Painting a fiberglas door??

[EdNerd]

I am looking at new exterior doors. The house is in SW Arizona, and the front door faces west with no overhang - so it gets hit with the full afternoon sun all summer long.

I've been advised to go with fiberglas. My biggest concern is changing the color of the door down the road. Either because the House Commander decided we need to paint, or we sell the house and the new owners want a different color.

I'm very hazy on fiberglas doors. I think I understand that they come either wood grain or flat panel. And the wood grained doors are stained and not paintable, while the panel doors can be painted but with great hassle.

Can anyone enlighten me here??

 

[Snoonyb]

No personal experience, however;How to Paint a Textured Fiberglass Door

 

[EdNerd]

I read that same article yesterday before posting. As 98% of the instruction was simple painting tips, and nothing saying either "prepare the fiberglas door like so" or "fiberglas doors need no special preparations - just paint it", I thought I would ask that specific question.

Does a wood-look stained fiberglas door need special preparations before applying new paint or stain? Does a panel-style fiberglas door need special prep before repainting?

 

[Snoonyb]

So, did you also read the instruction regarding the primer, as well as the sanding prep?

 

[EdNerd]

Unless I missed something, the sanding and priming applied only to the wood trim around any glass insets. Or did I read it wrong??

 

[Snoonyb]

The 1st sentence in the "TIPS" section.

We're it I, if the buyer wants a change in the color, it's their problem to address.

 

[EdNerd]

Ah ... I musta blipped over that.

My thought is yeah, repainting would be their problem. But if I've made it bigger than they want to deal with, it makes the house harder to sell. I'm a very "adjustable" person - if it's hard to adjust, I keep looking. This house may need lots of "adjustments" anyways -- one more that's difficult doesn't help.

 

[EdNerd]

Also found:
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/paint-previously-stained-fiberglass-doors-38430.htmlhttps://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-refinish-fiberglass-doorshttp://realestate.boston.com/home-improvement/2018/08/01/making-faded-fiberglass-door-look-like-new/
So what I want is in there somewhere ...

Thank you for your time and help!
Ed

 

[Sparky617]

We have a painted fiberglass door. It paints easily. In a previous house the builder stained and put polyurethane on the door. The finish didn't last a year. They replaced the door and the same thing happened. After that they started painting the doors. I cleaned the failed finish off of my door and painted it with latex semi-gloss paint. When I sold the house a few years later it was holding up well.

Polyurethane is the wrong thing to finish these doors with. It will not hold up, especially in your situation where it is in direct western sun all afternoon. Sikkens makes some products that work better, I had the details years ago, but it is lost to the fog of time. If your door is factory finished, I suspect they've figured out how to get the top coat to stick.