Painting a front door

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by andyv, Sep 14, 2020.

  1. My 4 panelled front door suffers from extreme exposure to the weather. The previous door rotted through so I fitted a solid reclaimed door, but quickly the paint began to flake off. I don't think underlying paint had been prepared properly at some stage.

    I'm now burning it all off. My plan is to sand down to bare wood, and repaint. I thought it would be easy to choose what products to use, but not so. Ideally I need something where I can complete the painting part of the job in no more than two days. Ronseal 10 year weatherproof paint for example looks ideal but from the reviews dries much too fast and the finish is not great.

    Do we have any professionals out there who can tell me what they use?
     
  2. upvc....:p
     
  3. crossy2112

    crossy2112 Supporter

    Sikkens, nip down to dulux. If it's softwood you need a base coat. :thumbsup:
     
    andyv likes this.
  4. Poptop2

    Poptop2 Administrator

    What paint did you use previously was it proper exterior oil based gloss or the water based stuff that’s only intended for inside work. If you did use oil based gloss and it wasn’t prepared properly ie primed sanded undercoated sanded glossed then I’m not surprised it failed, if you did do all that try a coat of oil based lacquer as a final coat.
     
    Little Nellie likes this.
  5. Another vote for Sikkens - used to use it on our hardwood window frames and doors - no need now as we have had all converted to upvc double glazing - so no more painting outside ever again ( I'm getting too old anyway)
     
    andyv likes this.
  6. Ozziedog

    Ozziedog Supporter

    One of the things that tends to happen when painting doors, is that the door doesn’t get all its furniture removed, the letterbox, the locks, the hinges, door knockers etc etc so the prep is around these things instead of under these things. It also helps if you’ve prepared and painted the front, the top and underneath Plus the hinged sections and inside the letterbox too. There are new modern water based paints for primer undercoat and gloss but you may need to go to a paint trade centre as a lot of the stuff that’s now available is confusing by its multitude to say the least. I was also in Malcs class up until a couple of years back that you should use oil based paints externally as that was always my maxim, until I was painting the windows on a house and had to buy more Dulux paint and it went horribly wrong when I used new oil based paint with old oil based primer and undercoat. Popped back to the trade centre and started chatting to some of the tradeys in the queue. Apparently about ten years ago , Dulux were forced to get all health and safety even more so with their paints, because of this , there was a hell of a lot of research done which made the water based stuff a heck of a lot better but all the good stuff had to come out of the oil based stuff to the extent that there was a role reversal. Only issue I had with the water based stuff was that you really needed a few coats more of paint, but it is water based so on a door you could do one coat of primer then give it ten hours or so then give it another coat, same with your undercoat, once in the morning and once On the evening. With the top coat , I don’t think you’d be happy with two coats but people are different . Just check that the weather bar is sealed too.:thumbsup:

    Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,they all might have lied to me;):);)
     
    rob.e likes this.
  7. This is an old door which was in white gloss so I sanded it and gave it some dark grey undercoat then a dark green top coat in external gloss. I didn't primer it as I hadn't gone down to bare wood at that time. I think it was the white gloss that may have been the problem. There are places where I can peel it off quite easily back to an earlier yellow or brown coat, so this is why I've started burning it all off. So far only the inside. The thing is that this isn't where I live, it's 45 miles away so time is of the essence. I can usually only manage a couple of days at a time.

    I think your comments on different versions of paints may have got to the point. I have a big collection of random paints, and I know I've used old primer and undercoat with new top coat, so they may not be compatible. Now I can start with bare wood and hopefully get it all to match up.
     
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  8. Moons

    Moons Supporter

    Out of interest - how does your suffer more from extreme weather any more than any other door?

    I assume its exposure to direct sunlight, or are you near the sea or similar?
     
  9. This is right next to the beach in Scarborough - it gets pretty wild at times.
     
  10. All the posh doors like ours are composite these days:)
     
    andyv likes this.
  11. Soggz

    Soggz An inquisitive supporter

    Get a plastic door.
    Or for paint, use Sandolin.
     
    andyv likes this.
  12. mikedjames

    mikedjames Supporter

    I have used a pressure washer followed by Dulux wood primer followed by two coats of Dulux exterior gloss on flaky paint on weather boarding on our garage. If old paint didnt come off with the pressure washer it was basically not coming off. Hasnt falllen off yet, done several years ago..
     
    andyv likes this.
  13. crossy2112

    crossy2112 Supporter

    If it's painted, dulux do a proper good one that primes it's self. Go into your local trade centre and tell them what you're after and they will sort you out :thumbsup:
     
    andyv likes this.
  14. Ozziedog is right, all the goodness has been taken out of paint.try bedec paints, barn, multi surface, very good.limited colours unless you want to pay a premium.Bring back lead based, or take a leaf out of para's book and use tractor paint
     
    Jack Tatty, Soggz and snotty like this.
  15. Ozziedog

    Ozziedog Supporter

    Oh, just one other thing, if it’s South facing off for whatever reason it gets lots of sunshine either direct or reflected, try not use a dark colour and edge towards lighter colours, if it’s not sunshine but just gets a little splash every so often ;) then colours won’t matter so much as lots of coats :)

    Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, porch might be nice :)
     
  16. Poptop2

    Poptop2 Administrator

    When you can peel it off it is normally because it isn’t keyed properly. A light sanding isn’t always enough to key old to new.
     
  17. Sadolin or Sikkens is a good way to go. Prep really well then just keep coating. Only one process so less chance of failure between coats. Do what it says on the tin and you'll be ok. DON'T be tempted to thin or spread out, that way lies despair!
     
    Jack Tatty likes this.
  18. Pudelwagen

    Pudelwagen Supporter

    Which one is yours then?
    Screen-Shot-2016-04-16-at-22.37.18.png
     
    Jack Tatty likes this.
  19. Spot on. This is Scarborough north bay and if they can paint them up and stay looking good in this location, my door will be fine.
     
  20. I agree. I bought a reclaimed external door, maybe 150 years old, but I now doubt it's had much exposure - probably it was in a porch. The paint seemed pretty solid until I hung it. I don't think the problem is the last coat I put on, rather something 2 coats down.
     

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