How to Paint an Exterior Door

How to Paint an Exterior Door

• 1

  Know what type of door you are painting. Most new exterior doors come pre-primed and are ready to paint right away. Older wood or steel doors may need some attention before putting on the final coat of paint.

• 2

  Don't prime a pre-primed door. This will add to your work load and may result in an inferior job because the factory coatings on new doors are perfectly formulated to accept any type of paint. Usually the primed exterior door will be some shade of gray. If your new wooden door is not primed, prime all six sides with a quality oil or acrylic primer before hanging. This means the top and bottom edge as well as the vertical edges and front and back. This will make your wood door hold up longer.

• 3

  Paint new doors on sawhorses before the hinges and hardware are installed, if you can. As long as you have a "naked" door and it's not hanging, take advantage of it. You will save time by not having to remove or mask off door handles and hinges.

• 4

  Paint the hinge side the same color as the rest of the outside of the door, assuming your exterior door opens inwards, Otherwise you will see a strip of the inside door color every time the door is opened, which doesn't look very professional. Unless you have a very steady hand and quality paintbrush, mask off the hinges instead of painting over them.

• 5

  Use a palm sander and 50 grit sandpaper to sand down any surface rust on older metal doors. Once the surface feels smooth and the rust is sanded off, prime all bare metal with an oil based rust inhibiting primer. Once that is dry, the door can be either painted with oil based or acrylic paints.

• 6

  Scrape and sand older wooden doors smooth and free of all loose paint and dirt. A palm sander and 80 grit sandpaper will make the job go much easier. Use a good primer on all bare wood. Usually acrylic (water based) paints are a better choice for wooden doors because they stay more flexible when the wood expands and contracts.

• 7

  Paint flush doors with a small mini roller, or a regular roller in 1/4" lambswool or mohair for a very fine finish. Do any brushwork, along the bottom edge and around the door hardware, before you roll each coat. With a little practice mini rollers can be used to paint panel doors as well. Any time you use a roller on a door do the brushing first to avoid unsightly roller marks.