How to paint your door like professionals? Try these easy tips!
Photo by Christian Stahl on Unsplash
Doors and windows are considered as frameworks. They are usually made up of wood, metal, or vinyl. As doors are the entry and exit points of a house, their paint wears out faster than the interior elements. Homeowners usually pay attention to painting the walls with high-quality colors, but not to doors and windows.
The first thing a guest sees in your house is the entry door before entering a house. Therefore, it is essential to paint your doors with precision using high-quality paint. Painting the doors in the right way can improve their visual appeal and also the aesthetics of your home.
Usually, homeowners hire professionals for painting the walls as well as doors. Some people hire special professionals having experience in painting the doors and windows while others get it done by the wall painters.
It seems natural to paint the doors and windows as all you need is to grab a brush and some paint to start painting. However, it is not as simple as it looks. The process involves preparation work, sanding, cleaning, and using the right tools to paint the doors. This post shares the step by step process to paint your doors like professionals.
Choose a color of paint
Choosing the right color of paint is the first step in painting a door. If you have a white trim around your door, it is best to select the white color. If it is grey, you should choose a grey color. If you want a different color, make sure it looks good with the color of your trim. Grey, white, and brown colors are usually best suitable for doors. You can choose a shade depending on your choice and color of your trim.
Prep your door for paint
You need to do some pre-paint work before starting painting your doors. The prep work involves protecting the doorknobs, accessories, and sanding, and priming the surface before painting. If your door has knobs and locks, you can remove them or cover them with painter tape. It is best to remove them, but if you don’t want to remove them, you can cover the knobs and hinges with a painter’s tape. It will protect these accessories from paint spills.
Fixing the imperfections
If you want to repaint older doors, there might be some imperfections and gouges in them. The wooden doors have imperfections like cuts and holes that you can fill using the wood filler. After filling the wood filler, you should sand the surface with sandpaper. You should sand the entire door surface with a fine-grit sandpaper. You can also use a door sanding machine to sand your doors. However, do not use a sanding machine meant for wood on a metal door.
Sanding
Before painting a door, you must sand its surface to obtain a smooth and even surface for painting. Sanding the door also removes the old paint or coating on its surface. You can choose to sand your doors with sandpaper, sanding block, or an electric sanding machine.
Priming your door
If you are going to paint a new unprimed door, you need priming before painting the same. If you have are going to paint your door with latex paint that was painted previously with oil-based paint, you need priming. You don’t need to prime in case of new pre-primed doors, or your doors are already painted with latex paint.
Paint the edges
You should always start by painting an inside hinge edge and move around in one direction. Move the brush upward from the bottom across the header. Use a narrow brush to have better control in such a narrow space. Do not put too much paint on the brush to avoid dripping on the surface.
If you are painting the door without uninstalling it from the hinges, you should place a piece of cardboard or slide a newspaper under the door. A newspaper or cardboard will prevent the paint from dripping on the floor.
Paint the door
The next step is to paint the surface of your door. You can paint the surface with a brush or a closed-end foam roller. Run the roller to the full height of the face of your door. Then brush from the bottom of the door to top. Use a lightly loaded roller or brush to remove any line formed during the first coat. The technique enables the roller to spread the paint evenly on the surface and keep a wet edge.
Paint the edges and finish
Finally, you need to paint their outer stiles and the edges of the door. Then lay off any sags or runs as you paint the edges. Allow the paint to dry before sanding it lightly and applying the second coat. When the paint dries completely, you can install the hardware and install the door.
Sand and recoat
After you finish painting your door, let it dry. After it dries, or the next day you can do a light sanding using 320-grit sandpaper. Using a tack cloth can help remove any residue before repainting the door. If you are using sawhorses to place and support the doors, allow the paint on one surface to dry completely before flipping the door. Cover your sawhorses with a cloth to avoid the new paint of the door from sticking. Use a smooth cloth without any texture; otherwise, the texture will be visible on the door paint.
Once both sides are dry, you can reinstall the doorknobs and other accessories before installing the doors.
Final words
These are the tips to paint a standard door like a professional. However, with other designs of doors, like sliding door, casement doors, slide, and bifold doors and folding doors Bondi, you need to consider some more things. The paint and tools you should use depend on the material of the doors. Following these can help homeowners to paint their doors like a pro.