Interior Hardwax Oil
Hardwax oil for durable protection and finishing of interior wooden surfaces.
View product detailsWood Surfaces · Solutions
Doors, Frames & Joinery
A Burma teak panel door with brass kundi handle in a Bandra bungalow. A white-painted flush-panel door in a Gurgaon high-rise corridor. A sheesham window-frame head rail that drags a daily sari curtain through eight monsoon seasons. Skirting that takes the jhadu-pochha (broom + wet-mop) every morning for the next twenty years. Indian doors, window frames, and skirting span the full clear-natural ↔ painted-opaque finish spectrum — and the LEINOS system documented for that spectrum covers both: clear interior oils (Hardwax Oil 290, Hard Oil Universal 259) for natural-finish hardwood, and the opaque natural-resin lacquer system (Resin Lacquer Primer 810 → White Lacquer 820 / Finishing Lacquer 840 / Finishing Lacquer Mix 845) for painted woodwork. Wood Filler 337 fills nail holes, knots, and hinge-screw history before either path.
InteriorSingle Layer7 compatible products
- Breathes through monsoon humidity — no blistering
- Both finish paths in one system: clear oil OR opaque lacquer
- Minimal-yellowing white (820) — no aged-paint look
- Spot-repairable on both paths — no full strip
Find your application
Pick the substrate. We'll show what fits.
Indian interior doors split into two finish worlds: heritage Burma teak / sheesham panel doors in older bungalows and haveli homes get a clear oil (Hardwax Oil 290 default — micro-wax holds up under daily kundi-handle contact). Modern flush-panel doors in apartments and new builds are almost always painted — that's the 810 primer → 820 white / 840 colour / 845 custom-tint opaque-lacquer system. Wood Filler 337 fills knots and old hinge-screw holes before either finish.
7 compatible productsHard Oil Universal
Versatile universal primer and topcoat for all interior wood types. Enhances natural wood structure with silky matte, durable, water-repellent finish.
View product detailsResin Lacquer Primer
Fast-drying, easily sanded primer for wood, stone, and metal surfaces. Suitable for interior and exterior use with good filling and opacity.
View product detailsWhite Lacquer
High-coverage white lacquer for wood and metal finishing. Available in satin or gloss finish with excellent flow and minimal yellowing.
View product detailsSystem & Substrates
Two finish paths, one chain. Clear oil for natural wood, opaque lacquer for painted.
For walkable floor and stair joinery use LEINOS 290 in floor-grade build; for exterior front doors use Teak Oil 223 or Weatherproof Paint 850.
The Coating System
Primer plus topcoat — the full chain.
Topcoat Options
Choose the finish character; the primer underneath stays the same.
Long-term Care
Extends the life of the finish over the years.
Step by Step
How to Apply
Remove hardware, lift door off hinges
Lift the door off its hinges and lay it flat on padded saw-horses (Indian door weights — Burma teak panel doors are heavy, get two people). Remove the kundi handle, lock plate, drop-bolt, hinges, and any inset glass beading. Masking around mounted hardware traps oil/lacquer in the screw holes and leaves a shiny rim — every door specifier learns this the hard way.
Fill old screw holes and knots — Wood Filler 337
On older Indian doors there are usually 2–4 retired hinge positions, abandoned kundi-latch screw holes, and knot voids in the panels. Mix Wood Filler 337 powder with cold water 3:1 to a stiff putty, press into the holes with a spatula, level flush. Sandable after 45 min. Skip this step on a new door with clean substrate.
Sand panel faces, then edges, then handle zone
Sand both faces of the door with P120 in grain direction — panel face, rails, stiles, all visible edges. Re-sand the kundi-handle zone and lock-plate area with P150 — finger-pad smoothness matters where hands land daily. Round all sharp door edges with a sanding sponge (the bottom edge that swings over the threshold gets the most catch). Strip any old PU or melamine first — oil and natural-resin lacquer only bond to bare wood.
Decide — clear oil or opaque lacquer (the door choice)
Natural Burma teak, sheesham, mango panel door where the wood grain is the design feature: clear oil. Hardwax Oil 290 (2 coats, brush) is default — handle contact is the highest stress and 290's micro-wax matches it. Hard Oil Universal 259 (3 thin coats, sealing roller) when the door install is on a 24-hour deadline. Flush-panel apartment door, painted door panel in a children's room, white internal-corridor door: opaque lacquer. Resin Lacquer Primer 810 (1 coat) then White Lacquer 820 (2 coats) for standard white, or Finishing Lacquer 840 (2 coats over primer) for one of 10 fixed colours, or Finishing Lacquer Mix 845 (2 coats over primer) when the architect specifies an NCS or RAL custom tint.
First coat — panel face, then rails, then stiles, then edges
Sequence matters on door panels: work the panels first (they're slightly recessed and a brush picks up panel-corner overspill cleanly), then the horizontal rails, then the vertical stiles. Finish with the door edges — top, bottom, hinge-side, handle-side. Bottom edge always gets a coat (threshold-zone moisture wicks up if left bare). After 20–30 min penetration on oils, wipe excess from corner profiles. Lacquer: no wipe-back; let dry undisturbed.
Recoat and remount
Oils: 290 dry to touch 6–12 h, recoatable after 12 h. 259 dust-dry 6–8 h. Apply second coat (or third for 259). Lacquers: 810 primer sandable after 24 h — light P180 between primer and topcoat. 820/840 recoatable after 24 h. 845 dust-dry 8 h, sandable after 24 h. Door is light-handling ready 24 h after final coat. Remount hardware (clean kundi-handle screw threads first — old oil/lacquer residue prevents tight torque). Re-hang the door. Full polymer cure 7–14 days on oils, 2–3 weeks on 845 lacquer for final gloss.
System Composition
- Door OFF the hinges before any finish goes on — every edge needs sanding and oil/primer access, hinges trap oil and leave a shiny rim
- Wood Filler 337 for old hinge-screw holes, knots, and any door-handle relocation patches (mix 3:1 with water, sandable after 45 min)
- Two finish worlds: clear oil (290 default, 259 fast-turnaround) on natural Burma teak / sheesham panels, OR opaque lacquer (810 primer → 820 white / 840 colour / 845 custom-tint) on painted flush-panel doors
- Sand P120–P150 across all surfaces; the door edge gets a sponge-rounded P150 finish
Why It Works
- Penetrating oils (290, 259) on natural Burma teak / sheesham doors move with the wood across the Indian summer (RH 30%) → monsoon (RH 85%) swing. A sealed PU lacquer on a heritage panel door cracks at the panel-and-frame joint within 2–3 monsoon seasons; oiled panels do not.
- Opaque lacquer system (810 + 820/840/845) on flush-panel doors gives the painted-door specifier the LEINOS chemistry advantage: vapour-permeable, biocide-free, no aromatic solvents, minimal yellowing (820 specifically) — vs commodity enamel paint which yellows visibly within 18 months on a white door.
- Wood Filler 337 is sandable to invisible flush on both finish paths: under clear oil it disappears into the grain-tone shift between filled and bare wood; under opaque lacquer it disappears completely.
- Spot-repair is easy on both paths: a worn kundi-handle patch on an oiled door sands P320 and re-oils locally; a chipped lacquer corner sands and re-coats with the same 840/845 colour without stripping the whole door.
Pick the Right Build
Which build fits your surface?
Heritage Burma teak / sheesham panel door (natural finish)
Hardwax Oil 290 — 2 coats with brush. P120 sand on faces, P150 on the kundi-handle zone. The default for older Indian homes, haveli restorations, bungalows where the wood grain IS the design.
Hardwax Oil 290 — 2 coats
Modern apartment flush-panel white door
Resin Lacquer Primer 810 (1 coat) → White Lacquer 820 (2 coats, satin or gloss). The default for flush-panel internal apartment doors, corridor doors, children's bedroom doors where opaque white is the design intent.
810 primer + 820 white lacquer (2 coats over primer)
Painted door — architect-specified colour from 840 palette
Resin Lacquer Primer 810 (1 coat) → Finishing Lacquer 840 (2 coats) in one of 10 fixed colours: White, Black, Anthracite Grey, Light Grey, Fir Green, Dove Blue, Nordic Red, Yellow, Blue, Leaf Green. Mutually mixable for custom blends within the palette.
810 primer + 840 colour lacquer (2 coats over primer)
Painted door — bespoke NCS / RAL tint outside the 840 palette
Resin Lacquer Primer 810 (1 coat) → Finishing Lacquer Mix 845 (2 coats) machine-tinted to architect's NCS or RAL specification. Use when the door colour must match a wall, a fabric, or a brand identity not on the 840 fixed palette.
810 primer + 845 custom-tint lacquer (2 coats over primer)
Fast-turnaround clear-oil door install (24-hour deadline)
Hard Oil Universal 259 — 3 thin coats via sealing roller at 6–8 h intervals, no intermediate sanding. Lets the door go from sanded to light-handling ready inside a single 24-hour shift, useful when the homeowner moves in on a tight deadline.
Hard Oil Universal 259 — 3 coats
What to Expect
- Door light-handling ready 24 h after final coat. Full polymer cure 7–14 days on oils, 2–3 weeks on 845 lacquer for final gloss.
- Re-oil cycle on a natural-finish oiled door: handle zone every 2–3 years, panel faces every 5+ years. Re-coat cycle on a lacquered door: 7–10 years on the handle zone, longer on panel faces.
- Slight grain-darkening on coat one is normal on oils (enhances figure on sheesham and Burma teak). On opaque lacquer, coat one over primer reads slightly translucent — coat two is what locks in opacity.
What to Avoid
- Not for pre-finished factory flush-panel doors with foil-wrap, melamine, or factory PU coating — the surface is already sealed and will not absorb oil or bond cleanly with 810 primer. Test in an inconspicuous edge first.
- Not for solid MDF door panels — engineered cores do not absorb oil evenly; on opaque lacquer, MDF needs an extra primer coat to seal the porous edge profile.
- Not for exterior-facing front doors of bungalows / villas — interior oils carry no UV stabilisers, and 820/840/845 lacquers are interior-tested only. Weather-exposed front doors need dedicated exterior systems.
- Aluminium and galvanized door hardware (handles, lock plates) — 820/840/845 lacquers explicitly NOT for these surfaces; remove hardware before lacquering.
Scope & Limits
Where this system applies.
This solution applies to interior doors (panel doors, flush-panel doors), interior side of window frames (jamb, head rail, sill, glazing beads), skirting boards and architraves, dado rails, door frames and architraves, mouldings, and similar architectural joinery inside buildings — both natural-finish hardwood and painted opaque variants.
Requirements
- Before compatible products can be reviewed, the following must be confirmed:
- Substrate is solid wood — Burma teak, sheesham, mango, neem, or similar absorbent hardwood; engineered MDF / plywood accepted on flush-panel doors only when 810 primer is used and edge-grain gets an extra primer coat
- Moisture content below 14% on the joinery element — measure with a pin moisture meter at the back of the door / underside of the sill before any finish goes on
- No prior pre-finished foil-wrap, melamine, factory PU coating, or sound previous lacquer that cannot be sanded back — neither LEINOS oil nor LEINOS lacquer will bond cleanly to those
- Surface prepared to P120–P150 — P120 on flat profile faces, P150 on handle/sill/skirting-bottom contact zones where finger-pad smoothness matters
- For lacquered paths: room and surface temperature above 15°C during 810 primer + topcoat application; below 15°C the lacquer film does not flow level
Not compatible with
- This system does not apply to:
- Pre-finished factory flush-panel doors with foil-wrap, melamine, or factory PU coating — the sealed surface will not absorb oil or bond cleanly with 810 primer. Test in an inconspicuous edge first; if foil peels, the door is out of scope
- Aluminium-clad window frames, uPVC frames, or aluminium / steel doors — both LEINOS oils and 810/820/840/845 lacquers are wood-only systems and will not bond to non-absorbent metal surfaces
- Exterior-facing front doors of bungalows and villas exposed to direct rain and UV — interior oils carry no UV stabilisers; 820/840/845 lacquers are interior-tested only. Weather-exposed front doors need dedicated exterior systems
- Wet-zone joinery — bathroom door bottoms exposed to standing water, kitchen skirting in active wash-down zones, balcony-side window frames hit by monsoon rain through grilles — these need marine-grade systems outside the LEINOS interior path
In the wild
Real surfaces. Real India.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked
- Decide by finish intent first, then by surface. If the wood grain IS the design feature (heritage Burma teak / sheesham panel door, natural-tone hardwood skirting in an older bungalow, exposed-grain window frames): clear-oil path — Hardwax Oil 290 default (2 coats brush), Hard Oil Universal 259 for fast install (3 thin coats sealing roller). If the architect or homeowner specifies a painted opaque colour (most modern apartment flush-panel doors, white window frames, painted skirting matched to wall): opaque-lacquer path — Resin Lacquer Primer 810 (always 1 coat first) then White Lacquer 820 (default white), Finishing Lacquer 840 (10 fixed colours), or Finishing Lacquer Mix 845 (custom NCS / RAL tints). Both paths get Wood Filler 337 first for any holes, knots, or mitre gaps. Window frames are the exception — they rarely need filler-grade repair, so 337 doesn't appear in that tab.
- Walk through an Indian apartment painted with commodity enamel after 18 months — every white door, every white window frame, every stretch of white skirting reads visibly yellow-cream against the still-white walls. The room reads "tired" even though only the joinery has shifted. A typical 3BHK has 8 doors, 10 windows, and 60–80 m of skirting all painted white. White Lacquer 820 is specifically engineered against the linseed-oil yellowing problem that ages every plant-based white paint — minimal yellowing across the 7–10 year recoat cycle. The premium is one-line on the BOQ; the visual cost of yellowing is everywhere, every day.
- Lacquered doors: handle zone and bottom edge every 7–10 years, panel faces 10+ years. Lacquered window frames: head rail (curtain-hardware contact) and sill every 5–7 years, jamb faces every 8–10 years. Lacquered skirting: bottom 50 mm jhadu-pochha contact zone every 4–6 years (this is where the system works hardest in Indian homes), face above that every 8–10 years. Naturally-finished oiled equivalents need more frequent attention — handle/sill/skirting-edge zones every 2–3 years on oils, but spot-repair is local without stripping the whole element. Pick the path that matches your re-finish appetite.
- No — 810 Resin Lacquer Primer is non-optional on bare wood. It provides three things: opacity foundation (without it the topcoat needs 3–4 coats to cover knot-bleed and grain), bond chemistry (the lacquer film adheres to the cured primer, not the absorbent wood directly), and sand-grip (you light-sand between primer and topcoat for the silk-gloss finish to flow level). The only context where you can skip 810 is recoating over an existing sound lacquer film of the same chemistry family — light P180 sand, dust off, two fresh topcoats. On bare wood, on filler-patched zones, on any sanded-back surface: 810 first, always.
- Yes — Finishing Lacquer Mix 845 is the LEINOS tintable-base lacquer, machine-tinted to any NCS or RAL colour via a paint-mixing system at the dealer. Use 845 over 810 primer (2 coats). Common cases: matching skirting to a custom wall colour the architect specified outside Asian Paints / Berger commodity codes; matching window frames to a brand-identity facade colour; matching doors to a fabric or furniture finish. 840 covers the 10 most common fixed colours (White, Black, Anthracite Grey, Light Grey, Fir Green, Dove Blue, Nordic Red, Yellow, Blue, Leaf Green) and is mutually mixable for custom blends within the palette; 845 is the answer for anything outside those 10.
- Yes — this is a documented architectural pattern (visible especially on Indian heritage restorations where the door panel keeps the original Burma teak finish and the surrounding architrave / casing gets re-painted white). The two paths cure independently: oil the panel first with Hardwax Oil 290 (2 coats, brush, wipe excess), let cure 7 days, then mask the oiled panel edge and apply the lacquer system to the frame / architrave (810 primer + 820 white). The mask line stays clean because the oiled surface is fully sealed before the lacquer goes on. Reverse sequence (lacquer frame first, then oil panel) also works — let the lacquer cure 14 days before un-masking and oiling the panel.
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