Painting front door

searchlight123

Want to paint my black gloss wooden front door a sage green. I have some dark grey undercoat. Would this be ok to use after sanding down the door before using the new top coat or do I need a different colour undercoat?
Many thanks. 

grumbler

I'm not sure that you need undercoat at all.

searchlight123

grumbler said:

I'm not sure that you need undercoat at all.

Really? Just sand it (paint is in good condition) and apply straight over it with new top coats?
Thanks for reply.

ThisIsWeird

Choose your new paint carefully, going for an 'advanced' product such as Zinsser AllCoat or Bedec's Barn paint (and others) which are designed for longevity and for application on to just about any surface with no primer required.

The Zinsser claims a 15 year life

Water-based, too, so pleasant to use. Just don't apply when it's too warm, and def not in direct sunlight - it can dry too quickly...

Yes, surface should be thoroughly clean, so a light sanding would be ideal. I have found that Zinsser's white gloss is quite translucent, so I cannot comment on whether the prior use of a suitably-coloured undercoat makes sense, but I'm not sure that dark grey will help much on the obliteration front? What is recommended for Sage Green? 

Alternatively, anticipate applying, say, three coats for  proper coverage (I'm guessing that would do.)

ChilliBob

If your existing black gloss is oil based you'd need to use either oil based again, or something like Zinzzer 123 as a primer before using water based paint.

Sounds really basic but be sure to sewep up really thoroughly and don't do it on a windy day! Little bits of dust and grit will stick and look naff!

If you went for Little Greene paint they'd do a primer tinted to the colour for the top coat. 

Obvs getting a tin of 123, a, tin of little greene undercoat and a top coat will be quite different to using the paint you have - probably about 100-150 quid different! 

ThisIsWeird

Zinsser Allcoat will go over pretty much anything, including oil-based paint.

I did mil's outside window frames, and applied it directly over rubbed-down oil-based paint, old primer, old putty, bare timber, and 2-part filler. Fully adhered to all. (So far...)

I may have done it a disservice about the 'obliterating' part too - I think I was recalling Dulux Satinwood (that really needs a surprising number of coats, even over white primer!) The Allcoat completely covered the filler, for example.