I have a brass door fixture that came with my Pella french door. It is tarnished and pitted after only 3 years. It only came with a one-year warranty and I have been told that Pella has replaced the hardware with one that holds the finish much better (10 year warranty).
My question is this: Can I clean up the tarnish and refinish the door handle so as to prevent future tarnishing? Your thoughts and advise are appreciated.
Have you talked to Pella to see if they might replace it even thought the warranty is over? The reason why stuff has lifetime warranties now is that they use more complicated multilayer finishes. So the brass is only skin deep and then there is another layer which holds it and then another layer of solid brass. Somehow it keeps the finish. Those scientists are pretty smart fellas sometimes.
Maybe yes, maybe no. Are you sure the metal itself is pitted? Wouldn't be usual. If it is solid brass you can polish it and then apply a clear coat. Brasso is good to polish. If it is just oxidized, ketchup works. For clear coat, the easiest is an spray can of lacquer. The lacquer has to be renewed occasionally; if not, gotta polish again. As an alternative, leave it uncoated and polish occasionally. Or let it tarnish to an attractive, old brass patina.
If it is plated brass, you can do the same thing as long as the brass layer is intact. Polish it a lot and the brass will disappear.
You could also haul the sucker off to a plating shop and have it chromed.
-- dadiOH _____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.0... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.