So I painted the front door but the paint isn't completely dry

[MolotovCocktail]

And I had to close the door and now the paint has smeared where its been in the door-frame :( You can't see when the door is closed but when it's open there is a vertical smear line right the way down and it's ruining the look of my otherwise very neat paint job!

I'm new to this DIY lark, so please be gentle. I bought a 1 coat B&Q exterior wood and metal paint. The tin says 4 hours touch dry and to leave 16 hours between coats.

I wiped down and sanded the old paint before painting with the new on Saturday in dry weather. It was all finished at 4pm. I closed the door at 11:30pm.

First smear line.

I touched it up yesterday at 8am (16 hrs later) and closed the door again at 11pm.

Still the line.

What should I do? Leave it for a few days, sand the smear line and repaint? Wtf is with this paint-drying time? What did I do wrong and how should I correct it?

And advice is gladly appreciated, TIA .

You have to keep the door open for 24 hours

Really? I live in a pretty safe area but I'm not sure how comfortable I am leaving the front door open overnight. I know that it makes sense to do that in terms of the paint drying, but ... well, I suppose my hesitation is understandable (particularly if I want a nearly painted front door!)

DH kipped in the livingroom the night we painted the front door - he left open just enough so that it wasn't touching the frame, closed the inner door and then bunked down on the couch. Is there a bloke somewhere who owes you a favour, or who'd kip in your downstairs in exchange for a full English breakfast in the morning? Actually, DH might do that...

One coat is the absolute work of the devil. Horrid stuff. Personally, I wouldn't be bothered about a smear on the edge of the door (if that's where you mean), but if I did want to touch it up, I would wait several days until it was 100% dry, give it a sand, then thin the one coat right down with white spirit, give it one thin coat in the morning, which should be dry by the evening so you can close the door, then the next day rub it down again and give it another thin coat if it needs it.

Just out of interest OP, is your paint colour red or burgundy?

Thanks all for your replies :)

Poledra, that's a good idea :) I am actually married although I don't know how keen DH would be to support me on my DIY escapade ...

Stubborn, brilliant advice there, thank-you :) The paint I've used is sage green (it's a green/gray mid-sheen satin).

I take it then, that red hues take longer to dry?

I've had grief with reds before, and I've heard other people say that too...also, have you noticed that red cars are always the first to start peeling? Apparently this is because red absorbs UV the most.

Haha, my car is red! No peeling, though

Vaseline. Smear it on the door where it will touch the frame on closing and it should stop it from transferring. You can wipe it off in a few days when you are sure it is set.
You will probably have to sand it a little before recoating too to make sure there is a) a key for it to stick to and b) so that the door will close with the paint build up.

Bloody paint has come away a little more as I have opened/closed it a few times today

Looks beautiful from the outside when the door is closed, but that strip is a bit of a wreck :(

Evidently it still isn't fully dry, hence why it's still pulling off.

I'm gonna have to leave it, as stubborn said, for a few days now because I think I'm going to make it worse if I tinker with it.

So, if I decide to fix the smear strip, I would have to sand it as the door might not close properly with the paint build-up? It looks like it would need sanding back anyway, as it isn't flat.

as oscar said, vaseline is what you need. A thin smear and polish away excess with a cotton rag. It need be no more than would put a shine on the meeting surfaces. You don't need geat greasy gobbets

if you are going to sand it, wait several weeks until the paint is too hard to be marked by your thumbnail. If you try to sand modern paint when soft it will probably pill.

Another method is to move the lock staple a fraction, and put in a couple of matchsticks to hold the door off contact until it is hard (and vaselined).

PigletJohn, as I live and breathe! I've just been searching the whole of Google for how to attach shelving to plasterboard walls, and up popped a Mumsnet thread with your contribution (this isn't a derail- I believe I am furnished with the answers to that one now). You also gave me some good fridge advice in the past....

Do you actually exist in RL, or are you some kind of friendly internet genie dedicated to improving MNers' collective DIY skills?

(I didn't know about the vaseline- thst's going to come in useful some day ).

I am a disembodied web-bot.

In real life I run a therapeutic service in Hull.

I frequently tell lies.

In fact, I work for the Scottish Tourist Board. They pay me £500 a day to swim up and down Loch Ness.

Interesting....all these parallel careers rely heavily on the use of petroleum jelly...

Are you, in fact, a web bot sponsored by vaseline?

The vaseline trick sounds like it'll really come in handy one day... But tell me please, oscar or PigletJ - if I'm painting a door and need to close it (after a few hours of course), do I smear the vaseline on the frame where the door will touch it, or over the newly-painted, probably tacky door itself?

either or both

if the door itself is actually tacky, it's too early to shut. put half a matchstick at the top, bottom and middle of the frame to reduce the contact area and marks. It will leave a small mark that you can deal with later.

When you paint the frame it is best to remove the lock staple (keep) first and this will prevent the door closing tightly. It reduces the strength of the lock in the frame until you put it back.

Thanks :)