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Charlie: Terry in Sugar Land says he got a letter from the HOA.
Tom: Hmm.
Charlie: Yes. We love the HOA. Our front door needs to be repainted or varnished. Last time it was done, the paint company said that we would need to strip the door down to the wood. Because….Ready for this? It had been re-painted and varnished seven times in twenty three years.
Tom: Okay.
Charlie: Now they don’t know. Do we need a new door? Can we still paint this one?
Tom: First off, if they did strip it down, you have to forget the past.
Charlie: Forget the past.
Tom: You’re starting from now.
Charlie: A new.
Tom: That means one coat is on that door, right? The rest was stripped off. If the door’s in good shape, a good paint, not a stain, a good paint will be the easiest and quickest thing to make it look good whether you want a red door, black door, you decide on the color.
Charlie: Or green door.
Tom: A green door.
Charlie: It would be Jim Lowe……
Tom: Yes you can.
Charlie: Pure oldies joke there folks.
Tom: You betcha.
Charlie: Anybody over fifty is going, “Oh, I know that song.” Maybe over sixty actually.
Tom: If you want to buy a new door cause your door is so ugly, then Door Clearance Center. You’ll do the same thing. If you want to make it look like wood and you don’t want to go through the staining process, you can use a gel coat.
Charlie: Like a fiber glass door.
Tom: Yeah but you can do it on wood. You can do it on any processed, gel coat goes on anything.
Charlie: The gel coat will last longer than a varnish?
Tom: It will because it’s a paint that looks like wood.
Charlie: You’re recommendation then is to either strip it back down and gel coat?
Tom: I would not strip it.
Charlie: Don’t strip it.
Tom: It only has one coat on there now. I would wash it. If it needs a little light sanding in rough spots, that’s fine.
Charlie: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Tom: Then either paint it with a pigmented exterior trim paint.
Charlie: Okay.
Tom: If you want it to look like wood, use a gel coat on it.