Finishing Top & Bottom Interior Doors - Maine

[Frank Drackman]

Recently moved to our 27 year old home in coastal Maine. Most of the interior doors are in pretty bad shape so I decided to refinish them. I was surprised to find that the top & bottoms of all interior doors is unfinished. I have not run into this before. Normal or lazy of the original painters?

Thanks - Frank

[Steve Schoene]

Lazy i'd say, but not unique.

[John TenEyck]

Maybe they were trimmed on site to fit.

John

[Frank Drackman]

OK, I will finish the tops & bottoms.

Thanks for the replies. i didn't know if it was a local custom due to the harsh weather changes.

[Sam Murdoch]

Maybe they were trimmed on site to fit.

John

This is very likely. I've seen coastal Maine exterior doors also unfinished top and bottom and that one I just gave up to stupid.

My treatment now for exterior door tops and bottoms is 2 coats of thinned epoxy. I do the ends first - then sand the faces and paint accordingly. Any face drips of epoxy are removed in that process though I am careful not to make a mess. You can paint over the epoxy if you like but unnecessary. This will add many many years to an exterior door - especially one that is made to swing into the weather.

Welcome to Maine and welcome to The Creek too

[Jim Mackell]

Definitely lazy! Welcome to Maine!

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> Most of the interior doors are in pretty bad shape

Wasn't the OP's question dealing with "interior" doors? All the responses seem to be for "exterior" doors.

For interior doors, I generally give the tops and bottoms a couple of coats of dewaxed shellac. I dries fast and you can hang the doors with little delay.