Painting a front door

[bumbl3]

Our front door is a colour that I really don't like (inherited from previous owner). It's an original Edwardian door with lots of stained glass detail. We're planning to paint it black gloss.

Is this something we can do ourselves? I'm very comfortable with painting with emulsion, and have also painted wood, but feel like the paint dries very quickly, and you can see the brush strokes more easily. Do I just need to work faster? Do you paint the undercoat, main coat, etc. all in a single day?

I'm getting quotes of £300 to do it for us, which seems a bit crazy.

Thank you!

Id use blackjack al fresco frenchic paint. Very easy to use.

@TracyMosby thank you - is that a top coat and undercoat in one?

Hopeful bump - grateful for any advice!

It's easy enough. Remove what door furniture you can and plan it out so that you get maximum drying time before you have to lock up for the night. Ours took about 3 coats plus undercoat, so I did it over multiple days to make sure the paint was hard before I had to close it.

Frenchic Alfresco (blackjack) as said is what you need

I change my door colour often. It’s not hard to do. The Frenchix is all in one and even works on pvc

Frenchic

Is pay the £300. Gloss is difficult to work with. Sit back and let a professional do it.

Is frenchic chalky/matt though? It's a period house, and I think black gloss would look a lot better than chalkboard black.

I was planning on using farrow and ball. We've used them for our interiors and love the finish.

Gloss paint isn't like emulsion, it doesn't dry quickly and takes a couple of days to cure, even when it's dry to touch. I stripped and repainted my front door, as the original green paint was showing through the fading and chipped top coat (a different shade of green).

You'd need to rub down the original paintwork to get a good key (or strip it off completely), mask off the glass, remove the door furniture, probably apply an undercoat (which dries relatively quickly) as well as top coat of gloss. It's worth doing all the preparation properly, it will look much better and last longer, and all that is where your money will go if you pay someone to do it.

I would do the undercoat on day one and start the gloss as soon as possible on day two, so when you close it to lock at night the gloss doesn't come off onto the door frame. Warm weather helps too, it will take longer to dry in cold temperatures.

Where we live our doors gets heavily weathered.

I’ve used water based gloss, but it honestly didn’t last long before it needed redoing. I’m a confident DIYer, so have done doors in oil based gloss. That was about 8 years ago and they still look like new.

Should I not do gloss then? The alternative is what farrow and ball call exterior eggshell, which is mid sheen. I'm happy to consider a less glossy finish if it's more likely to look better.

(I'd rather stick with water-based.)

I started very early in the day too to give maximum drying time.

So depends on how sheltered your door is as to what product you should use.

Oil based gloss isn’t too hard to work with, but takes a long time to be touch dry. You still have to work relatively quickly as you always need to paint to a wet edge to get a smooth finish, and use 2 or 3 thin coats. Runs are a pain to get rid of.

But £300 to paint an exterior door sounds about right.

Is a temperature of 14-16 ok?

Water based is easier to use, but it’ll need renewing frequently depending on weathering.

I’ve used F&B and am not a fan. 90% of the time I used Johnston’s Trade. They shops can mix any colour. They can even colour match discontinued paints if they have the code.

OP, it is ridiculously easy (so long as you don't decide to do it on a wet day). F&B Exterior Eggshell is great. The devil is in the preparation, so sand it properly (boring but necessary). I do use F&B Exterior Woodwork Primer/Undercoat, but you could probably use any exterior primer. Two or three coats of Exterior Eggshell on top, and that's that. Don't worry about the ambient temperature, so long as it's not freezing (my rule of thumb is that if it's not too cold to paint outside, then it's not too cold full stop - I don't do exterior painting if I can't feel my fingers). Do not pay anyone £300! I wouldn't use gloss as I don't like oil paints, but that's just personal preference.

BTW, I've used F&B and Johnstone's Trade. F&B is better, colour wise. Johnstone's is cheaper (use it in rental properties). Coverage and longevity are similar.

@Dorigen thank you - I think F&B gloss is also water-based. I don't think it would take any longer to dry, but might be harder to apply so that it looks good.

I'm just going for black, so probably don't need to go for F&B, but it won't cost that much more vs. generic brands. I'll be saving £300!

Tbh for a beginner the Frechic outdoor range sounds easy to use, and dries in a few hours. Though it’s not a gloss finish.

Depending on what your door is like now, you’ll need to do some prep first - remove the door furniture, wash with sugar soap solution, then rinse with plain water, sand any bits which are flaky - probably a 120 grit none clog sandpaper, wipe down with clean dry cloth to get rid of dust, then mask off the glasswork then you’re good to go.

Choose a day where it hasn’t rained for a couple of days prior and not going to rain for a couple of days after. You’re going to need to keep the door open for a few hours until the paint is dry, so anything above 12 degree should be fine. Not a windy day either otherwise you’ll get bits stuck to it.

Choose a soft bristled brush which feels comfy in your hand. Remember to stir the pain first, put down an old folded sheet to catch any drips etc. I always start at the bottom and work up. Don’t overload your brush with paint and only dip the top few cm of the bristles in otherwise you’ll get paint everywhere. You can always add more paint

Don’t use what someone with rental
Properties uses. I have not used F&B gloss. We have eggshell for exterior woodwork on a door we painted. However with gloss I would still pay for a professional finish!

I use my modern interior egg shell F&B colour matched by Johnstones on exterior doors and windows, it's absolutely fine

Interior eggshell isn’t a long lasting paint on external doors. Why not use the exterior eggshell? A door doesn’t take much paint. Just use the original F&B product.

I would wait until it’s a little warmer and doesn’t go below 5 at night before painting.

@TizerorFizz yes exterior eggshell. Don't think I said interior eggshell - a PP mentioned it, but think they meant the colour rather than finish.

It's mostly above 5 degrees overnight these days. Maybe I'll give it another week or so.

@bumbl3
Yes someone else did mention interior eggshell. The colours are pretty much the same.

I love the glossy black front door of No10 Downing Street. We have found the exterior eggshell much easier to use. Fewer brushstroke issues. But I can see the attraction of gloss for black.