Painting a door is easiest if you pull the hinge pins and lay the door across a pair of sawhorses. For the best-looking results, remove all door hardware except the hinge leaves, especially if you’re spray-painting. (If you leave hinges on and mask them carefully, doors are more likely to hang correctly when reinstalled.) If you prefer not to remove the old latch mechanism and escutcheons, carefully mask them too.
If you’re brush-painting a flush door (flat surface), divide it into several imaginary rectangles, each half the width of the door. Apply paint with the grain and overlap the edges of adjacent sections. Work from top to bottom. Painting panel doors is similar, but work from the inside out: Paint the insides of the panels first, then the rails (horizontal pieces) top to bottom, and finally the vertical stiles.
To paint both sides of a door without waiting for the first painted side to dry, drive a pair of nails into the top and bottom of the door; then rest those nails on a pair of sawhorses. You and a helper can grab the nails and flip the door over. When both sides are dry, pull the nails; then fill and paint the holes.
Thanks to Greg Scillitani for sharing this tip—just one of the thousands of field-tested tips and techniques that you’ll find in Renovation 4th Edition. Brand new from The Taunton Press, R4‘s 614 pages include 250+ technical drawings, 1,000 photos selected from the 40,000 that I’ve taken over the years, and lifetimes of experience that builders shared with me. I hope you find Renovation 4 useful. –Mike
© Michael Litchfield 2013
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When spray-painting a door, move the sprayer smoothly and continuously, maintaining a constant distance from the surface. Overlap preceding passes by about a third. On each pass, begin spraying before the spray tip is over the door, and don't release the trigger till the paint fan is past the far edge. Use your free hand, as shown, to keep the hose out of the way.
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Renovation 4th Edition contains lifetimes of experience: thousands of field-tested tips and techniques that master builders shared with Mike Litchfield, a founding editor of Fine Homebuilding.
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I am an advocate of the belief that spray painting is better than using a paint brush.But it also necessary that we know the right spray paint and spray painter for each project.