Technical Care Guide
Interior Door Handling and Finishing Guidelines
Storage, acclimation, preparation, and finishing requirements for Arista wood door products. Covering handling, storage, finishing, and care.
In This Guide
01 — Delivery Inspection and Initial Handling
The client, dealer, installer, or receiving party is responsible for carefully inspecting the complete delivery immediately upon receipt. Any visible damage, shortage, or concern must be documented and reported to an Arista representative as soon as it is discovered.
Important Receiving Requirement: Photograph packaging, labels, visible damage, and any areas of concern before moving, installing, finishing, or modifying the product.
Most Common Risk: Humidity ChangesInterior wood doors are designed for conditioned interior environments. Building conditions should be maintained between 30% and 50% relative humidity and between 60°F and 80°F (16°C and 27°C) wherever practical.
Most Common Risk: Hidden Shipping DamageDo not discard packaging or proceed with installation until visible damage, shortages, or concerns have been documented.
- Do not drag, slide, drop, or stack doors directly against one another or against abrasive surfaces.
- Move doors using clean hands, clean gloves, and adequate personnel or lifting equipment suitable for the door size and weight.
- Protect all corners, edges, veneer faces, machined pockets, glazing areas, and finished surfaces during handling.
- Keep doors protected from construction activity, dust, overspray, impact, and moisture exposure.
02 — Storage Requirements
Wood doors must be stored in a clean, dry, well-ventilated, and climate-appropriate interior area prior to installation and finishing. Factory packaging should remain intact until the product is ready for acclimation, finishing, or installation.
| Requirement | Recommended Practice |
|---|---|
| Position | Store doors flat on a level, clean, dry, and properly supported surface. Do not lean doors against a wall. |
| Support | Use blocking or supports that keep the slab flat and fully supported to reduce the risk of bowing, twisting, or point loading. |
| Airflow | Cover doors to keep them clean while allowing air circulation around all sides. Do not wrap doors in airtight plastic. |
| Environment | Avoid direct sunlight, standing water, excessive heat, excessive dryness, high humidity, and rapid changes in temperature or humidity. |
High-Risk Storage Condition: Do not store doors in garages, sheds, trailers, unconditioned buildings, or any area subject to excessive moisture, heat, cold, direct sunlight, or humidity fluctuation.
Jobsite Condition: Do not store doors in areas with active wet trades, including drywall compound, plaster, concrete, masonry, tile setting, flooring adhesives, or other high-moisture construction activity.
03 — Acclimation and Preparation for Finishing
Before finishing, doors should be allowed to acclimate to the relative humidity and temperature of the installation environment for a minimum of 48 hours, or longer where site conditions require.
Do not install or finish doors until drywall, concrete, plaster, masonry, flooring, painting, and other wet trades have sufficiently cured and the building has reached normal operating conditions.
- Before applying any finish, lightly sand the door with 180-grit sandpaper in the direction of the grain.
- Remove scuffs, dings, fingerprints, scratches, raised grain, and surface contamination prior to finishing.
- Test stains, paints, sealers, and topcoats on a sample or inconspicuous area before full application.
- Follow the finish manufacturer’s written preparation, application, cure-time, compatibility, and maintenance requirements.
Timing Requirement: Interior doors should be finished promptly following installation and before exposure to abnormal humidity conditions. Exterior or special-use doors may require more restrictive finishing timelines.
04 — Finishing Requirements
Use a high-quality, exterior-grade finish system suitable for the door construction, exposure, climate, and intended use. For exterior applications, the finish system must provide proper moisture resistance and UV protection.
Seal All Six SidesFront face, back face, top, bottom, lock edge, and hinge edge must be sealed.
Seal Machined AreasSeal hinge pockets, flush bolt pockets, mortises, multipoint routing, lock preparations, and all hardware cut-outs.
Seal Glazing InterfacesApply finish at wood-to-glass interfaces. Painted doors should lap paint approximately 1/16″ onto glass where applicable.
Use Sufficient CoatsArista recommends a minimum of three finish coats unless the finish manufacturer requires otherwise.
Arista recommends using a compatible sanding sealer or conditioner where appropriate to promote more consistent finish absorption and appearance.
Dark Finish Advisory: Dark stains and paints, especially on doors exposed to direct sunlight, can increase surface temperature and may accelerate finish degradation, checking, shrinkage, and movement.
05 — Installation and Re-Coating Notes
Where practical, doors may be fitted and hardware-prepped before final finishing, then removed from the opening for complete finishing access. All hardware should be removed or properly protected before finishing and re-coating.
- Do not cut, trim, modify, field-machine, or alter the door unless approved by Arista or performed by qualified personnel in accordance with Arista requirements.
- Ensure the frame, jamb, sill, threshold, weatherseals, and hardware are installed square, plumb, level, and properly supported.
- Verify that the door operates correctly and that all locking points, latches, seals, sweeps, and closers are properly adjusted.
- Remove hardware before major re-coating so all surrounding areas can be properly cleaned, prepared, sealed, and finished.
Warranty Note: Failure to follow Arista’s handling, storage, finishing, installation, humidity-control, and care requirements may affect warranty eligibility. Warranty claims are reviewed based on product condition, site conditions, documentation, and compliance with published requirements.
Arista Custom Doors Inc. | 303 Supertest Road, North York, Toronto, ON M3J 2M4 | Handling and Finishing Guide