Before and after composite door treated with Polytrol

Using Polytrol to restore a faded wood effect composite front door

When someone arrives at your home, your front door is one of the first things that they’ll see. A tired, faded front door can make even the most beautiful of homes seem a little neglected.

Exposure to rain, sunlight and pollution can all contribute to making your front door look as if it’s seen better days. The good news is, is that there is a quick and easy way to restore the colour and appearance of your front door without breaking the bank.

Why Polytrol?

A deep penetrating oil, Polytrol colour restorer penetrates through the surface of your front door and re-wets the pigments, to restore your door’s original colour and shine. Designed to form a tough and long-lasting flexible finish when it dries, Polytrol doesn’t leave any kind of ‘film’ on your front door, so will not peel or flake.

But don’t just take our word for it. Take a look at our before and after photos of a wood effect composite front door, restored using Polytrol. We think you’ll agree that the ‘after’ photo looks like a brand new front door.

Before and after composite door treated with Polytrol

Quick guide: how to use Polytrol to restore your wood effect composite front door

Firstly clean your front door

It’s important that your door is free from any dirt, grime, grease or mildew, so give it a good clean with some warm soapy water.

Tip: If your front door has mildew on it, just scrub it with a 50:50 bleach and water solution and leave to stand for about 10 minutes, before rinsing.

Any waxes or polishes should also be removed.

Before getting starting with Polytrol, make sure that your door is completely dry.

Time to get going…

When using Polytrol, it’s important to work in areas that you can complete in 10-20 minutes. As most front doors are quite small, you can usually do it all in one go.

Use a brush or a cloth to liberally apply Polytrol. If you notice that some bits are looking shiny and others are looking matt, move any of the surplus oil over to the matt areas.

Leave it to work then wipe off the excess

Polytrol only takes between 10-20 minutes to work its magic.

After this, it’s time to wipe off any excess product with a clean, lint-free cloth.

Leave it to dry

You’re done! Just leave your front door to dry and admire your work.

You’ll need to clean any tools you’ve used to apply Polytrol with white spirit.

It’s important that any rags you have soaked in Polytrol are properly discarded or they could spontaneously catch fire. See Polytrol’s full instructions for more information.


We hope this post on Polytrol used on a composite front door interesting! If you have any other advice or top tips, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest at @OwatrolUK or find us under the hashtag #OwatrolUK

Using Polytrol to revive a faded composite door - Pinterest

Owatrol Team
About Owatrol Team

Our team are ready and willing to support you with your requirements whether it is protecting your newly laid deck or renovating a luxury yacht, whatever the application Owatrol has the solution you are looking for.

28 thoughts on “Using Polytrol to restore a faded wood effect composite front door

  1. Need a surface restorer for a black composite front door that gets hammered by the sun (because of black colour) and harsh weather in winter.

    1. Hi Janet,

      We recommend trying our colour restorer Polytrol for this project.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

    1. Hi Lionel,

      Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to help here as it is likely that the peeling is due to delamination of a protective film that the door manufacturer applied.

      Sorry we couldn’t be of more help – please do not hesitate to call or email us if you have any further questions.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

  2. I had fibreglass garage doors which looked very sad about 7 years ago. I had them painted a horrible orange Brown. Can I now get that off and use polytol to restore.

    1. Hi Jessica,

      Thank you for your query.

      You can use Dilunett to remove the previous orange-brown coating, however, Dilunett is powerful enough to remove up to 8 coats of paint in one application, so any other coats of paint that lay underneath the new paint will also be removed.
      So in this case, there won’t be a previous coating left on the doors to restore.

      After you have applied Dilunett, your best option is to then finish the doors with a paint, such as Owatrol Deco – our rust inhibiting primer and paint available in 13 colours.

      We always like to recommend to our customers to try a sample size first and test it on a small inconspicuous area. Our samples are £5 with free next day delivery and can be found on the product pages.

      If you would like to learn more about these products, please see the following links:

      Dilunett – https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/dilunett-gel/
      Owatrol Deco – https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/owatrol-deco/

      I hope this answer was helpful – please don’t hesitate to contact us further should you have any more queries.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

    1. I have a dark brown UPVC front door that has extensive sun damage. Do you have a product to restore my door?

        1. Hi Neil,

          A 1 litre tin will cover approximately 18m2 so a 0.5 litre tin should be perfectly sufficient.
          You can opt to use the spray and it will work in the same way, it was just made for those hard to reach areas.

          I hope this answer was helpful.

          All the best,
          The Owatrol Team

  3. Good morning
    We have a composite door and the elevated panels are flaking whilst the remainder of the door is still intact.
    I am about to purchase some Polytrol but just wanted to check first that this is the right product to deal with the flaking problem.
    If so – do I need to use sandpaper to remove the flaking parts before applying the polytrol oil?
    Thank you
    Martin

    1. Hi Martin,

      Thank you for your query.

      Can I please ask what kind of finish was previously used on the door?
      Polytrol will only revive the colour that has been lost due to UV rays, pollution etc. so knowing the previous product will help us assist you further.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

  4. Can’t find where I can find paint simples on line you have sent me a colour chart I found it once before but can’t find it now help!

    1. Hi Angela,

      Decking Paint, Shed & Fence Paint & SCS each have a product size drop down menu on the product page. Here you can select a sample size.

      I hope this answers your question.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

    1. Hi Alan,

      Sadly we do not make any paint strippers that would be suitable for internal use.
      It depends what you mean by restoring the upvc door. If it is a coloured door that has lost it’s shine and/or colour, you can use Polytrol to revive it to its original state.
      We always recommend trying a sample out on a small area first.

      Polytrol


      Just as a side note, if it is a white door, Polytrol will not work to restore it. It only works on coloured pigments.

      Please feel free to call us should you require any further assistance.
      01582 592707

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

      1. I have a composite front door. It gets a lot of sunlight so subsequently it tends to fade. I applied Polytrol but unfortunately parts of the surface which is not directly in the sunlight came up superbly but other parts which seems to get most of the sun just stayed white and faded underneath the coating. Is there any advice for this problem?

        1. Hi there Patrick,

          We’re sorry to hear you have not had a completely successful experience with Polytrol.
          Unfortunately, it is possible that sometimes the pigment has become so dried out that it is not possible to restore it.
          However, we would recommend you try a second application onto the worst affected areas and leaving the Polytrol to work for up to 20 minutes before removal of the excess. This will give the pigments the best chance to rehydrate and be restored.

          I hope this was helpful – best of luck and we hope you get the result you are after.

          All the best,
          The Owatrol Team

  5. Hi, I have internal laminate doors. There was paint flecks all over them and only way to get the paint of was scrubbing areas with a green pad. This has resulted in faded patches on the door.
    Would polytrol restore the colour and give the door an overall continuity of colour back.

    1. Hi Jackie,

      I’m afraid we cannot guarantee that Polytrol will be able to restore to the laminate to a uniform finish.
      We would suggest you purchase a sample and test on a small area; https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/polytrol/

      I hope this was helpful.

      Please feel free to contact us again should you require any further assistance.

      All the best,
      The Owatrol Team

  6. I have composite front door which has faded but my primary concern is that some of the varnish has come off and the rest seems to be flaking, I have tried to remove it with soap and water but to no avail. If I was to use your product would it show through? Alternatively is there anything you could suggest to remove all the varnish without damaging the colour beneath before repainting.

    Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Thank you, Terry Meredith

    Ny

    1. Hi there Terry,

      Sadly, you are not the first person to ask us this question and unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done if the composite door is flaking – Polytrol will only recover a faded surface.

      You may wish to speak with the manufacturers of the door and see if they can offer you any assistance.

      Apologies we could not be of any more help.

      All the best,
      The OWatrol Team

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