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painting my front door-Help

14 years ago

we purchased a new steel front door with a glass insert. okay,I did not wipe the door down before painting, first mistake. i put 3 coats on within 4 hrs.second mistake. we ended up stripping the door. we sanded and then reprimed. Husband painted and it still looks like crap. followed directions to a T. we used Valspar exterior paint- semi gloss from lowes. Also can not get paint to stick to plastic around the window. Any advice?

Thanks

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Comments (5)

paintguy22
14 years ago
Acrylic paints should stick just fine to plastic. Usually when people struggle with painting steel doors, it is because they are not keeping a wet edge. You have to break the door down into sections and when you are working in one section, you can't really get paint outside of that area and then brush back through it minutes later. If you brush through paint that is already starting to set, that is when you will pull at it which will look like hell. Do your panels first and keep the paint in the panels. Then do your horizontals, then the left and right sides. You may want to switch to using a small roller if you struggle with getting the door to look good by painting it with a brush.
cherri
14 years ago
Skittles:

I am getting ready to repaint my door also, going from a dark red to rookwood shutter green. I worry about the same thing. I was also advised, just as paintguy said to use roller it will help alleviate the brush marks.

Paintguy: Question - what type roller do you recommend - sponge? Also, do you recommend removing the door and paint indoors? Do you remove the hardware? I have a steel door but it frames a full view stainglass insert.
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paintguy22
14 years ago
I like the little 4" prodooz rollers, 1/4" or 3/8" nap for rolling doors. Every door is going to be different. Some hardware is a pain to remove, so I can't say that I would always remove it, but that would be preferred. You do not want to paint in the sun or the wind, so I would say do whatever you have to do to avoid wind and sun. Usually, opening the door all the way inside the house is enough to keep it out of the weather.
cherri
14 years ago
Paintguy:

Thanks for the additional information. I will have to decide if it's worth removing the hardware and the door off hinges.

Skittles: Good luck with your project.
skittles8450
Original Author
14 years ago
We did not even get the hardware on our door yet. Still trying to talk husband into stripping the paint off yet again. It has to go since it looks horrible. I still think our problem was mainly our paint. it almost feels and looks like it has a rubbery texture. we primed the small window at the top and it does not want to stick on that either. I am going to try to roll the new paint this time and see what happens. 3 x a charm, hopefully

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