I want to paint my doors and to replace the hinges, but it is not clear what order to do it in. If I paint first, I might muck the door up when the it off the hinges. Otherwise, I'll have a lot of taping to do. Any suggestions?
Thank you!
I want to paint my doors and to replace the hinges, but it is not clear what order to do it in. If I paint first, I might muck the door up when the it off the hinges. Otherwise, I'll have a lot of taping to do. Any suggestions?
Thank you!
What do you mean by muck the door up? You lay it on a table or saw horses, remove all the hardware, and paint the side facing up and the edges. You wait for the paint to dry (twice as long as whatever lies are on the paint can). You flip it over, and paint side #2.
Never paint doors or door jambs with the hardware in place. There's nothing more amateurish and sloppy looking than painted door hardware.
Thanks.
I door have a table or saw horses, so I was thinking of painting the door while it is hanging with old hardware, the take it off and change the hardware. Is that a bad idea? (I agree about the painted hardware.)
You'll get MUCH better results if you lay the door flat, especially if it's a door that sees lots of traffic, like an exterior door. I did my front (exterior) door that way using some high quality oil-based paint (Devoe) many years ago. It dried with a glass-like finish, and it still looks that way.
The trick to making it last is letting it dry thoroughly, which, in my book means "when the smell is gone". Reinstalling doors requires lots of handling. If the paint's not REALLY dry, you'll end up with fingerprints.
Bad idea. The old hardware will not come off cleanly, so the new hinges will look tattered.
Take 'em off and paint 'em like the other guy said.
Thanks again. Good point. Well what about painting while the door is haning and changing the hardware a week later? That will resolve the fingerprint issue.
No - just don't. Seriously. Is this an exterior door, important for security? If so, it would actually be worth your trouble to buy a sheet of
3/4" plywood, some small right angle brackets, and screw it in place to make the doorway secure while the door's in surgery. Obviously, this assumes you have another way out of the house. You can always use the plywood for something else later.And, don't use bargain paint. Look for Devoe or Martin-Senour. It might cost you $30.00 a gallon, but when it's done, you won't care.
After I painted my doors, I told the owner of the hardware store how nice they turned out. He said "Why didn't you tell me you were doing doors?", and showed me this little bottle of some sort of additive that's supposed to take the finish closer to that of a piano. If you really wanna get nuts like that, you might call around to some paint stores and see if the stuff still exists.
By the way, if you try and clean paint off the hardware while it's attached to the door, whatever chemical you use to clean it will probably affect the new paint. And, it'll be in a place where the paint contacts the door jamb. The chemical might make the paint sticky again. Every time you close the door, the paint will stick to whatever part of the door jamb it comes into contact with, and come off in little chips. Then, you can start all over again. Or, hang yourself. :-)
Hammer a couple of nails in both ends of door and use those for support on sawhorse. You won't have to wait for the doors to dry to turn them over and paint the other side.
You never get as good a job painting on a verical surface as you do horizontally. When it counts, do it right. Note that the fussier auto body shops will often paint hoods and doors that way and that's the reason. A little more work for a better result. HTH
Joe
Penetrol is the brand name assuming you have an oil based paint, Floetrol is for latex.
Now I'm in the mood to paint another door, but this time, like a piano. :)
The trick with nails (or screws) into to top & bottom works well also with the door pitched against a wall. Works great for me- learned it from a pro.
JChange the hardware first. Your door probably won't hang the same, so you may have to sand or saw the edge, or perhaps route out where the hinges go.
I just bought new pre-humng doors and installed them. Some of the doors were "standard", which came with bright brass hardware, and some doors were "custom order" which I had bronze hinges put on. When I got bronze hinges (that looked almost the same as the bright brass ones) and put em on, the doors did not fit correctly. I had to sand
2, and actually saw 2. I had to route out several hinge depressions.After removing the hardware and painting the doors, I had overlooked the fact that the paint has thickness, and so I had to take most of the doors down to remove the paint that I had carefully painted under the hinges.
Mask your hiinge areas when you paint.
Rock
Do you have garbage cans? Do you have waste baskets?
Two kids who'll hold the door for a couple of days, in return for a box of fruit roll-ups?
I would replace the hinges first and test the door to see if it operates properly. Then remove the pins, mask the hardware and paint the door using two saw horses. If you are painting both sides, you can part-way drive a heavy nail in the top and bottom--the door is suspended on the nails so you can pivot the door to paint both sides.
I like another approach. Pre-drill one hole top dead center to hold a
10d finish nail. Two holes at the bottom for the 10d nail - evenly spaced, so your hands are comfortable.Insert the nails. On sawhorses you can rotate the door holding the bottom two nails and spinning the door as the top nail rest on the bench.. Saves on drying time, pulling hammered nails later as these can be removed easily.
Standing is the other choice, as you say.
-- Oren
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Thomas A. Edison
If you really want a piano finish read up on French polishing. This should get you started:
Thanks - this looks interesting.
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