Painting internal wood doors.

[Graham M Turner]

Would really appreciated some good sound advice. Just about to paint some varnished hall doors (5). I assume rubbing the doors down with sandpaper back to the actual wood then washing/wiping down with a cleaner such as sugar soap will give me a good surface to paint.

I hope to paint with an oil based under coat and then followed with2 coats of oil based gloss paint.

Will I end up with a good finish?

Thanks for any guidance.

Graham Turner

 

[Mottie]

I want to do the same with our stained doors and someone told me I should varnish them first to seal them and then paint them. Can any painters on here confirm this?

 

[johnny2007]

Would really appreciated some good sound advice. Just about to paint some varnished hall doors (5). I assume rubbing the doors down with sandpaper back to the actual wood then washing/wiping down with a cleaner such as sugar soap will give me a good surface to paint.

I hope to paint with an oil based under coat and then followed with2 coats of oil based gloss paint.

Will I end up with a good finish?

Thanks for any guidance.

Graham Turner

No need to go back to bare wood if you're painting gloss white.
Just a rub down with 180 paper to key existing finish, unless it's dripped and rippled.
Once smooth, undercoat and gloss.

 

[johnny2007]

I want to do the same with our stained doors and someone told me I should varnish them first to seal them and then paint them. Can any painters on here confirm this?

Not necessary.
A stain will not make any difference to how you would treat any unfinished wood.
So, sand down, pass a white spirit cloth to clean any residue, primer, undercoat and gloss.

Forgot to mention, any knot must be treated.

 

[opps]

Never wash (naked) wood with water. It causes the grain to swell. That said I often use waterbased primer but do so in the expectation that I will need to sand it flat again. I sand with 180 grit sterate coated silicone carbide (not aluminium oxide) and then use OB undercoat.

 

[opps]

I want to do the same with our stained doors and someone told me I should varnish them first to seal them and then paint them. Can any painters on here confirm this?

Are you sure that the stained doors weren't sealed previously?

I don't understand the advice to varnish them first though. Varnish under paint often leads to chipping unless they are thoroughly sanded.

If the doors have been waxed you will need to sand back to the bare wood. I have known other decorators on sites where I have worked that lightly sanded them and then used Zinsser BIN as a primer. Every door had chips once the cleaners finished hoovering the new carpet.

 

[Mottie]

Are you sure that the stained doors weren't sealed previously?

I don't understand the advice to varnish them first though. Varnish under paint often leads to chipping unless they are thoroughly sanded.

If the doors have been waxed you will need to sand back to the bare wood. I have known other decorators on sites where I have worked that lightly sanded them and then used Zinsser BIN as a primer. Every door had chips once the cleaners finished hoovering the new carpet.

Pretty sure they’re not. I bought them from somewhere like B&Q about 20 years ago. Came as a kit - liner, architrave and doors. I just fitted them as they came out of the box and never did anything to them at all.