Painting a door?

[Pocketa]

I have a door with a cosmetic scratch on it. It's the front entrance door. The side I'm cleaning is the interior side.

How do I go about repainting the door?

Do I need primer, sandpaper, etc.?

I'd rather not hire a professional.

[Hazkali]

[Advance Warning: I cannot vouch for the efficacy of this, but I have done interior painting before]

Do you still have the same paint as it has been painted with? If so, I would suggest sanding down the area around the scratch (you don't need to go down to the wood, just provide a 'key' for the paint), wiping down with sugar-soap, then painting over it. I think that should do it, and it would also apply for repainting the whole door, I would think.

If it's particularly small, there are some advertised products that say they can conceal scratches, one of those might work.

[Graymayre]

have you tried putting the brush to the door?

[Pocketa]

[Advance Warning: I cannot vouch for the efficacy of this, but I have done interior painting before]

Do you still have the same paint as it has been painted with? If so, I would suggest sanding down the area around the scratch (you don't need to go down to the wood, just provide a 'key' for the paint), wiping down with sugar-soap, then painting over it. I think that should do it, and it would also apply for repainting the whole door, I would think.

If it's particularly small, there are some advertised products that say they can conceal scratches, one of those might work.


Ought I clean the door before hand and after sanding it down?
What is "sugar soap"?

[Hazkali]

I wouldn't clean the door beforehand, you'll need to after sanding though.

Sugar soap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_soap) is used for cleaning surfaces before painting, and is sold as a powder or pre-prepared as a solution.

[Timberwolf]

I pretty much agree with Hazkali but I will add that it depends what you have, how much time you have to put in and how good you want it to look.

If you have the exact same substance that was used to paint the door then you're good, just sand, clean off the area (or you'll get dust and stuff in the paint) and recoat it. You may need a couple of coats, see how it looks after the 1st coat has dried.

When you're using the best approximate finish that you can find is when things get awkward. If you don't mind it probably being noticeable where you have repaired the finish then go as above but if you'd rather not then you'll need to strip the wood clean. (A power sander is your friend as sandpaper will take forever). Be warned, if the door is varnished / waxed then no matter what you do it will look odd. Also, because varnish seeps into the wood, I wouldn't like to try stripping it without finding out from someone who know more what will happen.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Or if you screw up and it looks different. You can always do the same to the rest of the door in a nice patern, so that it just looks stylish and not a bad fix-up.

But yeah, it not being noticeable is better.

[Pyrian]

Slap a faerie sticker on it. :smallbiggrin: