Advice on painting internal doors

new_homeowner09

Hey! My new home has lots of dark brown wooden internal doors that seem to have a treatment on them as they're shiny. I want to paint them white, but I've not done this before. I assume I have to sand them down to get the coating off them but I'm not sure? Any advice would be really welcomed  

tacpot12

The shiny coating is likely to be a varnish. It would be best to sand the varnish lightly - you only need to create a key for the new primer, and paint with a stain blocking primer such as Zinsser BIN. Then you can paint the door white with a gloss white paint. You don't need to sand the BIN, execpt to remove any raised spots of dust/dirt - use a fine grade of sand paper (>= 240 grit) for this. Use a medium sandpaper (120 grit) to create the key on the varnish. 

housebuyer143

tacpot12 said:

The shiny coating is likely to be a varnish. It would be best to sand the varnish lightly - you only need to create a key for the new primer, and paint with a stain blocking primer such as Zinsser BIN. Then you can paint the door white with a gloss white paint. You don't need to sand the BIN, execpt to remove any raised spots of dust/dirt - use a fine grade of sand paper (>= 240 grit) for this. Use a medium sandpaper (120 grit) to create the key on the varnish. 

This! Came here to say that Zinsser 123 is the way to go. Prime it and gloss on top and it doesn't come off. 

FreeBear

tacpot12 said: - you only need to create a key for the new primer, and paint with a stain blocking primer such as Zinsser BIN. Then you can paint the door white with a gloss white paint.

Another vote for Zinsser as a primer.

I'm not impressed with white paint, particularly gloss white - The woodwork I've painted in recent years have turned yellow quite quickly. The worst is an oil based gloss, but I've also noticed water based satin also discolours.

housebuyer143

FreeBear said:

tacpot12 said: - you only need to create a key for the new primer, and paint with a stain blocking primer such as Zinsser BIN. Then you can paint the door white with a gloss white paint.

Another vote for Zinsser as a primer.

I'm not impressed with white paint, particularly gloss white - The woodwork I've painted in recent years have turned yellow quite quickly. The worst is an oil based gloss, but I've also noticed water based satin also discolours.

I used Dulux white gloss water based and have had no discoloration issues 2 years on. They had a bad batch about a decade ago which was shocking and went yellow within a year, but that does seem to have been resolved.

Albermarle

 The worst is an oil based gloss, but I've also noticed water based satin also discolours.

As above, it should normally not discolour significantly.

Maybe a cheap make might, and water based paint does not like being in the shed during an icy winter as far as I know.

Grenage

I use Johnson's aqua for all our woodwork.  It's certainly not yellowed at all over the last 8 years.

FreeBear

Albermarle said:

 The worst is an oil based gloss, but I've also noticed water based satin also discolours.

As above, it should normally not discolour significantly.

Maybe a cheap make might, and water based paint does not like being in the shed during an icy winter as far as I know.

Just to be clear, it was a white paint that i used (Dulux, so a reasonable brand). It might have been from a batch produced around the time that housebuyer143 mentioned.

Having started painting woodwork in the latest room to get a makeover, the colour (a very dark red) I'm using is growing on me. I may well use it on all the woodwork in the house.