Stripping Stain from Fiberglass Door

Questions & AnswersCategory: Fiberglass Door Finishing QuestionsStripping Stain from Fiberglass Door
Audrey J asked 10 years ago

I stained one side of 3 grained fiberglass doors only to find out I used the wrong color stain (I know, I have already beaten myself up for this)!!! I read and read and read on the internet on stripping. I did what was it said on the 2 side strips and it seemed to work great. However, when I used same process on ‘face’ of the door, the stain is in the ‘graining’ and in some spots it looks like it took the graining off or at least the primer.

So now I am pretty freaked out. I decided I was going to try it on the door that wasn’t hung yet and see how it went.

The doors were so darn expensive. I am hoping someone has some advice on what I can do to strip the wrong stain off and fix them without destroying the doors.

I used water rinseable stripper, put it on, used a stain rag wet with water and rubbed (like it said) and then used after wash to neutralize it.

3 Answers
MagicDave answered.

Forget about staining fiberglas… paint it… use a color that is close to your intended stain color… first prime it with a Pigmented Shellac Sealer Primer… then finish coat with the color… use Sherwin Williams paint… use a satin sheen…

Anonymous answered.

Prime it over the top of the stain I have on the doors? They have poly on top of the stain. And can you suggest some brand names of pigmented shellac sealer primer?

Anonymous answered.

Use a fiberglass safe stripper (i.e. 3M safest stripper) and follow the directions very closely. You must work in a small area making certain to not leave the stripper on any particular area for more than a minute because this could cause the door to delamintate (the fiberglass graining could come loose from the core of the door.)
Typically a gel-stain should then be used to re-stain a fiberglass door.