Painting over external door?

spookylukey

I want to paint my external rear wooden door a slightly different shade. If the paintwork is in reasonable condition can I just paint straight over it with an external gloss paint of my preferred shade (slightly lighter green to the current colour) or will I need to prepare the door first?

If the latter what do I need to do in the way of preparation - have never painted before

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

trader_girl

Rub the door all over with some glass paper (Very fine type of sandpaper) This will key the suface. that is it will remove any flaky paint and give you a surface clean and smooth to paint over. wipe the door over with white spirits to remove any flakes and dust( very important).
Let it dray and paint in your new colour. HTH

misgrace

spookylukey wrote: »

I want to paint my external rear wooden door a slightly different shade. If the paintwork is in reasonable condition can I just paint straight over it with an external gloss paint of my preferred shade (slightly lighter green to the current colour) or will I need to prepare the door first?

If the latter what do I need to do in the way of preparation - have never painted before

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

You shouldnt paint gloss over old gloss.

If you have just recently glossed, after undercoating and prepping etc, and want to apply a second gloss, then thats okay, but if its been a while, then you need to sand down, UC, and gloss again with your new colour gloss.

spookylukey

misgrace wrote: »

if its been a while, then you need to sand down, UC, and gloss again with your new colour gloss.

Although the paintwork seems in good condition it is probably several years old so sounds like I will need to do the above.

When you say 'sand down' does this mean sanding it until all the paint has come off and it's bare wood again? That sounds like a lot of hard work!

misgrace

No, you dont need to sand back to bare wood, but you need to dull down the gloss to give it a key to take the UC.
You dont have to go mad or anything, just give it a good rub down, then dust off the door, and a wipe down with a dqamp cloth, when dry, then you UC, then again when dry, gloss.

If you want a really good shiny gloss front door, then you can use wet&dry sandpaper, you just submerge it warmish water till it softens, squeez the surplus then sand the door.
Keep wetting the sandpaper every so often, this will be better for your front door, as other sandpapers can scratch it, with the W&D you wont have any scratches, plus the finish is better.

Even after you have UC, and best to leave a couple days after you UC, use the W&D again, but just gently sand, again dust off etc, then gloss, if done right, you will have a really good shiny front door.

spookylukey

Brilliant, thanks - will get some of that wet and dry sand paper stuff. With the undercoat does it matter what colour it is? I have a tin of primer and undercoat (combined) in white - is this the right stuff?

misgrace

Normally it tells you on the colour chart what UC to use under a certain colour gloss.
But if your going for a pale green, you can get away with a white UC.

Usually if your going for dark greens, blues and red, you can either use the UC they suggest, but always works out more expensive, so normally the trade P&D myself included would use either mid or dark grey as the UC to take the darker reds, blues etc.

Just a little tip, and it will make life easier for you.....

Dont use your gloss straight from the can, its too thick, and you will be labouring, get an old paint kettle, dish, anything that you can pour a bit of gloss into,(enough to gloss the door) add about a third of a capful of white spirit,the cap that is on the white spiritand give a good stir, (if your using oilbase gloss, in my OP much better for a door).:D

spookylukey

misgrace wrote: »

Dont use your gloss straight from the can, its too thick, and you will be labouring, get an old paint kettle, dish, anything that you can pour a bit of gloss into,(enough to gloss the door) add about a third of a capful of white spirit,the cap that is on the white spiritand give a good stir, (if your using oilbase gloss, in my OP much better for a door).:D

Thanks for all your help , does that tip stand for a one coat gloss (which is what I've bought already)?

misgrace

spookylukey wrote: »

Thanks for all your help , does that tip stand for a one coat gloss (which is what I've bought already)?

Your very welcome:D

Re the one coat gloss, TBH its been years since I used it, as I never use any one coat products, unless client has bought a one coat of something or other, I tend to use the ordinary emulsions and gloss.

The one coat would be thicker, therefore cover like it says in one coat, but any decent ordinary gloss would cover in one coat anyway( unless you are doing mirror finishing) (, needs a few coats of gloss, think of no 10's door, the shine on that) as long as you use a really good undercoat first, its a good undercoat that will determine the top coat, that and the prep.

If you want to use the one coat gloss, personally I would thin it down,as you need to be quite quick to gloss a door in one hit, therefore if the gloss is too thick, you will be dragging, and labouring and will get brush marks.

Is there any place in the house that is going to get decorated in the future?, as you could try it out there, or a bit of cardboard from a box, just to test how thick it is.

You need to be able to work with the gloss, so you need it to be fluid and managable, you just need to add a tiny bit of white spirit, and you will find it so easy to work with.

Just out of interest, what is the door like?

Is it a panel door, or a flush door with a window?

spookylukey

This is all really helpful, I've never painted anything before, let alone gloss, so the tips are much appreciated

misgrace wrote: »

Just out of interest, what is the door like?

Is it a panel door, or a flush door with a window?

This is not my actual door but it is very similar to this, only is dark green at the moment.

misgrace

This is the easier type of door for the Diyer to start with lol, you do it in sections.

Paint the beading area around the glass first, (advise you to mask up the glass first)dont overload your brush for this bit, just dip into the paint and tap of the excess.
when you have done your beading, dont worry if it has gone over to the horizontal, then go onto the panel at the bottom, again, start with your beading.
Then paint the flat section of the panel,after you have done this, get your brush, (dont dip it in the paint)and gently brush from one end to the other of the panel, this is called 'laying off with the brush' this gives you nice even strokes.
If you start brushing halfway into the panel, thats when you get the brush marks.

So now you have pained your beading round the glass area, and the flat panel at the bottom.

Next paint the top vertical, and the middle and the bottom, again after you have covered it with the paint, then do your laying off again.
paying special attention to the top, as this is where you will see any drips/runs appearing if there is any, you just gently brush away.

Next your paint the long horizontal bits, again laying off with the brush, so you have to sort of merge the vertical and horizontal bits with the brush.

So now the door is painted, and at the very end, just get your brush, with no paint on it, and start from the top of the door, sweeping with the brush all the way down, and sweeping across the top middle and bottom, so you get a perfect uniform appearance of the gloss, and no sign of brushmarks.

If you add a small amount of white spirt, this will give you enough play to do all this.

Just remember, never brush from the middle or any part of the gloss, except the ends, so you could for example either sweep down from the top of the door to the bottom, or sweep up from the bottom to the top, without stopping halfway and then carryingon sweeping again.
You do your 'laying off' in one hit, and you will get the perfect finish.

Just keep an eye on the corners for any drips, if you see any, just get your as dry as poss brush, and gently sweep the drip away, it wont affect the overall finish.

Another tip, when you decide to actually gloss the door, do it first thing in the morning, as will be dry by evening when you want to close the door for the night.


Off to work myself in a mo, have a few doors to paint myself, 6 panel doors :rolleyes: