How to Paint a Door

After you have had a house or apartment for a while you will undoubtedly notice the door becoming scuffed and scratched.  After this gets to a certain point it is time to paint your door with a fresh coat of paint!

Painting a door is a pretty simple process, this how to paint a door guide will make things even easier though!

When you are looking at how to paint a door you have to consider the amount of damage the door has sustained.  If the door just needs refreshing with a new coat of the same colored paint, you may just be able to paint over it while it is on the hinges.  If there is more damage, you will need to unhinge the door and lay it flat.

If the door has any small gaps in you may be able to fill these with paint.  However, if you have large gaps you may need to fill these with a filler.

When you are painting the door while it is still attached the first thing you need to do is prepare.  To prepare your door for painting you must do a few basic things.

First, cover the carpet with sheets or newspaper around the door.

Secondly, tape over all the hinges and door handles with masking tape.  You do not really want to paint over these.

Finally you need to place some kind of wedge, to stop the door closing while still wet! (You can paint over this bit later)

Once you have prepared to paint your door while still hinged, you can begin! Whether you are using a roller or a paint brush, you must paint in downwards strokes.  If your door has details, do these first with a brush!  The door should be held open so you can paint the part inwards to the hinge if required, this must be a light coat of paint however!

Once this has dried you can remove your wedge and paint any spots you may have missed, then remove the masking tape and newspaper, and you are done!

If you want to know how to paint the door by taking it off the hinges then read on!

By taking the door off it’s hinges you can do a much more professional job. When you remove the door you should take off the hinges, and tape over the gaps these have left.  You should also tape over the door handle and any locks. To hold the door you should lay it down flat over a table, or sawhorse.

If the door is damaged fill in the gaps with a filler (Putty for small gaps, epoxy for large), and smooth down with sand paper.

Apply one to do coats of paint and allow to dry, if it looks close to ready you can apply the final coat.  If the door is fresh wood, then you may need to apply up to four coats of base paint to cover the scuffs and marks.

When you paint the door with a brush use long even strokes.  You can use a roller, however you may need to use a smaller brush to fill in any patterns.  You can find more details on painting in our how to paint section.

Once you have done the first side of the door you can start on the second side.  To do the second side of the door you will need to lay it down on the fresh coat of paint.  To protect the fresh paint then you should lay down a layer of newspaper and cover this with soft tissue paper.  This should stop any dents in the paint, or unsightly marks!

Hopefully these handy hints will help you learn how to paint a door!

1) The usual easy fix for squeaky doors is lubricating oil such as WD-40.  Spray this in to the hinges and you should see a noticeable improvement almost instantly.

2) Sometimes a quick spot of oil will not do the job, if this is the case try taking off the hinges and remove the hinge pin.  Once you remove the pin rub it down with wire wool.  Respray the hinge with WD-40 and then replace the hinge.  You could also try soap on the hinge pin, this can help remove dirt from the hinge and smooth it’s passage.

3) Sometime the squeaking can be caused by loose hinges.  A good way to fix this is to unscrew the hinges, put match sticks in to the holes and break them off where the screw hole levels off, then replace the screws.

4) If none of this has worked you can always buy new hinges, they are not very expensive, and can be found at any hardware store.

Hopefully this guide on how to fix squeaky door hinges will have fixed your problems!