Gel Staining a fiberglass door

[Dan Mages]

Hi all.

I am finishing my fiberglass front door with some Minwax Gel stain and need a little advice. I tried to apply the first coat today but was a little too hasty to wipe off the excess. I let it dry for 30 minutes and then wiped it down with some mineral spirits, but pulled most of the stain off in the process.

So my question is... how long should I allow it to dry before I wipe off the excess?

Thanks,

Dan

[Jason Roehl]

Don't wipe off the excess. I've done about a dozen or so fiberglass doors, and my experience is that you need to pick a stain that is either the exact color you want or lighter. Then I brush it on and leave it--no wiping. The brushing is tricky and takes some time (many light strokes). If the stain is too light, you can keep adding more. If you really want the imprinted grain to stand out, you can use a darker glaze after you stain it, but I haven't yet tried that particular technique (I've just heard of people doing it). After the stain, it's very important to let it dry fully, generally at the very least 48 hours, 72 is much better. Then my favorite topcoat is 2 coats of an exterior waterborne poly. I need to check on them, but there are some apartment front doors I did over 4.5 years ago that still looked good last summer, and some of them get direct western sun in the afternoon.

My favorites are the ZAR products for this, both the gel stain and their waterborne poly, but they are spendy.

[Steve Schoene]

Even if you do wipe off excess, that is never done with mineral spirits, only with a dry cloth. How firmly you wipe is a matter of taste, but some wiping, at least to deal with any overlaps and unevenness is likely to help. Otherwise you might as well use paint.

Incidentally, what does the door manufacturer recommend for the stain and the method of application? Some are quite specific about what kind of stain to use.