Painting a front door

[dpm_dpmartin]

Team(!),

I'm looking for some benefit vs. risk advice for the repainting of a wooden front door (it's currently a varnished wood, so unpainted).

I've bought some Sandtex Pillar Box Red gloss on a whim.

I figured that I could remove the door furniture, I could sand it down, then paint it!

Idiot, right?

What's my proper procedure for doing this? I assume my first 2 steps were OK - but then I will need to prime it as an intermediate step - and then I may need 2 coats of the Pillar Box Red? Should I re-sand between primer and gloss?

Any recommendations for a good primer? Also... if I'm going to paint it red, should I colour the primer red as well? Does that really help?

Should I lay the gloss on thick, or try and do it as thinly as I possibly can? Should I use a mini roller (foam) or is it best being brush all the way?

Any advice really appreciated - as I've never done this before.

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I assume I won't go wrong with this primer:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Sandtex-10-...match||plid|&gclid=CIGdi9X06MwCFfMW0wodIUUEqQ

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

But I'm reading that using a grey primer is the smart thing for me to do!

 

[Doggit]

You prime the wood to seal it, and then rub it down, then you use an undercoat which you rub down, then at least 2 coats of top coat. If you use an acrylic pimer and undercoat, then you'll still need 2 coats of that before the top coat.

As to brush or roller, that'll just depend on your skills, and the finish you want.

 

[sparkwright]

A number of people on this forum have had terrible problems with Sandtex gloss, always on front doors.

People have commented on the paint wrinkling up.

If you search on the forum 'sandtex gloss door' you should find some comments.

Having read some of these you won't catch me doing a door with Sandtex.

I don't know if the problems were more to do with the user rather than the product, but I wouldn't want you to get into a horrible mess.

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

Crap. Did not want to hear that.

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

You prime the wood to seal it, and then rub it down, then you use an undercoat which you rub down, then at least 2 coats of top coat. If you use an acrylic pimer and undercoat, then you'll still need 2 coats of that before the top coat.

As to brush or roller, that'll just depend on your skills, and the finish you want.

Primer and undercoat???

 

[sparkwright]

Team(!),

I'm looking for some benefit vs. risk advice for the repainting of a wooden front door (it's currently a varnished wood, so unpainted).

I've bought some Sandtex Pillar Box Red gloss on a whim.

I figured that I could remove the door furniture, I could sand it down, then paint it!

Idiot, right?

What's my proper procedure for doing this? I assume my first 2 steps were OK - but then I will need to prime it as an intermediate step - and then I may need 2 coats of the Pillar Box Red? Should I re-sand between primer and gloss?

Any recommendations for a good primer? Also... if I'm going to paint it red, should I colour the primer red as well? Does that really help?

Should I lay the gloss on thick, or try and do it as thinly as I possibly can? Should I use a mini roller (foam) or is it best being brush all the way?

Any advice really appreciated - as I've never done this before.

A door is tricky to paint if you're very inexperienced.

It's also going to get noticed a lot, as people pass through it, so you don't want a load brush marks and runs etc.

There is a procedure in applying paint to a panelled door, in that the panels should be painted first.

Also, you need to be fairly quick, as if the paint begins to dry as you do it, you could get in a pickle.

Primer and undercoat will be needed.

For red, a grey undercoat is usual, though a red or pink undercoat is sometimes available, which will be useful as the colour will be closer.

Be sure to remove all dust before any painting. If you don't, it will show, and feel rough.

If you get a good coverage with the undercoat, you may need two undercoats, then hopefully one topcoat will be ok.

You possibly may only want just one topcoat (gloss) because it can take an age to harden, and you don't want to be painting over a soft new gloss as it may get damaged

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

So just this grey primer ain't enough before the gloss?

What about some super-duper Zinsser product... Bull's Eye 123?

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I don't wanna be doing this for a week!!!

 

[Doggit]

The trick is to do other jobs in between. If you're using a foam roller for the topcoat, because it goes on thin, on a warm day, you can normally recoat after 3 to 4 hours. If the undercoat is acrylic, then you can normally get 2 coats done in a day, so under good conditions, you'll manage it in 2 days - it depends on what sort of finish you're after. Make sure you paint the top and bottom of the door to seal it completely, as well as the hinges etc. This'll stop any chance of it swelling. People don't realise that lock opening can let in moisture.

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I decided to paint the inside first.

It's varnished wood on both outside and inside. So I sanded one of the 4 panels down and I deliberately left another - then I used Zinsser Bull's Eye 123 on it as a primer... I must say it's seeming much the same on both panels I did. Sanding didn't seem to have much of a difference. I wasn't sure the varnish would allow the paint to adhere properly, but it seems OK. I will eventually paint in a water-based white satin. Should look nicer than a dark varnished wood for the inside.

Would this hold true of the outside as well, do you reckon?

 

[Doggit]

I'd go for a gloss based paint for the outside, otherwise, I can't fault your progress or methods

 

[HarryBoyHere]

I did something similar recently and with the same paint, sandtex pillar box red gloss. I also did the inside first as a kind of test run as it was my first time painting a front door. In an ideal world you would remove the door entirely to paint it. But given this is your front door and each coat may need a day to dry (the can says 16 hours anyway), this is unlikely to be realistic.

Gloss paints do tend to show up any imperfections in the door so it's worth trying to deal with any nicks or dings in the wood before you paint anything.

I sanded the existing (black) paint on my door first using both a small electric sander for the larger flat spaces as well as sanding by hand for the harder to reach parts of the panels. Because the door was painted so dark before I opted for the white sandbox undercoat.

I ended up putting on three coats of the red gloss paint on top of one coat of undercoat. I did not sand between coats, though I have heard that this can give a better finish. I used solely a brush but of course ended up leaving a couple of bristles in the paint which didn't do the finish much good. I also replaced all the door furniture as it was pretty old and tarnished. Shiny new brass goes very well against the pillar box red.

I think it is important to paint on a clean surface for each coat so wipe the door down before you get started.

Also, try to get the paint on as evenly as possible. If paint is put on thickly and runs down the door and you let it dry like that it will be noticable. So I suppose thin layers of paint are better from this perspective.

The whole thing takes a bit of planning. If you do not remove the door to paint it, painting the edges means you need to keep the door open while they dry. This could mean having your front door wide open for hours.

You joke about not wanting to be painting it for a week but mine took me longer than that before I was happy with it. Waiting for replacement door furniture to arrive added to my timeframe. It became something of a labour of love. In fact now that I think about it, I may yet add a 4th coat of paint...

 

[dpm_dpmartin]

I have the door furniture already, that was part of the plan. I'm reassured by your experience. I'm going to try and hit it over this bank holiday weekend.