Preparing old painted doors for painting

drummer_666

Hi,

I have a load of old doors and some other wood that I need to repaint.

Planning on sanding, then priming, lightly sanding again, then applying a coat or 2 of satin paint.

What can I use as primer? Will watered down emulsion do? Or is this just for walls? Proper primer is quite expensive, pretty much the same cost as the satin paint

I'm not planning on sanding all the paint off, just sanding it smooth and creating a key

muckybutt

If already painted then you wont neet to primer again - undercoat maybe.

Wear a suitable dust mask when sanding though as some of the old gloss paints contained lead, if you can use wet and dry sandpaper to keep the dust down. Once sanded you'll be able to paint direct onto the paintwork if its sound, if not then a coat of undercoat and top coat on top.

Dont go down the watered down emulsion route as an undercoat, that is not what its designed for.

Primer = New untreated / never painted wood.
Undercoat = Use on ready primed wood before desired top coat.
Emulsion = Use on walls.

grizzly1911

drummer_666 wrote: »

Hi,

I have a load of old doors and some other wood that I need to repaint.

Planning on sanding, then priming, lightly sanding again, then applying a coat or 2 of satin paint.

What can I use as primer? Will watered down emulsion do? Or is this just for walls? Proper primer is quite expensive, pretty much the same cost as the satin paint

I'm not planning on sanding all the paint off, just sanding it smooth and creating a key

Light rub them down with a smooth paper to provide a key, get rid of bumps.

Then wipe them down with sugar soap.

Then paint a couple of top coats.

Primer is only really for bare wood/metal.

If you are changing colour an undercoat may be needed.

I don't always bother with the rubbing down bit and also use white spirit to wipe across the surface rather than a full wash down. Only do this if the underlying surface is sound and looks good though.

drummer_666

thank you to both of you,

What do I use for an undercoat? Trying go keep costs down as much as possible, but still get a good finish.

I am using satin paint as my top coat

The wardarobe is mid brown, will be doing black - already sanded to get the lacquer off and in good condition so just one coat satin should be ok for this, but the first door is dark brown, I will be doing white / light neutral colour so I'll need an undercoat...

art_for_arts_sake

drummer_666 wrote: »

thank you to both of you,

What do I use for an undercoat? Trying go keep costs down as much as possible, but still get a good finish.

I am using satin paint as my top coat

The wardarobe is mid brown, will be doing black - already sanded to get the lacquer off and in good condition so just one coat satin should be ok for this, but the first door is dark brown, I will be doing white / light neutral colour so I'll need an undercoat...

Solid wood, wood veneer or laminate? Laminate will need a special primer for the paint to "key", if you've sanded back to bare wood then softwoods like pine will need sealing with knotting where it has knots, then either all-purpose primer followed by undercoat, sanded lightly between coats. Hardwood will need all-purpose primer followed by undercoat. If your top coat is water based use a water based acrylic primer and undercoat (some water based systems do both jobs in one tin).

Your results will depend on how much effort you put in, ultimately. I'd always recommend rubbing down and dusting off between coats.

drummer_666

art_for_arts_sake wrote: »

Solid wood, wood veneer or laminate? If your top coat is water based use a water based acrylic primer and undercoat (some water based systems do both jobs in one tin).

the wardrobes are the cheap lacquered stuff, so I'd guess laminate? I've got all the shiny-ness of. So I'll need a primer for that. Do I need to buy specific wood primer or can I make my own primer?

What can I use as an undercoat for the doors?

thanks

art_for_arts_sake

If your "satin final coat" is, as I think, water based (it'll say something like Low VOC on the tin) then I'd go with an acrylic water based undercoat as that's all that DIY laminate primer is, though if you know your doors have had gloss paint on they'd better painted in an oil based paint (will say High VOCs on the tin). The government have been tightening up on the use of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in paint so a lot of things I'd once have used either aren't on sale to the public or have been completely withdrawn from the market. Water based paint doesn't brush out or rub down as well as oil based paint so a mini foam roller helps get a nice finish without too many brush marks. It's difficult to know without seeing the doors what they are made of. Good luck.

drummer_666

wardrobe doors were prob laminaet
main doors are solid wood and have gloss on them & in bad condition

so guess one primer for wardrobe - not sure if it needs undercoat as will be painting black..

then an undercoat for doors - just don't know which one. Doors are gloss at mo, but will sand down and will be applying water based satin