Advice - Painting pine doors.

TillyD

Registered User
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Hi guys,

I want to know do I have to put an undercoat on doors or skirting if they’re already varnished? The doors and skirting in our new house is all pine and varnished with a high gloss. I want to paint them satin white/some kind of off white (still trying to decide on the colour!) but I’m wondering do I need an undercoat. Any other advice appreciated too.

Thank you!
Tilly.
 
Are you 100% sure you want to do this? If its high gloss varnish the paint probably won't adhere to it.

I know its personal choice but if I had my way I would get rid of my white doors and get pine ones, if possible. It is a terrible job trying to keep the painted doors clean and painting them is a terrible job as is all gloss work :)

P.S. Just noticed that you mention skirtings also. If you think the doors are hard to paint then the skirtings are even worse.
 
If you want to paint doors which are already finished in a varnish you will need to rub down lightly to create a key. Follow this with one or two coats of undercoat and a final top coat of gloss or satinwood. Satinwood would be my preference for a top coat, it doesn't show up imperfections, dings and knocks the same way a gloss coat would. I prefer painted pine to varnished pine anyday- it looks clean, bright and can be freshened up every few years as required. Cheap varnished pine (full of knots etc) darkens with time and can make a house look very dark. Of course a good quality timber will look well varnished.
 
Thanks a million Carpenter!

That’s what I wanted to know, how to paint the doors and what way to go about it. I will be using a satinwood but I can’t decide on whether to paint them white or an off white. I’m siding with white because I like the clean look white gives.

Sueellen, isn’t it a pity we just couldn’t swap our doors!!!

Thanks again guys… Tilly.
 
Personally, I'd go for the off-white (or one of the "soft" whites) - the clean look of white is great when it's kept absolutely pristine, but it's pretty unforgiving for those of us less keen on dusting the skirting boards... :eek:
 
Hi,

I am just in the middle of painting my doors.

I've put a undercoat on first so that I could see all the lumps and bumps and the areas that need to be filled in with wood filler. I then sanded them down and put another undercoat on, I am now on my 3rd coat of satin finish top coat. It is yasmine white and it's still not covering it. It's driving me mad!

Any advice guys... Tilly.
 
TillyD,
I wonder if the satin finish you are using is one one the new "easycare" water based products, if so this is your problem! The water based satin finishes are easy on the nose and easy to clean up after but the coverage and hiding power is appalling; I've spoken to a professional contractor and Dulux about this. Pretty soon (another few years anyway) most paint will be waterbased or have very little VOC content anyway but in the meantime try and stick with oil based satin finishes and you'll see a vast improvement in coverage and hiding power.
 
If you want to paint doors which are already finished in a varnish you will need to rub down lightly to create a key. Follow this with one or two coats of undercoat and a final top coat of gloss or satinwood. Satinwood would be my preference for a top coat, it doesn't show up imperfections, dings and knocks the same way a gloss coat would. I prefer painted pine to varnished pine anyday- it looks clean, bright and can be freshened up every few years as required. Cheap varnished pine (full of knots etc) darkens with time and can make a house look very dark. Of course a good quality timber will look well varnished.

Knotty pine to my mind looks a bit naff.
 
Carpenter it is the 'Easycare' range. Thanks for that! What range do you remcommned? Can I get dulux yasmine white in an oil base. Never mind I'll ask at the paint the shop, thanks very much.... Tilly.
 
Carpenter it is the 'Easycare' range. Thanks for that! What range do you remcommned? Can I get dulux yasmine white in an oil base. Never mind I'll ask at the paint the shop, thanks very much.... Tilly.

Many colours are still available off the shelf in the oil based product, failing that ask the shop to tint a can of white, oil based satin for you. When you're putting on the oil based stuff you'll see and feel the difference straight away, the other stuff is just rubbish IMHO.
 
Carpenter... Got yasmine white in an oil base satin wood and one coat did the job. Thanks a million again. I'm chuffed with my doors now.
 
Good stuff, glad it worked out for you. As a tip (in addition to using oil based satinwood only) never use a plain white on woodwork, a tinted white will always give better coverage as it has greater "hiding power"- but you already done this anyway so you're laughing.
 
I'm looking put clear varnish on my doors but wondering whether I should use gloss or satin. Anybody any recommendations.
 
Hi guys,

I want to know do I have to put an undercoat on doors or skirting if they’re already varnished? The doors and skirting in our new house is all pine and varnished with a high gloss. I want to paint them satin white/some kind of off white (still trying to decide on the colour!) but I’m wondering do I need an undercoat. Any other advice appreciated too.

Thank you!
Tilly.
Hi use zinner bin primer first finish with colortrend satin wood
 
I’ve just got a painter to do this as too big a job (for us anyway) to tackle as DIY. He used this knot cover primer and a number of coats of white paint. Ours weren’t varnished thankfully so didn’t have to strip first. We had 8 doors in all plus skirting and architrave .


They look great and so glad we did it but even happier a professional did it.
 
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