How to paint a door with your own hands

Table of contents:

• Types of paint for doors, how to choose;
• Recommendations for choosing colors;
• Preparing the canvas for painting;
• Working tools;
• Painting doors: all the peculiarities;

Making repairs in a house or an apartment, you should think about the restoration of the old doors. This is especially true for wooden products made from solid wood of valuable species. If interior doors are made of fiberboard or MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) they can also be repainted in a different color or varnish.

Types of paint for doors, how to choose

There is a wide range of paint coatings offered by stores that help to transform an old door. They can be transparent or not, with the addition of pigments exhibiting a tree structure, alkyd, oil, water-based.

Alkyd paint is one of the most popular among paint coatings. It is inexpensive, creates a durable coating, suitable for hardboard, MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) and wood, offers a wide range of shades, so you can choose the desired color. Deciding to repaint the interior doors with alkyd paint with your own hands, you should bear in mind spread of a strong peculiar smell. Therefore, work should be carried out on the street or in the back room. If this is not possible, then you need to ensure that members of the family can stay with relatives for a day or two. You will need 48 hours to completely fade the smell.

Acrylic paint is also a good option for doors fiberboard, MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) and wood. Its main advantage is almost total lack of smell that allows to use it directly in the apartment. Giving preference to acrylic paint, you can also choose any color from a large enough palette. Its disadvantages include the fact that the strength of the coating is not high, so the interior doors after painting are to cover with clear varnish.

An oil-based toner goes well with a wood entry or a door between rooms. It is absorbed in fiber, has no smell and gives the material the desired color.

Nitro and nitrocellulose lacquer is characterized by the highest durability of the surface, but they cause strong toxic smell. When you work with them by yourself some protective equipment is needed.

 

Guidelines for choosing colors

Determined the type of paint you need to choose its color. The easiest way to do it is the catalog provided by the manufacturer. It should bear in mind that the shade of the wooden doors will depend on the number of layers of paint.

Deciding how to choose a color and shade of coating, the owners of a room are motivated, first of all, by personal preferences. But there are General guidelines that help make the decision.

In the wooden house a wooden door will look good, so you need to know how to paint the door in tree style with your own hands in order to mark the wood structure.

 

The color of the door should match the furniture in the room. In a room with light furniture light doors will look good. If the bedroom has a dark glossy surface, so the door between rooms needs painting in the appropriate color and varnish as well. If you have antique furniture, then it will fit antique doors.

Preparing the canvas for painting

Before you repaint the door panel, it must be prepared in order that the door has a beautiful appearance and look like new. Thus it is necessary to consider the material it is made of. It puts some differences in the pre-processing.

Preparation with your own hands involves the following steps.

1. Removing of the door leaf from the hinges.
2. Dismantling of the fittings and glass, if there are any.
3. Removing of the old coating.
4. The plastering of chips and cracks with a special tool.
5. Grinding.
6. cleanning of the canvas from dust.

To prevent the formation of drips the door leaf must be placed in a horizontal position. To do this it’s dismantled it. If there is no possibility to remove accessories and remove the glass, then they need to be stuck with masking tape.

The painting of hardboard and MDF in contrast to the wood has a thin coating, so its processing, the cleanup of old paint and putty with your own hands should be done carefully.

 

Tools for the work

 

For the preparation, staining and varnishing the wooden doors with their hands, as well as paintings of fiberboard and MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), you need the following tools:

• abrasive emery cloth;
• spatula;
• brush;
• cushion;
• paint tray;
• individual means of protection from the smell.

 

Staining the door: all the peculiarities

The procedure of staining the door is the following: first, paint the panels with the brush, then the projecting parts, and at the end pass on the canvas with a roller. When working make sure the room is well ventilated – this will save from smell, if you are using alkyd or nitro.

The room where you work must be clean and not dusty. Accumulation of dust and debris on the painted surface will spoil the surface and doors of wood, fiberboard, MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) or other materials.

Deciding to repaint laminated door between rooms, you need to keep in mind that there is no grip with it’s surface of paint. So before you start staining you need your hands to touch across the surface of the canvas with fine sandpaper, then damp it with a cloth  with white spirit. Such actions contribute to destruction of protective coatings, improve the adhesion and will allow you to restore laminated door. After drying the painting can be lacquered.

Painting a veneered door between rooms with your own hands is harder than any other one. This is due to the fact that the thickness of the veneer is very small. So, when the deformations or scratches are small, you can simply cover the surface with varnish. If you need to completely change their color, it is recommended to apply water paint.

Before painting, the surface is treated with a special primer that hides scratches. Nitro is not recommended; they can contribute to the formation of matte stains.

A veneered door between rooms made of artificial material can also be painted. But you need to choose a paint that will attach to smooth surface. And is not recommended to ground it because you loose the naturality effect.
Newly painted and lacquered door made of wood, fiberboard, MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) or other material can be put in the doorway, with putting back the fittings and the glass. It’s surface appearance  will be satisfying you for years.