To Rockin Fine Finish: I used Masons Select Acrylic Penetrating Stain, then on top Daiche's High Build Coating. The slab was done prior to the construction. But has scraped places which I will repair before additional topcoat. I probably have three top coats on it. Was just talking to a hired help who said Walmart uses a product of commercial use which holds up. I have an additional 1000 foot building to stain and treat likewise. I love Houzz, it has helped me a lot. In this same building I white washed the rafters and joists, and completed American Clay walls. Thanks for your help. Judy

This is my fifth attempt to post it because it has just closed the editor without posting when I tried to insert an image multiple times. My dog passed away a few hours after my last post. The vet thought she was a goner two years ago but she pulled through. She was just in too much pain & her quality of life was only going to get worse. I really hated to have to make that decision, but I couldn't let her suffer anymore. This is the door I got (it was listed in the "solid core" doors when I searched and employees said it had a solid core). It was solid spray foam. Now it says "insulated core in the description. Because it's foam inside the steel dents very easily and doesn't stay tight to the foam (like it would if it were adhered to wood) which posed problems when cutting for the pet door. Before I even purchased the door, I made an inquiry the manufacturer to make sure it was OK to cut for a pet door & they said it would be fine. My pet door did not come with a template so I had to make one, trace around it on the door once I measured to get it where I wanted, and drilled holes in each corner to make it easier to cut. Since I thought the core was wood, I was shocked at how the drill bit just dropped through the center before hitting the steel on the other side. Then I cut with a jigsaw blade, which is when I encountered my first problem: The steel moved away from the foam in the center & the longest metal cutting blades I found were just barely long enough to cut through, but because the steel could move, instead of cutting, it just moved up, leaving a dent from the underside. I had to flip the door and cut from the other side, but then it didn't want to cut quite evenly & the steel started to bend and tear. I had to rectify it with a Dremel tool & metal cutting blades, although it didn't entirely get rid of tears or jagged edges. I've never cut metal before so I don't know if that is "normal". I had to do a few fittings of the door pieces to see if they would go together and do some trimming on the metal as needed. You can see that it's not exactly straight in the above picture. No photo, but I used duct tape to cover the jagged edges, hold the steel tighter together over the center, and cover the foam-- particularly in one of the corners where the foam started to disintegrate from where I drilled for the pet door's screws. That brought me to another problem: the pet door was supposed to anchor to a solid core with #6 screws and bond to the door with doublesided sticky tape. But, the foam was too flimsy so I had to get 3" #6 bolts (I tried 2" but they were too short & I couldn't find 2-1/2" ones locally). I didn't use the sticky tape because I needed to get things to line up properly & it would have gotten in the way. I had to redrill some of the holes in the door, wallow out the holes in the plastic a bit to allow the bolts to slide through better, and make numerous adjustments. After a bit of trial and error, I finally got three of the bolts through with the help of a clamp, tape, and patience. The first two bolts went through just fine ( put them diagonally from each other in opposite corners). The third bolt gave me a little trouble-- since the foam was not conducive to making the bolts go through straight- so I had to play around with the angle a bit but got it through. I bent a couple of bolts but I bought extra just in case. The last bolt decided to be a royal pain in the keester. The foam disintegrated in that corner (which is why I wanted to use tape over it) so the bolt moved too much inside once it passed through the first layer of steel. That one proved frustrating enough that I had to take a breather for a couple days so I didn't get mad and break something. I brainstormed on the best way to get the bolt through and when I felt confident enough I went back down to try again. I used a flashlight to make sure the hole was clear, tipped the door up on it's side at an angle so I could reach through, and got the bolt to line up with the hole on the other side, but every time I went to use the screwdriver to turn it to go through it would slip out of alignment. Eventually I had to line it up with the hole and then smack it with a mallet, but that mofo finally went in. I secured all of the bolts with nuts but I didn't like how the nuts could slip into the holes slightly, which would allow the pet door to come loose. So I bought some washers for it, clamped the pet door, removed the nuts, slipped the washers on, then put the nut back on and repeated with each bolt. I later trimmed the bolts with the Dremel's metal cutting blade (I went through 2 blades on this project). While moving the door around, I noticed some medium depth scratches that I could feel were dented in so I decided to try some filler primer to hide them. I still need to paint the door frame and trim-- it will be white (also Behr Marquee) but I need to get some more supplies first- need another painting pan. The door frame is just sitting to the side waiting for paint. It took about 3 coats that had to dry 24 hours in between for sanding. It wasn't perfect but it reduced the deepest ones and completely covered some of the shallower ones. I forgot to take a picture before using a white colored metal primer over it to hide the gray color so it wouldn't show through the paint. Unfortunately, either the mix is just crappy or the nozzle is defective. I shook the can vigorously for two minutes straight but it came out splotchy, dripped, and just didn't spray consistently (but the filler primer had gone on just fine). Rewinding a bit, prior to the primer, I put white duct tape over the bolts and washers to make them less obvious and to make sure there was nothing sharp sticking out. They will have to be redone because the painter's tape started pulling the white tape off when I taped around the pet door to protect it from primer spray & paint. I also put on the caps included with the pet door that were supposed to cover all 8 holes but could only cover the 4 outside holes. First 3 went on fine, but the 4th one required the mallet (it was the same hole that gave me the most trouble with the bolt). I caulked around both halves just in case. After the primer, I painted the door with Behr Marquee Deep River satin exterior. It was my first time using a foam roller so I wasn't sure of the technique or how much pressure to use. Had a little trouble with the roller started to suck the paint back up, a bug landed on the surface at one point so I had to remove it, which messed up the finish, and I messed up the edging a bit & missed some spots (but I touched that up later). I took the pictures while it was still wet so it looked good but after it dried I could see the roller marks. It will need a 2nd coat. Good thing I have that moving blanket and cardboard now in place to protect the door better. Hopefully it won't get any more scratches. I'm going to keep it protected during transport up to the house when it is time to install it. Before and after comparison of the primer vs paint.

Solid wood doors with a veneer of your choice are acceptable. R302.5.1 Opening protection. Openings from a private garage directly into a room used for sleeping purposes shall not be permitted. Other openings between the garage and residence shall be equipped with solid wood doors not less than 13/8 inches (35 mm) in thickness, solid or honeycomb-core steel doors not less than 13/8 inches (35 mm) thick, or 20-minute fire-rated doors, equipped with a self-closing device.

Let's take a look - please post some photos so Houzzers can help you!