I just painted a new pre-primed steel entry door with sherwin williams acrylic enamel and it really looks bad. Brush strokes and overlaps everywhere in addition to varying shading.
The instructions that came with the door said to lightly scuff sand which I did with 400 grit extra fine; to clean before proceeding with mineral spirits; and to use a polyester brush, all of which I did.
Any tips that will help me salvage this thing when I try a second coat?
Thanks in advance.
If its a typical flush steel door then use those relatively new mini foam rollers, they leave an ultra smooth finish with no lap marks.
A soft extra long bristle varnish brush leaves fewer brush marks than a short brush, but those brushes are not cheap.
Latex is the issue, it dries to quickly and does not level out, remove the paint with denatured alcohol before it cures and get a quality oil paint of satin finish like Benjamin Moore.
It's an eight panel door and it was the panels that got me into trouble I think. Having to go back and forth between the panels and the rest of the door resulted in very obvious overlaps and differences in finish.
Thanks.
Now you know why people prefer to take the door off the hinges, lay it on sawhorses and spray paint it. So talk to your paint store folks about renting the right kind of equipment for the product they recommend. if you must do it solo, even a $19.95 Harbor Freight spray gun will lay down a very nice smooth coat of RustOleum or similar solvent based alkyd or acrylic. The last resort ( and maybe best) as suggested earlier is the body shop. Any tech who has laid down acres of the tricky paints used in those shops can make a door look dazzling. HTH
Joe
I also was going to recommend spray paint. But avoid letting it dry in direct sunlight.
120 would give a better tooth. 80 wouldn't be too coarse if you're painting with a loaded brush.
Paint in the shade and sand to flatten the surface between coats.
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