Unfinished, Primed or Pre-finished: A Guide to Choosing Your Door Finish

You’ve found a perfect fitting door, but what type of finish is for you?

Just as all of our doors come in different shapes and sizes, we also have a range of finishes available, depending on your individual needs.

Currently on offer at LPD are three main finishes – Unfinished, Primed, and Pre-finished – with each option varying in both style and colour.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Door Finish

Choosing the best finish isn’t a one size fits all process. Common factors to take into account include your desired aesthetics, durability and maintenance needs, level of DIY experience, personal preference and budget. Essentially, different finishes fit different needs.

Unfinished door

Perfect for DIY enthusiasts: An unfinished door refers to doors that have already been sanded, but are otherwise untreated. If you’re looking to take on a DIY project, unfinished makes for a great option – opening the door for you to finish things off with your own choice of stain, varnish or paint. You can explore our Hardwax oil products here.

Higher maintenance: Ultimately, unfinished products generally take more work, and may require more long-term maintenance. However, they also allow for a higher level of freedom, and provide the option to get creative and customise your door, in line with the style of your home.

Unfinished Oak Shaker

Primed door

Prepped for your perfect colour: A primed door refers to a product that’s already been coated with a specific type of paint, called a primer. Primers work to seal the wood and improve overall adhesion, which in turn improves durability and reduces that need for maintenance.

Requires painting: As primed doors haven’t yet been painted with a final colour coating, you can paint the door whichever exact colour you might be looking for. If you’d prefer to keep the primed colour, often black or white, they can also be treated with a clear sealant.

Primed White Montpellier

Pre-finished door

Ready to install: Also known as a finished door, a pre-finished piece refers to a door that’s ready for installation.

Saves time and effort: Think of it as factory level standard – completely sanded, varnished, waxed, primed and painted – pre-finished offers an easy to deal with answer for anyone looking for an efficient, timesaving fitting.

Matching cut edges: It’s worth noting, however, that if your doors are trimmed for fitting they will still need finishing on the edges. If you need to match up any paint on the finish, you can find the relevant RAL and gloss level details on our product pages.

On certain products, we can also provide the appropriate touch up paint. Get in touch to find out more.

If you’re looking for a low maintenance, hassle-free option, pre-finished would make a great choice.

Pre-finished Black Soho Glazed

LPD’s Extensive Door Selection

Explore our full-range of Unfinished, Primed and Pre-finished doors we have here at LPD, in our Internal Door Range.