Use a quality exterior semi-gloss or gloss latex enamel. I prefer Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore. Remove the door hinge pins and rest the door on two sawhorses. Remove the hardware and window (if present). Mask off the hinge. Lightly sand the surface using 220 grit. Prime and apply two finish coats per manufacturer's suggestions. The paint should last 20+ years.
Remove door. Take to auto paint shop. Pick a color. Replace door. Won't wash off and you can't paint over it. (Wait! That's a line from a movie. Never mind.)
A judge looked at my former tenant and told him he was getting his deposit back, nor should he expect it. It was about a door change and I was not advised of. I replaced his replacement, before I sold the home...
-- Oren
"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."
Have these renters left the country? A front door is a "fixture" i.e. if it is removed the landlord can legally require that the renters provide a replacement equal to what they removed.
I know doors , so I would say hire a pro, you will only make alot of mistakes, you will regret, I have refinished doors at 20- 30,000.00 value. Anybody has to see it to give honest advise.
One of the other things my renters did was replace my lovely old oak front door, with a cheaper metal one. (apparently they got in a fight and kicked the old one in per my neighbors). They did have it well installed, new frame and all. There are only 2 problems. One is easy to fix (they didnt redo the interior molding which is broken in places).
The only 'problem' is the new door is white and my house is almond and dark brown exterior. The inside also needs to change as the white sticks out like a sore thumb against the cherry stained 50/60's style pinewood walls. (angled appx 4 inch wide solid boards, lovely stuff).
What sort of paint is recommended for this type of door? I've never painted a metal door and we do not want drips or brushstrokes. For the inside, we are considering a sort of 'distressed almond/ivory' with an antique looking wallpaper on the lower 'squares' (you'd have to see the place to realize this would work here, normally would sound pretty stupid).
Sorry. Should have read NOT getting his money back..
Got any renter with 20-30K doors?
The OP states:
"lovely old oak front door, with a cheaper metal one. . . ."
Uh, no you want to take the knob and deadbolt off. No reason not to- it is just a few screws. If you mask it, no matter how carefully, there will always be paint on the knob, and when (not if) the knob gets a tad loose, the unpainted areas will show, and when the knob moves it will likely flake the paint edge right around it.
Painting on horses is much preferred, to avoid runs, avoid missing spots, and because it is much easier to see what you are doing, to get in all the little nooks and crannies. You paint in place, you have to keep the door propped open anyway. Just as easy to barricade the hole if you have to leave it overnight.
aem sends...
WHAT? Just buy some exterior grade satin latex paint; lightly sand the door to remove any sheen; and paint the door leaving no brush marks. I've painted exterior doors plenty of times and never had a problem. I've also painted an entire aluminum sided house several times following a similar procedure. Only difference was that I had to work harder to remove chalking which shouldn't be a problem with the door as it's relatively new -- I presume.
You certainly can paint a metal door with a brush and it's probably fine for a rental property. If it were my own house, with a brand new door, I'd spray paint it to get a better finish. Either way, I'd definitely remove it to paint it. Much easier to work on and get good results.
You can remove and replace the dead-bolt, knob and latches cheaper than tape..imo. Plus one gets a better job.
ARMY myself .. if it moves, paint it!
-- Oren
"Painting is the art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critics."
"Phisherman" wrote
One painting a metal exterior door:.
Ok thanks! The hardware is just the deadbolt and doorknob which we can masking tape off pretty easy (samwich bag over knob).
Is the reason for removing the door and putting it over sawhorses to prevent drips? My husband was thinking to do it in place with 3 coats and thinned down latex exterior lightly applied. We didnt know the grit level for the sandpaper or the recommended brands of paint so thank you!
Todays work was light: to replace 3 sets of blinds. Don did a very nice job with them. 2 roughly 78 inch (were they 72?) and 1 102 inch. The type with panels that hang down and you cut the bottoms to fit what you want. We didnt get fancy panels (that can wait for later for cost reasons). Later, we will put up curtins (over in case of the livingroom, behind in case of bedroom). I even have some nice ones that are in shipment from our household goods from Japan, that are made to fit in the top clip and replace the long blinds which we think we may do for the kitchen patio door to the back porch. They also can attach to a normal rod or a round one you sort of shuffle the curtin along (has 3 attachments and we saved them from the kit).
xxcarol
Had you done what I recommended, you wouldn't have had to "paint(ed) exterior doors plenty of times..." It would have been painted once and be done with it.
As for the house, that's a bit of a problem.
"ransley" wrote
Grouping reply, they have vanished. Long story and not worth repeating here.
The new door is ok, except for color and we are getting their entire deposit. Creditors tracked back to the realtor but apparently we have priority on the deposit over them. This includes the idiot who tried to reclaim *our* car thinking it was theirs. (The police were not amused with that repo fellow, was a Nissan but not same color or model as our Maxima).
Thanks Mike but we have too many repairs to make to hire anyone for this. In a year or so when we recover financially, we will have a new one put in if the job we do isnt good enough. We did hire professionals for the critical items that we can not do ourselves such as replacing the 3-wide bay window they kicked out.
I'll put in a plug for my housing insurance folks. State Farm is covering several items best they can and on things that technically they do not have to. They bundled some things together despite that the written rules of the contract meant 500$ deductable each, to give us more back. They've seen worse, but seldom so many random senseless small items.
The hidden blessing is Don and I actually *are* pretty handy and with the exception of the tub liner, windows, fireplace, and electrical, we can do the rest ourselves and we *do* still have a house. They only punched in the walls in the back enclosed porch.
"aemeijers" wrote
Knobs can be replaced but Don ans I are both Navy and using to taping orr correctly. There's several tricks to it uncluding using a razor blade around the edges to make a clean line. We just changed out the door hardware and can again but it's easier to tape off in this case. It's the hardware on the frame we'd want to remove before painting that.
Ok and thanks! Might do that then. Don's checking to see if he can color-match a brown to the same as we need for the brickwork (slightly diffrent paints involved).
"DonC" wrote
Snicker, yes the door is pretty new. It was a very well done job actually so we are happy enough except for the color. We can even tell you it was installed 16 August 2005 via Lowes as they had it on record (popped up when we contracted the patio door as same address but diffrent name). Lowes has transferred the warentee to us now. The screen door which is damaged, we get an offset to replace with a dark brown one and free install. Thats why we only asked on painting the door in the thread. Lowes will cover the screen door part for nominal money anytime in the next 2 years. I found it amusing that had the screen door not been damaged, they would not have covered replacement due to color, but as it has been, they will do so for a new color match ;-). Gotta love the world as it's so insane sometimes!
My old door was 'nicer looking' but had upper glass windows and it was single panes (heat loss). They were also not safely situated to prevent an intruder from busting them in and reaching to unlatch the door.
I never had to repaint a door due to paid degradation. Only reason was moving, wife wanting it a different color or doing one for someone else. IOW, I "painted once and was done with it" until I moved or my better half decided she need a change.
I can't believe anyone would have a standard metal door painted at an auto body shop. That's overkill to the nth degree.
Often, when you move, you can take the door with you.
By demonstrating how easy it is to paint a door with a roller and whatever's left over in the garage, you have incentivized your spouse.
No, taking the door to an auto paint shop would have put the kebosh on future "I need it to match my dress for the yard party" business.
Oh, probably. But they sure do come out looking pretty. And some of us are all thumbs with a paint brush or spray gun. I can hang a door, no problem, but I can't make it pretty. So if the cost comparison is body shop vs. pro painter, rather than body shop vs. DIY, well, maybe it isn't so expensive. I probably wouldn't do it for a single door, but if I was doing multiple exterior doors on a house I was fixing up, and had no other need for a pro painter on site anyway, and couldn't find a factory color I liked on the doors, I might consider it.
First place I saw body-shop-painted doors was at- you guessed it- a body shop. They looked fantastic. I asked the manager about it, and he said they maybe do a dozen a year, usually brand new doors for high-end custom homes where the missus had hired a decorator. I don't think most men give too much of a rip about the color, as long as whatever is on there is weatherproof so it doesn't rust.
aem sends...
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