Do you typically specify your stained wood doors to be factory or field finished? pros and cons of both?
Factory - it’s more controlled, they can use solvent-based stains (which are more consistent) contain the VOCs, and more easily guarantee that the last door done will look the same as the first door done.
As a manufacturer of hollow metal doors & frames and a distributor of wood doors I can honestly say that the quality a factory prefinish is far superior to field finish. In addition, factory finish is less expensive per door then field finish; but some contractors have their painting contractor include finishing & painting of doors & frames in the contract…therefore the contractor will only want to buy unfinished because they’re paying for the finishing already!
A wood door manufacturer will often give a lifetime warranty on factory finish (interior only).
You have to be careful about finield finishing because the “field” is not a "controlled environment…it’s subjected to temperature, humidity and dust…which a manufacturer will void the warranty on a door if they suspect those elements to be the cause of warping, etc. Also, when finishing a door ALL SIX SIDES MUST BE SEALED or say goodbye to your warranty!
When iin doubt, request factory finish samples…but remember, the sample is just a sample and it’s not an indicator of the entire door.
I agree with the factory finished. Often, the field finish is applied before permanent power is on, and the lighting conditions are poor, there is lots of dust in the air, and a wet varnish haphazardly applied due to poor lighting attracks that dust like no other surface I can think of.
I have yet to have a good field finish door that I’ve found to be acceptable
I had an owner insist on field-finished stained wood doors on one large project many years ago. It turned out looking terrible. The finishing brought out variations in the veneer that were not evident prior to staining. The doors ended up with a great deal of variation in color and you could detect where the installer, or someone else, had handled the doors, creating areas where the stain did not penetrate evenly. Since then, I have used pictures of that project to convince people that field finishing is a bad idea.
In my opinion, there is nothing positive about field finishing. It costs more, is less consistent, and rarely even close to the factory finish in quality. Then you have to consider the time it takes and the VOCs that you introduce into the building.
Another strong vote for factory finish.
The only time you might consider field finish is when matching an existing condition, and you better have a pretty good painter. Even then, you might consider removing a sample of what is to be matched from the existing building, and sending it to the factory.
Field painting - Yes.
Field staining - No.
The brand name wood door manufacturers have no problem with custom color matching on a stained finish. Just send them a sample and and they provide a finish sample of the custom color on whatever veneer you want. If they don’t provide a sample or do custom color matching, then you should be dealing with a different company.
And always request that min. two samples are to be received…(1) for the contractor (or architect) to retain and (2) the other for the architects approval to be sent back to the distributor.
Doors scheduled for opaque finish: Shop primed by manufacturer, site painted by painting contractor.
Doors scheduled for transparent finished (with or without stain). Prefinished by manufacturer.
Oh, by the way, don’t forget–
Complete fabrication, including fitting doors for openings and machining for hardware that is not surface applied, before finishing.
To tag onto Richard’s post, I had client who asked a similar question and I told him that I preferred factory-finish. He then asked what do you do about damage in the field, and I responded that I would rather see a couple of doors with semi-noticeable repairs then 100 poorly done field-finished doors.
“Damage in the field,” Either it’s factory damage, freight damage, contractor damage or end-user damage; non-the-less and good wood worker can either fix it or the factory can replace it. A good wood door manufacturer can and will supply touch-up finish for field repair upon request.
I have replace factory finshed wood doors 5 years after we originally supplied the job…and the factory can match (within reason) the finish. As long as the same veneer species and finish type are being ordered; & the factory making the replacement is the same as the original manufacturer…there should be no problems. You will get variations due to the veneers for the replacement being out of sequence form the original order…but it won’t be like getting white birch on the original order and the replacement comes in looking like red birch!