Paint for exterior door

[threedee]

I'm in need of advice on painting exterior wooden door.
It looks like the door is mahogany/sapele solid door, but been painted several times. Dry scraping inside side looks like its some sort of vinyl paint. Absolutely no idea what kind of paint is on the outside. Brown and flaking.
Not planning on completely stripping, just some sanding to knock off all the rubbish clinging on and roughen for the paint to grip.
I want to achieve high gloss dark red on the outside, probably white on the inside.

Looked at paint selection at local Homebase, made my head spin. Most of the paints (predictably) are for interior decoration. No idea what to get.
Prefer to find something i can buy at HB.
Also, drying times, is it even possible to finish the painting in one day, where i can close the door for the night ? Do i take it completely off the hinges or do i paint in the frame.
Stinky factor ? Solvent based ? Oil based (would dry forever?)? Water based ?

I have no idea what i'm doing, any wise words would help.

 

[jvc26]

Bedec MSP gets a good write up as an exterior water based paint, I’ve used it a bit and found it a good product.

 

[MARK.B.]

If you want that nice high gloss finish to be smooth then i think you will need to sand down the whole thing fully or you will end up with poor results .

 

[Doug71]

You will probably be even more confused by the time you have read all the different opinions you will get from people on here!

I'm old school with painting (behind the times?), on a hardwood door like that I would use aluminium primer then a decent solvent based undercoat and gloss. With solvent based you would only get one coat on per day so maybe wait for better weather.


As said above the glossier the finish the better the prep needs to be.

 

[cowtown_eric]

I would be concerned about previous layers of paint and their adhesion.

If, for example, it was a water based paint over oil based paint, there will be low adhesion, and even if you used top of the line exterior paint, adhesion problems would persist.

With a mandatory ROS scuffing, you should be able to assess underlying adhesion problems. I say mandatory, as you want some tooth to the underlying paint for a new coat to adhere well (as well as flatten drips and runs.

Another option worth considering is to purchase a used door same size and temporarily install it, then take the door in question ot a "dip and strip" shop to have al the old paint stripped, so you can start afresh!

Good luck

Eric

 

[Cabinetman]

I would be concerned about previous layers of paint and their adhesion.

If, for example, it was a water based paint over oil based paint, there will be low adhesion, and even if you used top of the line exterior paint, adhesion problems would persist.

With a mandatory ROS scuffing, you should be able to assess underlying adhesion problems. I say mandatory, as you want some tooth to the underlying paint for a new coat to adhere well (as well as flatten drips and runs.

Another option worth considering is to purchase a used door same size and temporarily install it, then take the door in question ot a "dip and strip" shop to have al the old paint stripped, so you can start afresh!

Good luck

Eric

The only problem with that is that the door will probably disintegrate as the glue will be stripped as well, the finish on it at the moment looks to me like a Cuprinol type stain.

 

[Jester129]

You need to check that the bottom of the door isn't rotten. I had a hardwood door and sanded it from the top first, and when I got to the bottom I found that I needed a new door! Just a thought.
HTH.

 

[Jos7000]

If you're leaving the door in situ so you can close it at night, whatever you choose to do, paint it early in the day to allow drying or it will stick to the door jamb.
I would sand all the old paint off wherever you're planning high gloss or it will look horrendous. Think car repair, the end result is 90% preparation.

 

[Charlie]

I've just made a new front door for a listed building. It faces south and continually gets all the weather. The old one had had various coats of Dulux etc on a regular basis but always faked and cracked within a few years and the door and frame rotted as a result. I did a bit of looking around and found that places like Chatsworth House use linseed oil paint. It takes quite some time for the 3rd coat to dry but the theory says that if you fill all the pores in the wood with oil, the water can't get in and so last for a very long time. It's expensive to buy initially, but if you only have to do it once in 20 yrs, saves time effort and money. That's the theory anyway. Time will tell