How to Paint a Door

How to paint a door: Get neat results, even on panel doors.

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Time

A full 24-hour interval

Complexity

Intermediate

Cost

$51–100

Introduction

Painting paneled doors is the ultimate painter's challenge. To make it easier, we tried different tools and paints and watched pros piece of work. Here'south what we found.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Foam brushes
  • Paint
  • Paint drip remover
  • Primer
  • Sandable filler
  • Sanding sponges
  • Sandpaper

ⓘ

Picking your pigment

While you lot're picking a paint color, also think about sheen. With a flat finish, scuff marks and handprints are hard to wipe away. Loftier gloss is easy to make clean but accentuates every fiddling flaw, so your prep and paint job demand to be perfect. Satin and semigloss are good compromise choices.

Notation: Painting a door typically takes three to five hours, depending on the condition of the door and how fussy you lot are. But add in the drying time and it's a full-mean solar day project. So if yous're painting a door you can't live without, similar a bathroom or exterior door, start first affair in the forenoon so it tin exist back in service past day'due south end.

Project step-by-pace (xiv)

Pace 1

Painting Prep Tips

Pros often paint doors in place. Merely from prep to painting, you'll get improve results if y'all remove the door. Working in your garage, shop or basement allows you to control lighting and drying weather better. Laying the door flat volition too minimize runs in the paint job.

Here'south what to do after you remove the door:

  • Clean the door with a household cleaner;
    • Almost any cleaner will do, as long as it cuts grease. Areas effectually doorknobs are particularly prone to greasy buildup.
  • Remove all the door hardware to go a neater pigment job and save time;
  • Slice through pigment buildup around hinges and latches.
  • Fill dents and holes with a sandable filler such as MH Ready Patch.
    • Pro tip: You lot'll probably accept to fill deep dents twice to compensate for shrinkage.
  • Remove old paint from the hardware. Start with a product intended to remove paint splatter such equally Goof Off Pro Strength Remover or Goo Gone Painter'due south Pal.
    • Y'all can use paint strippers, simply they may also remove articulate coatings from the hardware or damage some types of finishes.

painting prep tips

Footstep 2

Sand the Door Smooth

  • First with light sandpaper or a sanding sponge (180 or 220 grit). This will roughen the surface a little and allow the primer to adhere amend.
  • Smooth out chipped paint and imperfections from previous paint jobs.
    • This is normally the nigh fourth dimension-consuming, tedious part of the project.
  • On flat areas, level out old runs and brush marks with a hard sanding cake. For the shaped profiles utilise a combination of sanding pads, sponges and scraps of sandpaper.

painting a door prep sand the door

Step iii

Remove the Sanding Grit

  • Paint oftentimes sticks to sandpaper, clogging the grit and making information technology useless;
    • Pro tip: Be sure to check the label and buy sandpaper intended for pigment. You may still get some clogging, but you'll get less.
  • Start with 120 or 150 grit. You lot tin can switch to coarser paper (such every bit fourscore dust) on problem areas, merely exist sure to follow up with finer grit to shine out the sanding scratches.
    • Pro tip: Use a finishing or random-orbit sander on flat areas. It might save you tons of time.
  • Use a vacuum with a brush attachment to remove most of the dust. Wipe off the rest with a clammy rag.

Remove the sanding dust from door

Footstep 4

Sand Subsequently Priming

  • Sand out any imperfections in the prime coat;
  • Smooth a light across the surface at a depression angle to accentuate imperfections;
  • Mark whatsoever spots that need an actress dab of filler with masking tape.

inspect door sanding

Stride five

Paint for a Smooth Terminate

  • Choose a paint designed for a smooth end;
    • Pro tip: Smooth paints are usually labeled "enamel" or "door and trim."
      • Super-smoothen paints ofttimes cost $25 to $xxx per quart! But it's worth an extra 10 bucks per door to get first-grade results.

Our Door Pigment Selection:

Among the paints we've used, 1 category stands out for smoothness: water-based alkyds.

  • These paints dry slowly for extra working fourth dimension and level out almost as well as traditional oil-based alkyds.
  • After applying them with a high-quality roller, you tin usually skip the brush-out steps and nevertheless get perfect results.
    • Cleanup is as easy merely be prepared for a long look earlier re-coating (16 to 24 hours) and a higher price tag.

Water-Based Alkyd is Best flaws in door paint job

Step 6

Tips for a Perfect Workspace

Subsequently the messy chore of sanding is done, set the door bated and prep your workspace.

  • For priming and painting, you want a piece of work zone that'south well lit and make clean.
    • Pro tip: Sawdust on your workbench will end up on brushes; airborne grit volition create whiskers on the paint.
  • Minimize air movement for less airborne dust and slower drying. Close doors and windows. Turn off forced-air heating or cooling.
  • Don't rely on overhead lighting; you may even want to plough it off.
    • Pro tip: Position a work light four to five anxiety above the floor. This low-angle calorie-free will accentuate whatever drips or ridges.

painting a door tip flip

Step seven

Door Painting Tricks

  • Brand the door flippable: Drive one screw into one end and 2 into the other.
    • This lets you coat both sides of the door without waiting for the first side to dry.
  • Moisture the floor: A moisture floor prevents you from kicking up dust that will create dust nubs in your finish. It also raises the humidity, which extends the time y'all take to polish out the paint and gives the pigment more time to level out.
    • We institute raising the humidity doubled the working time of the pigment.
  • Keep a pair of tweezers handy: Pluck out paintbrush bristles or rescue stuck insects without messing upwardly the paint.

tweezer door painting tip

Stride 8

Door Painting Priming Tips

  • Y'all tin can "spot-prime" a door, coating simply patched dents or areas y'all sanded through to bare forest. Simply priming the whole door is best.
    • Pro tip: The new paint volition stick amend and you'll get a more uniform finish.
      • Your option of primer is simply equally important as your choice of pigment. At the paint store, ask for a primer that'due south compatible with your paint, levels out well and sands smoothly.
  • For an ultra-smooth pigment chore, utilize two coats of primer.
  • Lightly sand the primer with 220-grit, inspecting equally you go.
    • A couple of quick passes is all it takes.
  • Allow the primer dry overnight earlier sanding.
    • The longer it dries, the better it will sand.
  • Paint the edges and wipe off the slop. Brush or roll paint onto all four edges. Immediately wipe any paint that slops onto the face of the door with a rag or cream brush.

door painting

Step nine

Painting Tips

  • Painting a door is a race against time.
    • You have to lay down the paint and smooth information technology out earlier it becomes too sticky to piece of work with, or so stiff that brush marks won't level out and disappear.
  • Consider a paint condiment to dull downwardly drying and improve leveling.
  • Start with a dust-free door; wipe it down with a damp rag just before painting.
  • Don't utilise cheap roller sleeves or you'll get fibers in the finish.
    • Use a mini roller and get adept results with microfiber, mohair and foam sleeves.
  • Paint all four edges of the door commencement.
    • Pro tip: When painting edges, some paint inevitably slops onto the faces of the door. It'due south better to have that happen before the faces are painted.
  • Brush on a lite coat.
    • A heavy coat of paint covers better and sometimes levels out better, simply runs are more likely and brush marks are deeper.
  • Coil on the paint where you lot can.
    • Rollers lay on paint much faster than a brush, giving you a few more precious minutes to work the pigment before information technology begins to stiffen.
  • Brush out rolled paint.
    • Brushed paint usually levels out better than rolled paint, and any brush marks are less noticeable than roller stipple.
      • Pro tip: With tiptop-quality enamel and roller sleeves, roller results can be super shine.
  • Plan to use at to the lowest degree two coats and lightly sand between coats with 220-dust to remove any dust nubs.

painting a door

Pace 10

Castor Around the Panels

  • Piece of work the paint into the corners and grooves.
  • Then elevate the brush over the paint to shine information technology.
  • Wipe away any slop around the console.

Brush around the door panels

Step 11

Whorl, Then Brush the Panels

  • Coat the panels quickly with a roller.
  • Then smooth the paint with a castor.
    • Be conscientious not to touch the profiles surrounding the panel.

Roll, then brush the panels

Step 12

Roll the Rail and Stiles

  • Roll the door in sections, coating no more than one-quarter of the door at a time.
  • And then brush out the paint.
    • Be careful not to slop pigment over the edges around the panels.

Roll the rails and stiles

Step 13

Brush With the Grain

  • Brush across the joints where door parts meet.
  • And then drag your castor in a straight line along the intersection.
    • Pro tip: Any visible brush marks will look more like a wood grain pattern and less similar sloppy brushwork.

paint a door brush strokes

Step 14

The Ultimate Smooth End

  • Fifty-fifty the most skilled painter can't match the perfection of a sprayed-on finish.
    • There are ii types of sprayers: "airless" and "HVLP" (high-volume, low-pressure level).
      • Both can apply a flawless glaze in minutes, but HVLP is more than forgiving. It produces a finer spray, which reduces your chances of diggings on too much paint and creating runs.
  • Bated from cease quality, a sprayer will besides save y'all hours of brushwork if you accept several doors to pigment.

For more than on airless and HVLP sprayers, meet Paint Sprayer Reviews and Painting With an Airless Sprayer.

sprayed-on finish paint a door

Originally Published: May 15, 2020