LISAinTN

Hello,

We're having a house built and some of the exterior doors came pre-primed and ready to paint. (I think they are steel. If it matters, I will find out for sure) The painter painted the doors and this weekend, I noticed a small white mark on one of the doors. I thought something had gotten on the door, so I took my fingernail to lightly scratch it off and the paint came off the door. The white spot wasn't something on the door, but a place where the paint had gotten bumped off already. I lightly scratched some more and it very easily came right off! So I went to a spot in the door where the paint was still on, lightly scratched on the paint and it too came off. If I wanted to, I could easily scratched all the paint off the door. My question is, what went wrong? I talked to the contractor this morning and he's going to talk to the painter today, but I'm afraid these doors are ruined. Any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Lisa

oldognewtrick

Lisa, did just the paint come off or did the paint AND primmer also release from the door?

LISAinTN

Hi Olddog,

No, just the paint. Well, I assume just the paint because it's white underneath.

Lisa

joecaption

It should have been cleaned, very lightly sanded, wiped down with mineral spirts, then painted with nothing but a Quailty 100% Acrilic latex paint. And never paint any door of any material that's going to get direct sun with a dark color. It will distroy the door.

LISAinTN

Thanks Joe. It ended up they're getting new doors in. They tried the paint on some temporary doors yesterday and only a few minutes after it was applied, we couldn't scratch it off. I think the primer on the other doors was bad or something. It's the only thing that makes any sense anyway. Thanks for your info.

Lisa

epox

Sometimes latex paint does not bond good to some of the primer that comes on new doors.....even if you prep it really good. I always use a exterior oil base primer on new doors before I top coat them ....never have had anymore problems with them.

HDwetPaint

Hello Lisa, I’m glad to hear everything worked out for you, but just for future reference even though the doors you had purchased came pre primed It is still recommended that you go ahead and apply a fresh coat of primer on them anyway. Most often they apply this primer coat to protect them during shipping. It doesn’t happen too often but I have experienced exactly what is happening to you and ever since I’ve re primed and never had a problem afterwards.

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BenjaminJohnson

There are three methods you can use for painting metal doors.

The first is a simple brush. While this is the least expensive method and likely the most popular, it is not the most effective. Each brush mark shows up quickly on the door’s smooth surface. Using a professional quality paintbrush will help.

The second method is using a roller. This is easy, requires little expenditure, and little training. With a short nap roller cover, and the right size of roller (use a 4” roller if there are many decorative indents or rails on your door) it is possible to get a very smooth finish by rolling.

The last method produces the best results on metal doors. Spraying gives a finish that is truly smooth. However, using a paint sprayer is expensive, and requires a bit of know-how to use effectively.

Read more: Metal Door Painting: Start to Finish | DoItYourself.com

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RonnySanders

It is important to sand and prime the door first. You should use a high quality latex paint for this metal door.