We recently had new knotty alder doors, case and base installed in our house, and have some unusual issues with the stain/lacquer finish. The case and base material was ordered with the doors, delivered to a local painter, stained, laquered and then delivered to our job site, where it was kept inside at room temperature. We had it finished first, since we were living in the remodel during construction.
The problem is with the case material, especially with areas around some of the knots turning white. The finish is beautiful on the doors and baseboards (first photo shows a typical knot), but about 50% of the case material looks like the second photo. This whitening and blanching of the finish seems to happen mostly around the knots.
This is something that was not apparent (or maybe just not noticed) when the material was finished and delivered, and seems to have gotten worse over the last several weeks (during installation).
Any ideas on what might cause this? I'm (probably naively) hoping we can fix this in place, since all the material is already up. If not, I'll have to replace the worst pieces with some new material...I just don't want to make the same mistake over again. Not sure if it's the material, the lacquer, a moisture issue or what...
I'm hoping someone has seen this before and can advise. Thanks ahead of time for any thoughts, ideas or suggestions.
-Dale
The problem is with the case material, especially with areas around some of the knots turning white. The finish is beautiful on the doors and baseboards (first photo shows a typical knot), but about 50% of the case material looks like the second photo. This whitening and blanching of the finish seems to happen mostly around the knots.
This is something that was not apparent (or maybe just not noticed) when the material was finished and delivered, and seems to have gotten worse over the last several weeks (during installation).
Any ideas on what might cause this? I'm (probably naively) hoping we can fix this in place, since all the material is already up. If not, I'll have to replace the worst pieces with some new material...I just don't want to make the same mistake over again. Not sure if it's the material, the lacquer, a moisture issue or what...
I'm hoping someone has seen this before and can advise. Thanks ahead of time for any thoughts, ideas or suggestions.
-Dale