when can i close my front door - painting problem any tips

[happyhero]

Hi
Can anybody give me any tips please? Sorry if this has already been asked, couldn't find an answer to it.

I want to paint my front door frame. I painted a door frame inside the house the other day and noticed how the paint that you use to paint frames etc, takes significantly longer to dry compared to the type of paint you use on walls for example, being an oil based paint. The finish is fantastic but even if I did it early in the day, although it is dry to touch by the evening without trouble, it still has a soft tacky feel as if anything pressed hard against it will stick and rip the paint off when opened.

I have always noticed this with the oil based paints you use on frames. The finish is lovely but what do the pros do? They don't mess about how do they get round this problem? Or does it just feel this way and I can close the door after 4 to 6 hours without problem? Sometimes the can says it is has not fully dried until 16 hours.

Have I got it all wrong or is there something I am missing? I am worried about it sticking and I am only painting the frame, I cannot imagine how long it would be if I painted the door as well, before I could close it properly, and obviously being the front door you do want it closed properly, especially this time of year, otherwise I will get my ear chewed off.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[JohnD]

Do the preparation the night before, and topcoat the opening/closing parts first thing, preferably on a warm sunny day, so they have all day to dry. If you take off the lock and its keep, to paint the frame and door neatly, and any draftproofing strip, you might find you have the chance to close the door overnight not quite so tightly (e.g. bolt and chain) as long as you are at home and feel safe.,

Primer and undercoat dry very quickly, so it should be only the topcoat you need to worry about.

Don't put on thick coats as they will take longer to harden. Two thin coats are better than one thick one.

 

[happyhero]

Cheers JohnD, so I am not going mad or missing something because basically it is that tacky for a while. Thanks for the tips, I will do as you say and hopefully all will be ok.

The only thing is, it is going to be hard waiting for a sunny day at the moment, I'll cross my fingers.

Cheers for help.

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

HappyHero:

You're saying you're using an oil based paint. There are several reasons why an oil based paint would be remaining soft for longer than expected, and they are as follows:

1. Obviously, the temperature of the paint. Oil based paints form films through a chemical reaction with the air, and the colder the temperature the slower the rate at which the oil fragments crosslink to transform from a liquid into a solid. Warming the paint with a hair dryer will definitely help during cool weather.

2. Believe it or not, the COLOUR of the paint. You see, few companies make colored tint bases any more, so if you want an oil based paint in a colour like Navy Blue, the guy at the paint counter will take a can of "Deep Tint Base" (which would normally dry clear or transluscent) and add lots and lots of blue colorant to it in the tinting machine. The carrier fluid in the various colourants in the tinting machine is glycerine (so that the same tinting machine can be used to tint both oil and emulsion paints), and the problem is that glycerine is very slow to evaporate. So, the more heavily tinted the paint is, the more glycerine it has in it, the longer it's gonna take for that glycerine to evaporate out of the paint film and therefore the longer the paint film will feel soft before it's fully cured.
(For more on this, go read my first post in this thread in this Painting & Decorating forum:

"Paint Dripping In Bathroom" posted by Sleaver

3. EXTERIOR oil based paints have to be able to stretch and shrink with wood substrates outdoors which will swell and shrink with changes in their moisture content due to seasonal changes in humidity. Consequently exterior oil based paints will be made from alkyd resins that don't crosslink as densly as interior oil based paints, so that the film they form remains softer and more elastic. (You trade film hardness for elasticity when switching from an interior to an exterior oil based paint. That's generally true for interior and exterior emulsion paints as well.)

I'm suspecting the problems you're encountering are likely due to a confluence of two or all three of these factors in your particular case.

 

[confidentincompetent]

try to leave as little paint on the doorframe edge where it meets the door even if it means gently wiping down the inside edge of frame ( it wont be seen) if it's still very tacky and you gota close/lock just rub a little vaseline down the door frame edge not toooo much wipe off next day.

good luck

 

[happyhero]

Cheers guys, I am actually using some black and white paint for the job, but thanks for all the tips.

One last thing though, the paint I am using has been in my garage for a couple of years but it is not like the ones you find in your garage that are 10 years old and the tin is rusty, this is one that I bought a couple of years ago and kept what was left. The tin is sealed and looks ok and as I say I used it on an interior door frame and it looks great. But does that sort of time make any difference, to me it appears almost as when new in the can.

 

[JohnD]

Cheers guys, I am actually using some black and white paint for the job

Is this the Black and White Striped Paint, or Checked Paint

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

HappyHero:

If either oil based or emulsion paint appears to be fine, then it is fine.

It's only when paint doesn't seem to be OK that you need ask, and lots of times it'll still be OK to use even if it smells in the can, or has mildew growing on it in the can, or is lumpy but those lumps can be stirred out.

So far as I know, age doesn't affect the drying time of an oil based or alkyd paint whatsoever.

If the black paint came pretinted as black paint from the factory, then it's drying time should be much the same as white paint. However, if you had that paint tinted black in the store, then that would explain the very long drying time.

 

[gcol]

Dude it's taking a long time to dry cause it's b**t**d cold outside. Don't do any outside painting until you can wear a t-shirt. And when you do, do it before lunch time.
I have a vestibule, so when I paint my front door I operate the lever lock so that it's out (locked) then brace a piece of wood from the lock bolt to the inner vestibule door frame - that way you can leave the door just slightly ajar while it dries and it's totally secure.

 

[Zampa]

You always try rubbing vaseline around the frame so when to tacky door touches it it wont stick...