Smartening up old door frames.

moonpenny

Can anyone advise on the best way to "smarten up" well painted door frames?

I want to replace the doors upstairs but don't want to go to the expense and hastle of new door frames.

However, they are old and have layers of paint on them and a few knocks and gashes. Is there anything I can do to make them look better?

ey_up

strip the paint. sand down. fill the bad bits. sand smooth and start the repainting process from scratch. doing this ourselves. too far gone to just repaint.takes some patience though

MagicCats

You could change just the facings if you're confident with a mitre saw. That would definetly help.

moonpenny

ey_up, Thought about stripping the paint but doesn't it come off a layer at a time? Would take forever and cost a fortune!!!! What are you using to strip the paint off?

MagicCats, Are the facings the pieces of wood the door closes onto (sorry! not a DIYer) or the whole outer frame?

ey_up

we are just using electric heat gun and decent scraper. easy to find for minimal outlay. we didn't have a gas blow torch plus electric is a little easier for a novice to use - less chance of burning the wood but slower.we tried nitromoors paint stripper but it was rubbish and would have cost a fortune to do all the doors as it would have been layer by layer. it does take a while with the heat gun though but not as long as you may think. we were like you by sound of it. multiple doors with layers of paint since the 60's. heat gun sorted easily. quite messy though. paint flakes blowing about!

keystone

Yep - strip back to bare wood and redo from start.

Magiccats means the architrave.

Cheers

MrTyo

As others have said, strip back to the wood, but will take some time whichever way you do it. If you do end up using stripper dont forget to neutralise it after before putting new finish on

Edwardia

We use Kling Strip. Slap it on, cover it with plastic and let it work away,

moonpenny

Thanks! everyone for your advice.

Not sure which way to go now - if I strip the paint off I will be doing it myself but to have new architraves I will have to get someone in to do them.

Looks like it's time and effort against paying out.

ey_up

same as most jobs then! ;-)

drummer_666

can anyone recommend some wood filler?

the one i bought i put on sanded down etc and when painted in satin the areas that are filled have a different finish, more matte and it looks really bad. i wish i had just left the small holes now as it would've looked better