Painting many Interior doors - Advice

JohnW

New User
John
We are replacing all 22 of our interior doors with 6 panel doors. I plan on buying doors that are primed and ready for paint. Wife wants black doors. I believe spray painting would yield the best results as opposed to brush. Spraying will be faster and, if done correctly, look better. I only have spray equipment for thinner finishes. Based on spray painting with latex water based paint, what would you recommend I purchase. I've had experience many (+30 years) years ago with the Wagner 220 which did a good job on rough surfaces and split rails, but did not perform very well on smooth surfaces. So I'm looking for advice on latex sprayers that do well with smooth flat surfaces. Does Wagner make a better gun now? Advice and opinions needed on quality latex spray systems.
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
You might want to consider using black water-borne lacquer. You can use the equipment you have and get a quick dry and durable finish
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I used white tinted resisthane, a water borne lacquer, on several projects, most recently a large cabinet for my bathroom. It sprays easily with my mini-mite 3 and is a durable finish. To get good coverage, I find it important to use Hood finishing's white tinted primer, however. Not sure where you would find a black tinted primer.

If it was me, I would paint a door or two and hang it first to be sure the wife really likes black doors.

I have redone a lot of the interior of my house including hanging a bunch of six panel doors. I used small 4 inch rollers and a trim brush to paint them, you can do almost everything with the roller but the brush was required for me in spots in the fake trim around the panels. I set up saw horses in the garage so I could lay them out horizontal and did half a dozen at the time (all I had space for).
 

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
If it was me, I would paint a door or two and hang it first to be sure the wife really likes black doors.

agreed, I'm a real estate agent full time, and have been in many many homes, and seen many design choices, and black is often one that people are most unhappy with. It can make a home feel very dark and depressing, even when used sparingly. But, I always tell people it's your home, do what makes you (or in this case the wife) happy, and don't worry about it till you're ready to sell. Then be prepared to paint/replace all those doors again.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
"Then be prepared to paint/replace all those doors again."

Another member wanted to repaint several doors and wanted to sand them lightly before repainting. They were painted with acrylic latex I guess and when he tried to sand them the sandpaper clogged and the paint balled up. Kind of a rubbery texture.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Another member wanted to repaint several doors and wanted to sand them lightly before repainting. They were painted with acrylic latex I guess and when he tried to sand them the sandpaper clogged and the paint balled up. Kind of a rubbery texture.
That was me Jeff.

Better choices (for doors) than acrylic wall paint are
- Enamel trim paint (like Sherwin Williams Pro Classic), or
- Lacquer; I use Target coatings water based lacquer on furniture and even as a novice sprayer I was quite happy with the results. I would not hesitate to spray on doors.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I agree with the poster that stated paint one door first and see if you like it. Normally with dark paints, you tint the primer to a dark gray. Then put your top coat on. You should use 2 top coats min. With dark paints, because of the new low VOC mix design you will likely need at least 3-4 top coats. I know when we have to paint reds, blues, or purple, we typically do them 5-6 times for a high-end finish (I am a Construction manager by lively-hood). DO NOT USE An Airless. Also, if you buy preprimed doors, once you prime it lightly sand it as most mdf or other man made materials will lift the surface a bit and it will get small hairs that raise up. This will make the finish look shabby. We always prime it then light sand with 120-150 then wipe off any dust then apply one coat lightly (Heavy tack or light 1st coat) then apply the 2nd coat and see how it finishes. This will tell if you need more and how many. After each coat light sand with finer and finer sand paper, wipe down and repaint.

hope this helps.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I find that latex paint that is really old - years old - sands OK. But latex paint that is only weeks to a few months old gums up sandpaper badly. I think it takes months to fully dry. I've also noticed it is much easier to damage when relatively new.

We had a bunch of demo done a couple years ago in a remodel. That included vanities and a couple storage closets. I saved all the 1X softwood and it became drawers and other stuff when I trimmed out the new areas. It was all painted, several times, but I was able to sand it with my Bosch DEVS 1250. In the turbo mode it came off fairly quickly. I also used the same sander on clapboards on the exterior dining room walls. I'm pretty sure the paint I was sanding was latex, at least most of it.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
I find that latex paint that is really old - years old - sands OK. But latex paint that is only weeks to a few months old gums up sandpaper badly. I think it takes months to fully dry. I've also noticed it is much easier to damage when relatively new.

True enough about latex 'curing/drying/crosslinking', but my doors were last painted more than 8 years ago, and I still just got rubbery balls of paint under the paper when attempting to sand. Glad your experience was better. I now know that enamel paints are a much better choice for trim and doors.
 

redknife

Chris
Corporate Member
Hey Oka,
Could you clarify "do not use airless"? Why? Based on your experience, are you suggesting hvlp (presumably thinned), or manual application?
Thanks

I agree with the poster that stated paint one door first and see if you like it. Normally with dark paints, you tint the primer to a dark gray. Then put your top coat on. You should use 2 top coats min. With dark paints, because of the new low VOC mix design you will likely need at least 3-4 top coats. I know when we have to paint reds, blues, or purple, we typically do them 5-6 times for a high-end finish (I am a Construction manager by lively-hood). DO NOT USE An Airless. Also, if you buy preprimed doors, once you prime it lightly sand it as most mdf or other man made materials will lift the surface a bit and it will get small hairs that raise up. This will make the finish look shabby. We always prime it then light sand with 120-150 then wipe off any dust then apply one coat lightly (Heavy tack or light 1st coat) then apply the 2nd coat and see how it finishes. This will tell if you need more and how many. After each coat light sand with finer and finer sand paper, wipe down and repaint.

hope this helps.
 

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