Too much paint

[Tim Streater]

We had the front door stripped down to remove the vomit green paint and also the crap Yale lock. Chippy did all that and made good, added all the new hardware, rehung the door, and then departed. Fine.

So SWMBO, who has more experience with this than I, put one coat of exterior undercoat on the front of the door. None on the back because it hadn't been stripped. Two coats of white gloss on the back look OK.

Now the front is giving problems. First coat of Oxford Blue didn't adequately cover the undercoat, but perhaps this is to be expected. But, even with attempting to not put too much on, it's tended to run here and there [1] and after a day, has wrinkled here and there as it's dried out.

What's the best way to handle the wrinkles? Can we wait some period of time, sand it gently and touch up to restore the gloss? She put undercoat on a week ago and top coat yesterday and today. How long until that's properly dried out so we can sand it?

[1] Even with two of us keeping an eye out for teardrops.

[Bob Minchin]

Where it has wrinkled, it will take a very long time to dry enough to sand properly. I would consider attacking those areas and the runs with a scraper and then allow to dry naturally for a week or so before sanding back to a smooth surface Start again with a quality primer, an appropriate blue ish undercoat and then 2-3 thin top coats with a day and very fine sand between coats.

Bob

[Tim Streater]

:-)

Ok we did go to Homebase for the paint. The blue is Sandtex, the white on the inside is Dulux. The white looks much better, although that may be in part because, being white and on the inside, it's harder to see defects.

How do you get gloss to go on *thin*? Interesting how applying it seems to differ from emulsion, which spreads out nicely with a roller.

[The Natural Philosopher]

[Nightjar]

The recommended method is to take the door off. Lay it across a couple of trestles and paint it while it is flat. This, of course, may not always be a practical solution for an external door.

Colin Bignell

[Geoff Pearson]

If this is Weathershield, we have had trouble like this in the last couple of weeks with Trade Exterior Gloss - almost striped - two shades of blue (Windsor Blue) - had to buy the domestic version to get an even cover. And I painted our front door in black Weathershield gloss last autumn. The first coat of gloss was perfect - a second is like chicken skin and I am about to strip it and start again. I think it may need several days between coats of gloss.

[Chris Hogg]

Happened to me late last year. An out-of-the-way back garage door painted with a coat of non-drip paint. Obviously went on too thick (painted by me I hasten to add, no-one else to blame) but no runs, being non-drip I assume, but dried wrinkly. I tried sanding it back after about a week, but still too soft and it just clogged the paper, so I left it to harden properly. Then winter set in, and.... and.... and....and I'm going to have another go at it in a week (or so)!

[Charles]

Was it a combined primer & undercoat? Anyway too late now.

Did you sand the back well? You should use undercoat as that is what provides a surface for the gloss to stick onto. The gloss paint may flake in the future.

You got too much on. I was reading elsewhere that Sandtex is quite thick :-( [Funny that I cannot find any information on Sandtex gloss paint on

As has been suggested ... either attack them now then let it dry and loads of sandpaper ... or wait for everything to dry and loads of sandpaper. Use wet and dry as your paint is likely to be wet when you come to sand it.

I assume sandtex gloss is oil based (AKA spirit based) then use a natural bristle brush (Hamilton perfection) with many bristles, and soft, to allow you to spread the paint. I would probably use a 1.5 or

2inch (depending on the panels of the door) with a 1inch on standby to pick any problems. Criss cross the paint as much as you can, and always finish on an up/down stroke. Do not overload the corners of any panels.

==================================

You asked elsewhere how to thin the paint. Again - if it is oil based - a little bit of white spirit and a good mix. (You also need the white spirit to clean your brush).

If it helps a little. Charles

[Tim Streater]

I think the chippy took all the loose paint off the back. SWMBO did put a bit of undercoat on the back, but only where there was bare wood. The chippy filled in where the Yale and one of those horrible useless vertical letter slots was. He sanded all that down.

I suspect we'll wait until next year.

Mmmm no, not how to thin the paint. How to get it *on* thin, so it doesn't run. I suppose the simple answer is "put less on the brush".

[stephen.hull]

No, the answer it to brush out the paint. Thinning will only help if the paint is too thick but this might also speed up the drying time during use.

You also need to use a quality brush in order to be able to brush out the paint otherwise it will just slide over the top.

Stephen.

[chris French]

In message , Tim Streater writes

Prime the bare wood, then undercoat all over. Though don't worry about it now it's done. If it peels off a bit in the future, well, look on it as a learning experience :-)

Traditionally it was a pink oil based primer, and then undercoat. Nowadays I usually use the waterbased primer/undercoat, which seesm to work fine, and has the advantage of drying quickly.

Possibly, Or rather, brush it out more, so the paint is spread further and the coat is thinner.

One other small point - use a suitable coloured undercoat for the top coat. For Oxford blue I'd use a dark grey. Putting a dark colour over white undercoat would make it more likely you would need more coats to get a good finsish

[Phil L]

Blue and yellow are the painter's nightmare, both are a pain in the arse to cover.

Also, when you say you had it stripped, how was it done? - if it was chemically rather than using heat, it should have been washed down with vinegar afterwards to neutralise the alkalis, then washed with warm water and a little fairy liquid to remove the vinegar, then thouroughly rinsed and allowed to dry before preparing for repainting.

If you've painted over strippers it will never look right and it will need to be stripped again, then prepared as above

[Tim Streater]

Chippy started with chemical, quickly realised he'd need a bucket load so went home (only lives in the village) and got his hair dryer.

I think a major thing we missed was use of a dark undercoat (at one or two spots and some edges we can still see the white underneath), well two actually was also to have enquired here as to what paint to use. Is Sandtex OK or is it grot?

SWMBO was *pretty* good at not letting the blue go round the corners but I think I'll have to tape it and then touch up. Next year mebbe :-)