FAO: Wertz

up for anything

I want to paint my front door which is a teak off-the-shelf one a mid-blue gloss. If you have a minute could you run me through the painting process. Do I need to give it a major sanding before the first undercoat.. what grade sandpaper? And what sort of undercoat should I get. Do I need to start with a wood preserver before the undercoat... etc. etc. etc?:D

Thanks in advance.

mad m

Hardwood doors need a primer called Aluminium woodprimer as hardwood is oily all over rather than like pine doors were the knots have to be sealed first before priming.....

You dont have to sand down door before hand as when your first coat of Aluminium primer dries the hairs or bristles/rough bits of wood will stand up as paint dries,but you can if you want to.Then you can give it a light sanding. After sanding start to undercoat with a grey undercoat or either mix a little black oil based paint with some white undercoat to make grey....

Give door a couple of coats of undercoat while sanding inbetween with P100 grade sandpaper making sure to eventually rub out the raised rough bits if any. For the finish gloss use a P180-200 sandpaper before glossing....

Now thats a quick guide,I bet Wertz will add what I missed...:)

delly

Going to undergo a similar project myself soon enough. Current door is teak like the OP's and I hope to paint it black.

mad m

Well Delly,do the same.Normally put grey undercoat on doors so that you can see where you missed,because if you put lets say black undercoat on and then proceed to paint it black it might be a little bit hard to see if you missed any bits....

Always put on light coats of undercoat and never try and cover in big dips of paint. 3-4 light coats of paint is far better than 2 heavy coats.Always sand down inbetween and maybe let out the undercoat with a tiny little bit of white spirits to ease the brush marks a bit.

When I come to a finish of a door I always put small tin of paint in a container and fill sides with very hot water.This makes the gloss more easy to work with without the use of white spirits(Well on cold days it does). Ode to John Kane for last tip,he always did this in tech when glossing something.

delly

Sounds like a plan, but now that I have the best method for doing it, I won't be able to put it off any longer .

up for anything

Thanks, Mad M. As Delly said, it sounds like a plan.

Light sand
Aluminium wood primer
Light sand
2 coats of undercoats (sanding in between)
Heavy sand
Gloss (how many coats?)

It's a fully sheathed door.... any particular paintbrush size I should use?

Wertz

**** me I'm famous. PM's work too.

Yeah I'd do it Mad M's way as well, except of late I've taken to using zinsser BIN's sealer, which is a alcohol based shellac primer.
It'll kill/block any oils in the hardwood and has the distinct advantage over aluminium primer that an undercoat can be applied in about 30-40 minutes (instead of waiting 16 hrs for alu primer to cure) and in most cases you only need one u/c (I've found pale colours tend to get badly stained by the aluminium primer after it's been sanded), however in your case stick with the alu primer. Light grey is about right for mid blues/navy...they'll tell you the system in the shop.

As regards sanding down, I like to use snading pads rather than paper especially in the mouldings...any factory made door will be on high enough machined quality that raised grain won't be that rough. A light rub between every coat and more importantly a proper dusting down and rinse of the surface with meths or white spirits.

I've never tried heated gloss....I prefer to thin it but you can run into trouble.
An exterior door should really get 2 glosses, but they rarely do.



One other tip, make SURE to remove the rubber weather strip since the paint will stick the door shut and will never really dry on the rubber so you'll always have a sticking door and unsightly dry lines running around the edges of the door. Remove the door ornaments too wherever possible.

[edit] that zinsser stuff I mentioned is also the ideal thing to use if you're converting your varnished/stained door to a painted finish. It can tinted if need be (pastel base only)

mad m

up for anything wrote:

Thanks, Mad M. As Delly said, it sounds like a plan.

Light sand
Aluminium wood primer
Light sand
2 coats of undercoats (sanding in between)
Heavy sand
Gloss (how many coats?)

It's a fully sheathed door.... any particular paintbrush size I should use?

No dont do a heavy sanding before gloss finish,get wet&dry sandpaper. Paint brush size well normally on sites its a 3inch but get a nice 2.5inch brush. Use same brush for undercoating as it will break the brush in for when you glossing. Coats of gloss should only be one but if not satisfied with finish sand down with a very fine wet&dry sandpaper P200+ and re-gloss.

I could go all technical with size if brush because when in tech you had to cut in the panels with a smaller brush so that you would not leave a fatty edge of gloss,then using a larger brush to paint panels...Ah this was all for exams and stuff.They used to mark you down alot if they seen a fatty edge,if a run was in it forget about passing....

Only seems like yesterday.While serving my time I used to go into Linen Hall one day a week,it was opposite Bolton St college. Wertz you down that road?

Who knows we were probably in same class.:)

Edit: See I told you I'd forget something,the ornates on door and that bloody rubber strip!!

mad m

That zinsser BIN's sealer can be tricky to work with,its consistancy is like water but great for sealing stuff and as Wertz said it dries very quickly.

Wertz

Yeah it's a bugger to work with but if you're quick with a brush and the cure time is an issue then it's a godsend. I've used it over glass, tiles and the like too and there's very little it won't stick to...comparitively expensive though, but time is money.


...and no, never served time officially....just got thrown in at the deep end by working with a mate and learned stuff over the years. "Sure if ya can p*ss you can paint", as I had a plasterer tell me the other day

mad m

Wertz wrote:

I had a plasterer tell me the other day

Used to get that all the time,I used to say Painters make Plasterers look good.

up for anything

More queries...

Why should I stick to the aluminium stuff and not use the zinsser BINs sealer. Is it because it's difficult to apply?

Is it easy to put back the rubber weather strip once you've removed it or is it a fiddley-faddley job.

Talking about glass and tiles... my daughter wants to paint some of tiles in her en-suite... but the tile guy didn't recommend painting the floor tiles (she's talking doing some pictures/stenciling using ceramic paint rather than full colour on the tiles).. he said it'd wear off. Is there anything we can use to seal it so it doesn't get scuffed?

Sorry, I didn't really think about pm'ing you, Wertz.

Wertz

Aye just stick with the aluminium, 500 ml should be enough for your door and frame.Get the BINs if you like but you need to be quick with a brush and paint the door in 'proper order' and it is pretty expensive.

That depends on the strip...some of it is easier to take out and replace than others....try the top strip first. It usually just pulls out and then you pinch it and push it back in. But it depends...


Hmmm....floor tiles, high traffic/wet areas are difficult to protect, even the hardest floor coatings get scratched and water damaged. There is likely to be some sort of epoxy catalysed floor paint that could be used, but you'd have to look into it...and any stencilling etc isn't going to last long. Stuf like normal tile paint jsut won't last the pace...