With so many people looking to renovate and upgrade their homes in late 2015 and early 2016 we see a reasonable number of enquiries for installing new solid timer front doors and painting them. It can be quite surprising that the steps to painting an exterior front door (or back door, for that matter), can actually be quite an involved process. We recently painted a new door that was supposedly solid timber. On close inspection we found it to be more a veneer laminated construction. There are many of these doors on the market currently priced at around $200. A real solid timber front door can easily cost $600+ so there is a market for a lower cost entry door and these ‘veneer’ doors, generally made from maple meet the markets need. To paint this door the job involved:
- Sanding down the door in grades of sandpaper
- Applying an oil based primer / under coat paint
- A light sanding after 24 hours (the oil based under coats generally require a longer drying time)
- Application of an oil based top coat
- Light sanding (again after 24 hours is best)
- Applying a second top coat
Taking time and doing the job properly is important to get a long lasting, good looking finish. The other obvious issue is that the inside of the door is generally painted a different colour to the outside so this adds another few steps to the process! An attractive entrance door that is well painted with an attractive colour can really enhance the appearance of your home so it is well work doing the job well.
