just to verify…will the filling with non-siliconized caulk be clear? Keeping the integrity of the herringbone design?
Pantalones868 is probably right about your door being CNC routed MDF. I only use MDF for jigs and don't paint it so I can't give you any first hand advise but I do know that moisture like latex or acrylic finishes or fillers for that matter can cause it to fuzz or swell if not sealed first. I remember reading an artical a few years ago on finishing MDF that had been routed. I was just passing time and didn't file it in the memory banks because I don't finish MDF but I think they recomended sealing it with spray shellac, knocking off the fuzz and resealing before finishing. Please don't go on my recomendation unless you can't find any other information. Google finishing MDF or CNC routed MDF and you may run across the same artical I read. I think it was by George Vondriska. Good luck.
We will definitely look into the above article or others that may be out there regarding this! It helps tremendously that pros like y’all give us the lingo (product ideas, process names, etc…) to research further. My googling of this project was so vague and summarized before that I couldn’t find any info. So glad I found this forum!!! Many thanks again!
My take was you wanted the grooves to not be so rough. Filling the entire groove so that the door is flat but the pattern is still visible? ! It might be possible with lucite and rolls and rolls of masking and lots of careful sanding. That would to me put it in the just get another door category!
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