Fix Staining Fiberglass Doors Problems – 4 Effective Ways

Fiberglass doors have become so popular that most people prefer this door to make their entrance more sophisticated and more intact. As fiberglass doors come with magnificent versatilities with their appealing appearance, lots of people want to make it more attractive by staining the door. Staining fiberglass doors problems are common to people but not everyone knows that staining a fiberglass door does not require much.

That’s why people think why not give it a more stunning look? But there are definitely some facts that you need to keep in your account while staining a fiberglass door. Nothing can be gained so easily and beautiful things ask for more labor. If one follows the steps of staining a fiberglass door perfectly then problems will not show up easily.

Staining fiberglass door problems will occur soon if you don’t adopt some major requirements. They might get warped and absorb moisture and eventually wear out over periods because of the stain. In situations like that, you do not want your money to get wasted like that. That’s why knowing the staining fiberglass doors problem and asking for a remedy for those problems are common on your part as a concerned fellow. Let’s get into a deeper discussion.

Major Staining Fiberglass Doors Problems and Solutions are:

Shifting or warping of a fiberglass entry door is a common issue yet these issues must be sorted out as soon as possible. Where a fiberglass door assures the durability and safety of the whole house, its own protection is also a matter of consideration. If you want your fiberglass door to look simple and like an ordinary one, then it will not give an exotic vibe at the entrance of your house.

Concerned people provide stains to give it a wooden-like color. Besides resembling a wooden piece of art, it embodies the durability of the fiberglass door. The problems that your fiberglass door may suffer after staining it are listed below. These problems are pretty harmful to the durability of your door and distort its appearance.

a) Warping

Your stained fiberglass door might get warped instead of giving a posh vibe to the entrance of the door. A fiberglass door warps more often even though it is not stained. As every product has some requirements to serve for the longest period, a fiberglass door is not any exception.

Exposure to scorching heat causes warping to your fiberglass door even though it is not painted. Sometimes a wrong placement of the door to the direct heat of the sun makes the door warp fast. If the door is stained, then warping can occur a little later. But chemical recreation with the sun’s heat might cause the warping fast.

Also, a loose framing causes warping of the stained fiberglass door easily. It’s important to check if your door is perfectly tucked into the frames or not. Otherwise, the loose construction will affect the door and help it warp immediately. Read More: How to Paint a Fiberglass Door Smooth – A Complete Guide

Remedy for Warping:

• To avoid warping your fiberglass door you need to avoid placing the entrance door direct to the heat of the sun.
• It would be best if you place it opposite to the western of southern intolerable heated sun.
• Also, make sure you are staining the door with the best stain with UV ray protective ingredients. As some stains come with toxic chemicals, they react easily with the heat and help warp your door.
• It is also important to check on the framing of the door. A wooden framing will fit the door in between it more snugly. Therefore, make sure the door and the framing get along properly with each other.

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b) Cracking

Cracking of a fiberglass door is also a negative outcome that occurs often after staining it. It happens mostly to cheap and low-cost fiberglass doors. There are some qualitative fiberglass doors in the market. These doors can resist the calamity of the door to the greatest extent. Therefore, they are costly as well. But resisting cracking is also impossible for the expensive fiberglass door if it is painted.

A stained fiberglass door requires a seamless coating of stain. Besides, it demands enough ventilation to dry up naturally with time. An atmosphere full of humidity does not allow the coat to be seamless and dry steadily. That’s why the stain on the door gets cracked easily.

Apart from the humidity of the air, cracking might happen if the weather is extremely cold. The weather compels the door to contract and eventually, the door becomes cracked. An inexpensive fiberglass door cannot withstand excessive cold weather and contraction and it results in a fatality.

Remedy for Cracking

• To avoid the cracking of the fiberglass door, you need to consider your budget and avoid buying low-budget fiberglass doors to get an effective result. Make sure your money results in happiness.
• Also, avoid placing your fiberglass door in cold weather. As contraction causes cracks in the door, better to install it where there is mild weather.
• Stained fiberglass door requires even coating and fast drying up. Therefore, avoiding humidity or moisture in the weather is necessary too.
• To prevent the degradation of the door, provide a stain that has high adhesive power.

c) Wear and Tear

Another common problem of staining fiberglass doors is they will wear and tear if not taken care of it to the fullest. As these types of doors are constructed to protect the entrance of the house, their responsibilities are bigger. Therefore, they also need attention and proper treatment.

In hazardous weather, the wind and storms affect the fiberglass door distort so disgustingly. Besides, continuous rain helps to discolor the door and makes it look ugly. On top of that, the dreary heat of the sun embodies tearing up the door to a great extent.

All these disadvantages if happen at the same time to a door, then there will be no way that your entrance door can make a better impression to the outsiders. Besides, the wear and tear of the door makes hollow spaces and wind or heat can blow from the passage inside your house.

Remedy for Wearing and Tearing:

• Treating your door properly is important to prevent the wear and tear of the door. Keeping it safe from wind, rain, and heavy cold or heat is your responsibility to get full advantage from the door later.
• Also, make sure the adhesion of the stain is powerful enough to tackle hazardous climates excessive heat, or heavy rainfall.
• To avoid distortion of the door and discoloration, seal the stain with the perfect sealer.
• Buying a fiberglass door that comes with 5 or more years of warranty is one technical way to tackle its problems.

d) Time-Consuming Refinishing

A fiberglass door is not like other common wooden or metal doors. It comes with glass and staining on this glass is not an easy task. A proper installation of a stained fiberglass door is the solution for resisting its degradation. But the problem is it takes a hell of a time for a proper installation and application of stain.

As this is a complex situation, cheap materials can only worsen the condition of your fiberglass door. Finding out the top-notch stain with the required adhesion and UV ray protective chemicals is the first thing to do. Giving the whole process much time will bring much satisfaction with the result.

The exact proportionate coating and recoating will enhance the beauty of your door. But if you rush while doing the whole process, blunders will occur and much damage is a sure thing. Patches and bubbles will show up immediately.

Remedy for Refinishing:

• As refinishing requires extra time, it would be wise to just provide it as much as possible.
• Take notice that an extra amount of ventilation and heat can destroy all your hard work and patience. Keep the door away from places like this and don’t let moisture penetrate the door. And provide the right amount of air and temperature to dry it up.
• Wait for several days until you give it a second coat. Mind the coat as it needs to be even and seamless. Otherwise, the base coat will not be suitable enough to get along with the second coat.
• Don’t add the door with its hinges until the whole procedure of coating, staining, and drying is finished. Keep it detached for a proper application and it is much more convenient that way.

e) Unusual Pattern of Grains

A fiberglass door looks extra beautiful after you apply stain to give it a wooden effect. The problem occurs when the grain does not provide the extra charm that is supposed to be shown by it. An unusual pattern of the grains makes it more artificial than aesthetic.

Besides, this artificiality rather disturbs the eyes of the viewers. The wood grain pattern looks more natural and provides a posh design to the entrance. However inexpensive and cheap fiberglass doors cannot bring about the natural pattern of grains. It looks super fake and completely devoid of a traditional sense of beauty.

Remedy for Unusual Grains:

• Finding a top-notch stain to cover the cheap fiberglass with a wood grain effect can be an effective action for some range.
• It is better to use both durable and expensive fiberglass doors with top-notch stains for a natural wood grain effect.

f) Expensive, Incompetent, and Less Variety

The cost of a fiberglass door is definitely a problem. As this kind of door provides extra security and endurance, it is to some extent worth it. Low quality with low-cost fiberglass doors is also in the market but they cannot serve justice to you and the entrance of your house. Glass comes with plain or simple designs to complex and gorgeous designs.

Costing depends on designs as well. Starting from 500$, the range can go up to 3-400$. And with the installation charge, the amount only rises. Incompetency brings another problem. A core fully covered with urethane or polyurethane core is important but it is hardly available.

However, even if you manage to be rich enough to buy a high-quality fiberglass door you will find hardly any varieties. Especially, like on other materials like wood, concrete, and metal, you cannot sand or cut the glass. You need to learn its temperament and range of endurance. As this fiberglass door is a recent invention, varieties in them will take time to reach the market.

Remedy for the Problems:

• If you cannot buy a high-quality or semi-high-quality fiberglass door, then you better stick to other alternatives. It’s because cheap doors will not avail you of great service and it will not look good eventually.
• As the core of fiberglass doors starts to rot if not taken care of it enough and if it is of low quality, a high-graded fiberglass door is required.
• To find variety in fiberglass doors, you should roam around the market in-depth with patience.
• To have the fullest advantage of the door, adopt airtight insulation. It will make the door competent and steady.

How to Fix Staining Fiberglass Doors Problems?

It’s always a matter of concern to use overhangs to protect your door from unusual discoloration and distortion of the fiberglass door. But if it is already faded due to major accidents, or heat or heavy rainfall, then the following remedies can restore your door. Let’s check them out.

1) Stain the Door

It is a very common option for faded fiberglass doors. All you need to do is to stain or paint it to hide the discoloration. But before applying it, clean the door in a very speculative manner so that no dirt can rest on it. This will help the adhesion of the stain increase its power and thus the lifespan of the door will grow eventually.

2) Adopt Refinishing

Adopting refinishing tasks for fiberglass doors is only applicable when the discoloration is excessive and beyond any other alterations. Use a stripper to strip off the old finish. Adopt a water-based stripper. It will take less time to dry and a thin layer is enough to remove the finish.

3) Use Acrylic Paint:

The moment you notice your fiberglass door is starting to decay, apply acrylic paint on an immediate basis. This will help you to prevent the further decaying of your door and will restore the decayed area. As acrylic fights the ultraviolet rays more competently, it is a safe option for sure.

4) Use a Gel Stain:

Another remedy for the faded area of your fiberglass door is the usage of a gel stain. Take a bristle brush and put a little amount of gel stain on it. Adopt a color that matches the door color along with the gel.  Apply it with the brush on faded areas carefully and let the area heal and restore in its preceding stage. Read Also:

FAQ

1. Can you re-stain a stained fiberglass door?

Re-staining a stained fiberglass door is possible. But you have to take some measurements before that. If your old stain is cracked, warped, and coming out of the surface, then you must use a paint stripper to strip the old stain first before applying the fresh n

2. Will stain stick to fiberglass doors?

Fiberglass is a different kind of material than wood. It has less absorbability than wood. Therefore, not all types of stains can adhere to fiberglass. There is a particular stain that is fit for fiberglass doors. It is called gel stain and it has special qualities to stick to fiberglass doors.

3. Is it better to paint or stain a fiberglass door?

Both paint and stain can enhance the look of a fiberglass door. But a calculative application can bring advantages to you. If you place your door at the entrance where it will expose to the sun then apply paint without any second thought. For a place where the weather is mild and you want a pattern of grain on your door then use stain at once.

4. How do you get gel stains off a fiberglass door? How to fix the gel stain on a fiberglass door not drying?

Use a thin layer of stripper to get the gel off a fiberglass door. Wait for a second and rub out the loosened stain with a scouring pad and then clean it properly with fresh water. For the stubborn residue, apply lacquer thinner in following the same manner as the former. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit

As fiberglass doors have less absorb the power, gel stain is their only choice. But gel stain sometimes doesn’t dry up easily even after 5-7 days. In such a case strip off the old gel stain and reapply on the door again. Go with a thinner coat and let it dry properly with a proper amount of ventilation.

Hopefully, this article will help you to fix all problems regarding staining fiberglass doors problems.

Last Updated on October 3, 2023 by Rogers Weber

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