Mildew/blue-green algae infesting my new door...

[Denise Ohio]

Okay, so we installed our new door last Friday on our new house. It was butt cold, so I couldn't put a finish on the door, sidelights, or frame.

There's no heat in the new house yet and the house we're in now is less than 600 square feet and I've already taken the bathroom to let my window pieces seal and dry. But I needed a front door since the crackheads across the street cased our new house on Halloween and think Christmas is coming early for them.

Stupid crackheads.

Anyway...Saturday it snowed. A bit of snow blew onto the edges on the lower part of the sidelights.

And today it was 55 degrees and raining like it's going out of style. I looked at the bottom of the sidelights, expecting some rain spotting but the raw fir is turning green and gross. Already.

I can't think too much about it or I really will cry.

My thinking is to try some various mixtures used to clean this crap off all kidns of things---bleach, hydrogen peroxide, etc., and if that doesn't work, to scrape or sand it off when the weather gets better.

Any ideas? Will bleach or peroxide damage the wood? Do I need to neutralize? I can't put a finish on until the weather gets nicer (even a tarp will just trap the moisture in the ground, which is great for curing stucco, let me tell you). What can I do to protect my new door?

Please help the sad sad person.

[Sean Kinn]

Are you planning to paint this door or do a clear finish?


I know a bleach solution will work great to kill the green stuff, but I'm not sure how it would affect a clear finish. The fancy "deck cleaning solutions" you can typically buy are just bleach solutions. The usually have you follow up with a "cleaner and conditioner" that prepares the wood for a finish. How to prevent it from coming back?.....well, get a finish on the door asap. Not much else I can think of, the raw wood will funk up pretty quickly outdoors.

[Jason Roehl]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but what you see now is only going to get worse. Fir is not a good choice for an exposed (unsheltered) exterior door, especially if it is on the north side of the house where it will get no direct sunlight. Bleach will kill the mold/mildew/algae, and is neutralized with a quick rinse of water, but you have a high-maintenance door. A finish will only delay more growth unless it is regularly maintained (1/2-2 years for clear, much more for high-quality paint systems). If you are planning on painting, you're not entirely out of season yet as there are plenty of low-temp paints available (35ºF). All you need is a day that hits a high of about 45ºF and doesn't freeze that night, with a couple hours of dry-time before sunset. There's bound to be one or two yet this year. I've painted outside on Christmas Eve before in North-Central Indiana.