Advice about old internal doors

Wincar

I'm looking for some advice about how feasible it to paint/stain dark mahogany veneer internal doors either white or a much lighter wood colour please - we can't afford to replace them (with new ones anyway) but they look dated, dark, tatty and just awful!

stator

What are they currently, painted or stained? Emulsion or gloss?

dermonte

If you paint them, dont forget to use heat resistant paint. We painted ours to white gloss but they went yellow. So replacing them now because so many handle holes too and builders said they tried to attach new handles but not holding anymore.

Wincar

Thanks - I've stained them a couple of times and I'm not sure if the previous people did too or it was the original veneer, but definitely no paint

I hadn't heard of heat resistant paint! Thanks

DigForVictory

Take one door off, wash it with a sugar soap solution, give it a light sanding to rough up the surface a little, vacuum all the sawdust off & apply a base coat of paint.
Have a look at it & see if a second coat is needed or wanted.

Now multiply the nervous wear & tear of that against the number of doors to go, (subtract some for experience, add some for leaving your bedroom door Always open [as not there] & likewise bathroom, & see how you feel about the dark mahogany veneer after all.

Or how much & how easily you could afford to replace internal doors. (Freecylce & Freegle always helpful?)

Best of luck!

phill99

:rotfl:

dermonte wrote: »

If you paint them, dont forget to use heat resistant paint. We painted ours to white gloss but they went yellow. So replacing them now because so many handle holes too and builders said they tried to attach new handles but not holding anymore.

The yellowing is nothing to do with heat resistamce or not. Gloss now yellows very quickly because of the change in the formula to reduce the VOCa (Volatile Organic Compounds). It was the presence of VOCs that stopped the yellowing. You are better off using Satinwood.

dermonte

phill99 wrote: »

:rotfl:

The yellowing is nothing to do with heat resistamce or not. Gloss now yellows very quickly because of the change in the formula to reduce the VOCa (Volatile Organic Compounds). It was the presence of VOCs that stopped the yellowing. You are better off using Satinwood.

Lol is it ha ha :rotfl: we need to paint our new doors now and I keep telling my husband to get heat resistant paint. So satinwood eh :T :rotfl:

teddysmum

Johnstone's gloss was recommended on here, some time ago, for its non-yellowing quality. (B&M Bargains now stock it).

dermonte

teddysmum wrote: »

Johnstone's gloss was recommended on here, some time ago, for its non-yellowing quality. (B&M Bargains now stock it).

Thank you.

harz99

DigForVictory wrote: »

Or how much & how easily you could afford to replace internal doors. (Freecylce & Freegle always helpful?)

Best of luck!

If these are the flat flush finish Sapele veneer doors fitted to many former local authority houses be careful of sizes as many of those were non standard size, so replacement may not be a straightforward job.


When we had a former LA house with a few such doors on their last legs, it was easier to renew with same type and live with the colour.

Hoploz

If they are plain flush doors then I'd say it was feasible to remove them, quick sand, primer then one or two coats of satin. If they have glass panels it gets very very fiddly and I'd say it's a whole lot of work.

Thinking laterally, to reduce the work, how about wallpaper on the insides of the bedroom doors?!

Haha don't shoot me, it could look lovely in a pretty room in a cottage, it depends what the rest of the decor is like!

I'm totally with you on this - I bought cheap moulded doors for my last house. They were great, something like £20 each, but I had to pay £40 per door to get them hung. I wouldn't bother doing that again unless there was a good reason to replace the doors.