How To Paint A Door

Here are some helpful tips from our experienced painters on how to paint a door:

Step 1 – Preparing To Start

Prepare your work space by laying down a drop sheet to protect the area from any paint drips or splatters. Then decide whether you want remove your door to paint or leave it swinging. Our painters leave the doors hanging as often when removing the door can lead to not re aligning when re hanging. We recommend you remove the door handle and latch for ease when coating. A handy tip is to tape all parts on the handle together so nothing gets lost. Then tape your hinges with masking tape.

Step 2 – Preparing The Door For Paint

Thoroughly sand your door with 120 grit sand paper, then secondly sand with a finer grit sand paper, 180 grit or 240 grit will suit. A great way know you have sanded enough is to look over the door and ensure most of the ‘sheen’ or glossy finish has flattened off. Ensure that you sand in between coats with a fine grit sandpaper, we recommend a 240 grit. If there are imperfections, gaps and cracks be sure to fill them prior to undercoating. From more preparation techniques see our Interior Preparation page

Step 3 – Undercoating The Door

Choose and all in 1 undercoat. Stir the paint thoroughly and poor it into your tray. First paint the spines of the door before you start the faces. This ensures you collect any overlaps or runs with your roller. Apply you paint in a ‘W’ or ‘M’ motion to the door, this will ensure full coverage is achieved.

Then you need to lay off your paint. This is achieved by taking your roller and rolling from top to bottom of the door in direct lines, be sure to keep even pressure on your roller when doing this. Slightly overlap each roller run to prevent any ‘tracks’ in your paint.

Tip: Use a door wedge or door stop to hold the door in place while painting

Step 4 – Top Coat

Lightly sand the door with 240 grit sandpaper and dust down before applying top coat. Use the same method as applying undercoat, making sure you leave a nice even finish. Follow this process again for the second and final coat.

Step 5 – Reassemble The Door

Re install the handle, open and shut the door a few times to ensure the door latch catches correctly. Remove tape from hinges and enjoy your freshly painted door.