Short answer: a solid wood door that’s sound all the way through is almost always worth refinishing. Replace it when the rails and stiles are rotted, the veneer has come apart, or the door and frame can’t be made to hang straight.
Most of our calls start with somebody else’s quote. A company told the homeowner to replace the front door, or the pair of French doors, or the old plank door on the garage, and something about the price or the idea of losing the original made them call us before saying yes. Sometimes the replacement quote is right. More often the door is fine under a failed finish, and the person quoting never took a scraper to it. Whether to refinish or replace a wood door comes down to one thing, and it isn’t how the door looks.
Start with how deep the damage goes
Finish fails long before wood does. Sun breaks down the coating, water gets under it, and the door looks ruined when it’s mostly a coating problem. What decides refinish or replace is depth: whether the damage is in the finish, in the surface of the wood, or through the structure of the door.
What you see | What it usually means | Our call |
|---|---|---|
Faded, dull, light cracking in the finish | Finish breaking down, wood still sound | Refinish |
Finish peeling or flaking in sheets | Coating failed, moisture probably got under it | Refinish, with repairs where needed |
Bare wood gone gray or silver | Surface has weathered | Usually refinish after deep sanding |
Hairline cracks, dents, scratches | Surface and shallow damage | Refinish, with repair |
Wood that gives under a screwdriver tip | Rot | Repair the section if it’s contained. Replace if it’s widespread |
Bottom rail or stiles rotted through | Structure compromised | Usually replace, or rebuild the section |
Hollow-core veneer lifting or peeling apart | The door has come apart | Replace |
Door won’t hang true after adjusting | Frame or door has moved | Fix the frame first. Replace only if the door itself is warped past saving |
The screwdriver test is crude and it works. Press a tip into the bottom rail, where water sits. Hard wood that resists is fine. Wood that gives is rot, and how far the soft part spreads decides everything after that.
Front and exterior doors
Exterior doors in Southern California fail from the sun side first. South and west faces go fastest, and a door with no overhang can go from faded to peeling in a few years. The sequence is the same every time: fading, cracking, peeling, graying, and finally the wood itself. We go through it stage by stage on our exterior door refinishing page, and the short version is that every stage up to graying is a refinish, and graying usually is too. Most exterior jobs take one to two days. If it’s the entry door specifically, front door refinishing has its own page.
The case for replacing starts when the structure is gone, not when the door looks bad. A faded door in sound condition usually costs a lot less to bring back than a custom solid wood door costs to buy, and the new one arrives with no age in it.
Craftsman and older doors
Older doors are where refinishing wins most clearly. A door from the 1920s is often solid old-growth wood with thick stiles, real panels and glass lights, and what’s sold today as something similar tends to be thinner and made of different wood. One client brought us a pair of Craftsman doors that several companies had passed on, damaged by sun, dog scratches and a termite treatment. Everyone told her to buy new. She had them restored, and her review says they came out looking new at about a quarter of the cost. The rest of the house is covered on our Craftsman home wood restoration page.
Paint is the other thing with older doors. They’ve usually been painted over at least once, and if the house was built before 1978 that paint may contain lead. The EPA has lead-safe rules for renovation work, laid out on its Renovation, Repair and Painting program page, and it’s the reason we cover and contain the work area before stripping anything.
Interior, garage and barn doors
Interior doors are the easiest to underestimate. Painted over decades ago, they look like nothing, and under the paint there’s often good wood. Garage and barn doors are bigger and rougher but follow the same logic: if the planks and frame are sound, the finish can be rebuilt. Both fall under our general wood door refinishing service, and the finished work is in the gallery.
Where you live changes the door
Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley. Strong sun and a lot of original doors from the early 1900s. This is where most of our work is, and wood restoration in Pasadena is the place to start, with neighborhood pages for South Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino and Arcadia. They’re all listed on Pasadena and beyond.
Glendale. Hot, dry and often west-facing, with Craftsman bungalows and Spanish Revival houses. Doors fade on the sun side first, and our Glendale page has more on the area.
Beverly Hills. Big custom doors, often in pairs, often with iron hardware. Replacing one means buying another custom door, which is a good reason to look at wood door refinishing in Beverly Hills first.
Santa Monica and the coast. Salt, damp mornings, and mildew showing up at the bottom rail. The finish is built differently here, which we explain under exterior door refinishing in Santa Monica.
Irvine and Orange County. Newer homes with builder-installed wood doors that have taken years of sun. Many Irvine communities have associations with rules on exterior color, so check yours before changing a front door. See our Irvine page for more, and our Anaheim page for the older houses.
What a good estimate should tell you
- What the door is made of, and whether it’s solid wood, veneer or hollow core
- How deep the damage goes and where, including the rot check on the bottom rail
- Which repairs have to happen before any finishing
- Whether anything needs replacing and why
- A realistic timeline, including drying time
If the person quoting replacement never asked what the door was made of, get a second opinion. Ours is free.
Refinish or replace: common questions
Is it cheaper to refinish or replace a wood door?
For solid wood, usually refinishing, especially for custom or Craftsman doors that cost a lot to reproduce. A hollow-core or badly delaminated veneer door can be cheaper to replace. We look at the door before quoting, and estimates are free.
How long does it take to refinish a wood door?
Most exterior doors take one to two days, depending on the condition of the door and drying time between coats. Heavily layered or carved doors can take longer.
When should a wood door be replaced?
When the rails and stiles are rotted through, a hollow-core veneer door has come apart, or the door and frame can’t be made to hang true. Anything short of that is usually worth restoring.
Can a sun-damaged wood door be saved?
Usually. Fading, cracking, peeling and even graying are surface problems. What decides it is whether the wood underneath is still hard and sound.
Do you refinish wood doors in my area?
We work across Los Angeles and Orange County, including Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, Arcadia, Glendale, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Irvine and Anaheim.
Call (626) 372-7079 or use the contact page. We’re open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 5:30, and Saturday, 8:00 to 2:00. More than 230 reviews are on Google and Yelp.