How to gloss a front door
The brief was to paint the shiniest front door in the village, and that is what they got! Apparently the joiner who fitted the furniture said the paintwork was like glass. With 16 hours and 6 coats invested in it, no wonder!
Before burning off the paint with a hot air gun, I removed all the door furniture, laid heavy duty paper under the door inside and out, and laid plastic sheeting on the floor on the other side of the door. I regularly vacuumed up any dust and dirt.
When undercoated, the door is ready to be filled. I skimmed all the panels, stiles and rails with Polycell trade filler and brushed watered down filler on all the mouldings. It takes a couple of hours for it to dry hard. After a gentle rub down with light grade sandpaper, the dust was removed with the vacuum, every square inch was wiped over with a tack rag, and it was undercoated.Original post Aug 2009, updated March 2012 Many oil paint formulations have changed and the usual paint companies haven’t always moved well with the times. I would now use Sikkens Rubbol BL Primer (water based) and Sikkens AZ or XD oil based gloss. Or the “posh” gloss paints from Little Greene and Paint Library are still reliable. These are ahead of the game, Sikkens, for instance was 2010 compliant back in 2007, I believe.
For an even stronger shinier base, I would substitute conventional filler with oil-based Swedish Putty which is available in Europe as Toupret Gras a Lacquer, or Beissier Gras a Laquer. It goes on super thin, and dries off quickly ready for more skim if necessary. Leave overnight and sand smooth with wet n dry abrasive used wet. It can be applied either over the primer or the undercoat with no perceivable difference in final result.
So, materials are a-changing, but otherwise the same principles of traditional painting practice apply.
The last job before applying the first coat of gloss is to “gun up” the joints down the side of the mouldings. When the flexible acrylic has dried hard, the door is glossed. I did this early in the morning, so the paint had a good 12 hours to dry. The following day I lightly sanded the door with wet ‘n dry, used wet, cleaned it off with a tack rag, and put on the second coat.
The finishing touch was to replace the door furniture with a new bronze set. The handle is oval, which suits the grip of older homeowners, and the bronze is completely maintenance-free, and will acquire a greenish patina over time.
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