Many of us have been staring at the same walls and doors in our homes for many years (or maybe many decades.) If you’ve wanted to give your home an update, painting a door is a quick and easy way to do just that. Today I’ll to show you how to paint doors (the professional way) so they look amazing for years (or decades) to come.
How to Paint Doors (The Professional Way)
So you want to paint like a pro? Well, sit back and let me give you some tips and a tutorial for painting a door. This tutorial pertains to any paneled door (interior or exterior).
Our doors are all the six panel type. If you have flat (non-panel) versions, you can skip this post and come back later. For the rest of us, get out your paper and pencils and take some notes (does anyone do this anymore?)
Materials:
(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)
optional: Painting Pyramids
How to Test for Latex or Oil Paint?
To determine if you need to prime your door you need to assess if your door was painted with latex or oil paint first. To test the paint, rub a small spot with rubbing alcohol (or ammonia) and if the paint comes off it is latex. If not, it’s oil paint.
How Do I Know if My Door Has Lead Paint:
You can easily test your door (or any paint) for the presence of lead by using a lead test swab. I go into more detail about lead paint in this tutorial.
But, the short of it is, if you have lead paint, you must be very careful when sanding it. Cover the area with disposable plastic. Use a wet sanding block (never use a power sander). Wear a respirator and be sure to clean everything with disposable wet wipes.)
When Do You Have to Prime?
As we determined above, if your door was painted with oil-based paint (and you want to use latex paint) you will need to prime. But, here are a few more reasons you need to prime your door first:
- Bare wood or stained wood doors.
- Dark painted doors you wish to paint lighter (or vice versa), you want to use a tinted-primer to cut down on coats.
- If the door was painted with oil and you want to use latex paint. If you are painting over latex with latex (or oil over oil) and the previous paint job is in good shape you can skip the primer. (This was the case with my door, so I didn’t prime it.)
- The paint is chipping. First, scrape or sand any flakes and then prime. (Important: Check for Lead Paint First.)
- Lead paint (whether in good shape or not), you will need to prime.
Should I Remove or Paint a Hung Door?
The easiest way to paint a door is to remove the door, then remove the knobs and latch. Then you can lay it horizontally on sawhorses. Painting a door on sawhorses eliminates potential drips and is easier on your back. But, removing the door can also be a pain, especially if it’s a large solid wood door. I’ve painted plenty of doors without removing them, and they look great. It comes down to personal preference.
Preparation:
Whether you are removing the door or painting it in place, be sure to cover the area underneath with a drop cloth, newspapers, or flattened cardboard boxes (my favorite for hung doors because it gives some cushion when you are kneeling on the floor.
Lightly sand the entire door. No need to bust out the power sander, you can use a sanding block or sheet of sand paper. Be sure to sand down any bumps or blemishes. The main goal is to give your door a little “tooth” for the new paint or primer to adhere to. Wipe off the door with a damp rag to remove any sawdust.
Instructions for How to Paint Doors the Professional Way.
Step 1: Paint the interior panels first as shown in the graphic below.
Using a small roller to paint doors can greatly speed the process. Begin by rolling paint on the flat panels. Work quickly by rolling on the paint, then use a brush to smooth out the paint and fill in the detailed areas around the flat panel.
This is one of the most important tips for getting a professional look:
Follow the grain direction when brushing on the paint
If you follow the grain and the direction of the arrows in the graphic above, you will maintain the look of the door construction. Original wood doors are made with several pieces and the wood grain changes direction. Even if you have cheap hollow core doors, you can fake the look of a quality door by following the grain pattern.
In other words: NEVER run your brush strokes perpendicular to the wood grain. This does NOT look professional.
Step 2: Next, roll the inside center vertical piece. Start by rolling the paint on in an up and down direction.
Then drag your brush up and down vertically with the wood grain (see arrows in the above diagram.)
Step 3: Next paint the horizontal cross pieces in the middle of the door.
Keep your brush strokes horizontal (with the grain) and cross over the tall vertical center.
Step 4: Paint the door border. Pay attention to the direction of the wood grain for this last step. The grain on the two sides should go vertically from top to bottom.
There are header and footer panels sandwiched between the left and right sides. These “sandwiched” pieces should be painted by dragging your brush horizontally (see diagram above.)
Step 5: The last step is to paint the edges of the door. (Do Not paint the hinges…that’s not very professional either!) If your hinges or doorknobs were painted previously you can follow this tutorial with four ways to remove paint from metal hinges.
Roll paint onto the edges then smooth them with the paintbrush. Be on the lookout for drips or puddles of paint. Go back and check the face of your door for drips now before the paint cures.
Let your door dry (30 minutes – 1 hour), then follow up with a second coat of paint. When you are done let the doors dry for 2+ hours before flipping to paint the other side. I have found that it helps to put pieces of cardboard or rags under the door so the paint doesn’t stick to the sawhorses. But you can also buy Painting Pyraminds which elevate the door and hold it on tiny points.
Ready to perfect more of your painting skills? Check out the Paint Week series with 5 Lessons to Perfect Your Painting Skills:
And if you really want to paint your front door but can’t decide on a color, you’ll love this collection of Bold Colored Front Doors!
what a great tutorial!!!! i’ve always left the door on the hinges, it makes it so difficult. your instructions are great!!!
I have a tip to add…take 4 nails…after laying the doors down hammer a nail about three inches in on the ends of the door (its actually the very top and the very bottom of the doors) get them in there good and when you put them on the saw horses…lean the NAILS on the saw horses. After you paint one side of the door you can use the nails to flip the door over and paint that side before the first side is even dry! Works great…got it from my handiman mag!
Great tip Carmen! I read that too, but haven’t tried it. I will next time. Thanks for sharing.
I have put the nails in the door and used them like you said – works perfect! I had a remodeling company for years and this is how all the professional painters do it!
Better yet, two nails inserted that way on end, and one nail in the middle on the other end. This way when you’re done with the first side, you can spin the door on the one nail and there’s a smooth flip.
Love this tip! I found myself trying to picture how I would flip from one end by myself with 2 nails in the other end. Then I read this. Genius.
My father-in-law just finished painting our doors on our new house. He used a spray gun but the process he used would be the same with a roller probably. He and my husband put hooks in the tops of the doors and nails in the bottoms. Then they strung rope between a tall ladder and a tree (because we only had one ladder tall enough) so they were upright and then old boards/cardboard underneath to get them off the grass. Then he just went back and forth painting one side and walked around them to paint the backs without having to wait for them to dry and flip over. 🙂
DUH! I never though to take the door off!
This post has perfect timing I was thinking last night as I taped up my baseboards and trim “how the heck am I gonna paint the doors”
I could have used this tutorial about a week ago. We replaced two of the solid, flat doors with the 6-panel doors. Now I know what to do as we slowly but surely replace all the doors in the house.
I haven’t even read this yet but I am so excited! I checked in just to see if you had this up yet. Jumping around excited. It’s kind of silly what makes my day. 😉 Friday is our next work day at my friend’s house.
I’m so glad this tutorial will be helpful for you all. Heather, I’m just glad I got it up in time for your next work day. Send me picture y’all!
Hi! Does this apply to Front doors as well or just inside doors. I really want to repaint the front door, but wonder what would need to be done differently.
Thanks!
Yes, it definitely applies to front doors as well. The only difference would be if you choose not to remove it from its hinges. Front doors are usually much heavier than interior doors.
Drips will happen easier on a hanging door, so be sure not to use too much paint.
WOW you read my MIND! I need to paint our front doors. THANK you for this post. Showing to the hubs.
Okay, you just solved the argument between Hubs & me. He always wants to use a roller and I say Brush! Now I see how you can use both!
Brittany . . . gloves? Really?!? Oh, my! I’m so bad that when I went to grab a sandwich yesterday, some guy said “hi” then as I walked past said, “Professional painter, huh?” I asked, “How can you tell?” He just laughed. I had on my ‘work’ clothes (which now describes about 80% of my closet) complete with paint splatters.
It’s my moving business card 🙂
Nice job on the door & the tutorial on how you did it. Also enjoyed your demo of how to remove/replace an escutcheon.
CAS
I will send pictures of my friends house. It’s looking good -inside painting done (doors too!) and wood floors are almost done. At least last I heard they were on schedule.
I wish they had time to fix their butt ugly fire place. 🙂 Think 70s with wood, brick, stone, and orange tile. I know – you should do an “ugliest room” post where your readers can win something. 🙂
Great job and thanks.
I love it all! Your smaller salvaged window looks like a mirror? I’m dying to do that to a set of old gothic windows that make up a panel. Can you tell me how?
thanks soooooooo much,
Sheila
Hi Brittany – just a note to say I highlighted your post today. I’m trying to get inspired to paint my own doors 😉
Dang, I just wish you lived closer to me!
Thanks Colleen. And you are so right. No need to remove the heavy front door off it’s hinges ;-). Get busy painting now!
I have the flat, non-panel doors and I have yet to find a tutorial on the best way to paint them. They are the faux wood doors with the ugly brass hardware. (I did find your tutorial on painting them and can’t wait to do that.)
Can you recommend a good tutorial?
Well that is a pretty good tutorial on how to paint a door.but my Mom and I just purchased paint from Sherwan Williams that is Self-leveling paint. It works real slick you just paint it on with nice large paint brushes and it flattens out any brush strokes. My Aunt paints for a living and that’s what she uses for all the doors she paints……not rollers!! You just have to move fast when you paint because it acts quickly.
our new house has the original 6 panel wood doors…i wanted to keep them but the thought of painting seemed hopeless especially after my first go-around…glad to know that there is a way to do it so i can keep these doors in the house..thanks
I painted my front door just a few weeks ago and just kinda winged it. Judging by your tutorial I did everything right! I used both a roller and a brush on mine, and didn’t like either one. I didn’t like the streaks the brush left, and the roller seemed to soak up more paint than it applied. I ended up using a wide sponge brush thing and liked it best!
This was great. Thank you.
OK, I’m back. lol
What if you have those hollow wood-look doors? How do you paint them?
Kristin, I’m assuming you are asking about the doors that do not have individual panels, but one flat surface instead. In that case, you would paint them top to bottom. Roll on the paint and then use your brush to smooth the paint top to bottom with the grain. If you do have paneled doors, just paint them like shown in the tutorial and brush with the grain. The door shown is actually hollow too.
If they are “wood look” …you very possibly need to prime them. Make sure you get a primer that says “bonding” or “adhesion”….different primers do different things.
Great tutorial! I am following your advice right now and painting the outside of my white front door with medium blue latex paint, satin sheen. I didn’t have to prime.
Can I really apply another coat after just one hour?
I’d love to, to get this done all in one day, but the can says wait 4 hours and I’ve even heard to wait 24 hours. But if you did it in one hour with success, I want to do that too! Thanks!
Colleen, as long as the first coat is completely dry you can definitely proceed with the next coat. You will want to be careful not to lay anything on the doors for up to a week as the paint cures. But, otherwise, go for it!
Thanks so much Brittany, I am done and it looks amazing, now to get this stupid deadbolt back on, it’s actually giving me trouble and I thought it was the easy part, lol!
Hello!
I was wondering if you paint the top, bottom, and sides of the door? And what type of paint you should use….I would love to paint my interior doors (some paneled and some flat) but don’t want them sticking. Also, do you know how to paint a door jambs? I really want to paint my interior doors, but worry I’ll mess it all up and have a bunch of doors that stick. Thanks for your help!
Cheryl, if I take the door off the hinges then I paint the entire thing. All 6 sides. Dust doesn’t attach as easily to a clean painted door. If I paint it while still hung I paint everything but the bottom. Leave the door open at least overnight and up to 48 hours if you can. The paint should dry thoroughly and not stick to the other jamb. If it does stick, your door may be too tight in the frame. Most doors only lightly touch the jamb when closed. You can also try putting a thin wiping of vaseline on the jamb (after the paint is dry) to prevent it from sticking.
Thank you!! 😀
I’m a little late to the party, but… I was a high-end house painter for two years (and learned from someone who’d been doing it for 25 yrs) and I just have to say that a pro would never remove the door – it’s a pain and why add to the workload when it doesn’t make the painting that much easier? But if you’ve removed your door you might as well paint the bottom edge while you’re down there (rarely gets done). I have never seen anyone use a roller, either, but I imagine it does help if you haven’t been painting 40 hrs/week and can’t go fast enough to keep the paint from drying up on you.
It kind of bothers me that a book has told you what “pros” do when it’s clearly a modified-for-non-pros version…
Happy painting!
Oh yeah, don’t forget to buy an expensive brush (Wooster or Purdy) and paint (Benjamin Moore or maybe Sherwin Williams)! It makes a world of difference
Jv is correct, no need to remove the door, just the handle. Personally would never paint a door laying on saw horses, as dust would settle on it.
Have to agree here, definitely better to paint a door in situ and just remove the handles etc. Also the quality of the paint and tools makes a HUGE difference to the finish.
See my other post – YES, take all the doors off and all the hardware – paint them ALL at one time and if you are doing multiple rooms, the darn doors are out of your way when trying to get all that painting done.
OH Thank you! I read so many tutorials on door painting that nearly scared me out of it. You laid it out simple and easy, I painted 3 doors downstairs black, just as you instructed above; they look GREAT!! Thanks for taking the time to post this. 🙂
XOXO
I am painting my exterior door and I am not planning to take it down to paint it. I did take notes from your process and I think it will work.
I painted my doors in my house and now they wont shut? what can I do?
The best tips here are not to remove the doors and to paint the doors using a excellent brush and self-leveling paint!!!
I’m just now finding this post! About 3 years ago, I had my front door replaced after I’d come home from work one day to find it kicked in. The man put in a new frame and door. Nothing was painted before hand. I doubt he would have wanted to wait for me to do that! So my front door is store-bought primer white. I’m going to attempt to paint it while it’s hung because I cannot take it down/put it back up by myself. My question is: How long should I wait after it’s totally painted before I close the door? I could start very early on a Saturday, but I would need to be able to close it and lock it in the evening. Any particular paint (brand) you’d recommend for quick, solid drying? Thanks!
Cindy, oh definitely paint that exterior door while still hung. I’d use a latex paint rated for exterior durability. Paint on a sunny day so it will dry faster. Also, you can smear a line of petroleum jelly inside the door jamb where the door presses against it (or the weather stripping) to prevent sticking. Hope that helps!
P.s. Be sure to prime the door and use a Semi-Gloss or Gloss for durability.
Thank you! 🙂
I am wondering is your outside door metal? Mine is and it needs painted. Has hung as is for way to long and husband has been to busy so going to takle it by myself. For the metal door do you suggest sanding it or just priming it? And I’m assuming the same paint as long as it has an outside durability.
Kim, mine is wood. But, even if it is metal, you want to lightly sand to give the surface some “tooth” for your paint to stick to. Then definitely use a good primer (should be rated for exterior.) And a good exterior paint.
I painted my metal front door last year without removing it from the hinges and the best advice I have
Is to use a small foam roller ( as advised after my 3rd trip to the paint store in frustration!) I was using
A high-gloss black paint and kept seeing all of my brush lines…..then tried to use a roller, but could not do the inside of the panels. The man at the paint store finally asked what it was I was painting and then told me to use the small foam rollers as they will paint right into the panels and will not leave marks upon drying 🙂
This how to was perfect. I completed my two door entrance to the laundry room today and kept my laptop open following step by step. Thank you so much! Lindy
No professional paints doors with a brush or roller; it’s all done using a paint sprayer. My parents painted all of the doors in our house with a sprayer they bought at the home depot. It’s super easy to use and affordable, and because the sprayer uses 1/2 paint 1/2 water- one gallon of paint goes a long way.
How do you paint the inexpensive doors that they place in houses today. Does primer help the paint stick ?
Carrie, yes, you will need to use primer. Especially if the door is pre-painted in an oil finish.
How do you tell it has been painted with an oil finish?
Carrie, dip a q-tip in rubbing alcohol. Rub it onto the door. If the paint rubs off it is latex. If not, it is probably oil.
I was thinking step 4 should be step 3, with my doors anyways as the wood grain is horizontal all across the bottom and top of the door.
Is that right?
I have 3 doors to paint and Ill follow this technique.
Thank you.
You can swap those two, but I learned to paint all the insides first. Also, if there are any drips from Steps 1 & 2, you’ll catch them sooner before moving to the exterior frame last. Make sense?
Thank you. Yes, I understand that.
How long should I wait between steps? For example, after I paint step 1, and step 2- how long after should I paint step 3?
Thank you.
Don’t wait. Just keep painting around so you can hopefully overlap into wet strokes. If the paint starts to dry you’ll get drag marks.
This is a great read! I appreciate the tips. The only question I have is this: the previous owners painted the wooden doors white, and the paint is chipping/peeling off because they didn’t sand down the original polyurethane/varnish before-hand. Am I going to have to scrape off this paint, then sand or just start sanding? Thanks in advance for your time!
The BEST way to get ALL your doors done at one time… take all the doors off and remove all harware. Set up two long wood stips on the floor in your garage – use 2×2 or long scrap strips of 3/4″ plywood work great and I keep them specifically for painting doors. Next get scraps of wood about 6-8 inches long – anything from a 1×2 to a 2×4 – you’ll need a number of them equal to the total number of doors you have minus ONE. Next, accordian the doors across your two wood strips on the floor and nail a scrap of wood into the top edges of the doors where they meet. nail the nail in half way so you can easily pull it out with a claw hammer when you are done. You never see the top or bottom of the doors and you can write the location of the door in your house on either end and paint all surfaces of the door in one painting session. Works GREAT for anything more than 2 doors (3+). I’ve painted 5 doors, 2 coats all after work one day – just before dinner, 4 hrs later around 10 oclock – dry the next morning.
Scott,
I am a visual person – and having a hard time following your instructions in my head. Do you have any pictures of how to “accordian” the doors?
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this post. Good work! Thanks for post.
Hey Ladies, do any of you who have painted your doors, have a paint color that you are in love with? I’d LOVE black (mine is currently burgandy from the builder), but I don’t want a super dark black. I was hoping those of you who have done this would have a recommendation? Also, would you use a satin or ? Thanks a million in advance for any suggestions!!!
Michelle, what about a deep charcoal color. And I prefer satin so it doesn’t highlight the imperfections as much.
I have solid core flat bedroom doors to paint. They were primed when we bought them, 3 yrs ago. They never got painted and are dirty. what should I wash doors with? Should I prim them, or is original priming enough? Thanks for the info on this site and I feel comments on this site saved me from removing three heavy doors to paint. I will leave them hanging.
If you think they are really dirty and more than just dust, I’d clean them with TSP. But, if it’s just dust you should be able to clean them off with a wet rag. You can always give them a super light sanding too. The original priming should be sufficient as long as you don’t see the original wood showing though.
Is it different if painting a steel door? I have new doors and I believe they have primer on them and I want to paint them white.
Launa,
No, not much different, but you do need to determine for certain if it is pre-primed. Besides contacting the seller or manufacturer, I’m not sure how you could tell. Adding one coat of primer to the door isn’t a big deal. You don’t have to go for full coverage, just make sure you don’t have any drips.
Hi, I’m a professional painter & decorator and I do it a little differently to you. Taking a door off its hinges to paint might make sense if you are just painting one side of the door and you have a lot of time on your hands!
If you are painting both sides or more than one door it could be a serious hassle. Plus when the door is laying flat and dust in the air will settle on the wet paint. Unless you have the door in a clean room.
This is how I do it http://oisinbutler.ie/how-to-paint-a-panel-door-and-frame/
Oisin
Thanks Oisin! That definitely seems easier than taking the door off the hinges.
I have to paint my front door which is wooden and also has glass frame in the center. Do i need to sand the door first and then apply priner and then paint ?
150 grit paper is ok for sanding, also do I need to wash my door with light dish washing soap. What colors do you recommend right now I have beige , I also have storm door which is white want to paint that same color as my front door.
Thanks for a great website
awaiting your reply
Deno
We have 2 houses left to us after hubby’s parents died. The mortgage is so high we have to rent one out. One is 3 br 2 bath and the other is 2 br 1 bath. Older homes that were paneled. We have lived in smaller house for years. We have been renting the larger house and so we allowed a tenant to paint it. Well OM gosh, what a mess. She painted over varnished doors and now the paint is peeling due to last tenants hitting it with something. There are visible gaps all along the moldings at ceilings. I could cry. It looked good while she lived here. Me nor hubby can paint, and I have severes allergies. I am pulling the latex off of the door but that isnt woking either, we both work so don’t have alot of spare time.
Any suggestions?
Sara, I think the best solution would be to scrape off as much of the paint as you can. Then sand it smooth. Be sure to use a good primer like BIN primer and then paint it with a good quality paint that will withstand abuse like Benjamin Moore Advance paint. If the paint won’t scrape off neatly, you may be forced to strip the paint with a chemical stripper or heat gun. Here’s a tutorial on that process: http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/strip-paint-off-door/
I just refinished our kitchen door, and I might say it looks great. Why would you go through the trouble of taking the door off , the handle, etc..??? You can just loosen the door handle screws enough to have a space between the door and hardware, using a small foam brush paint under the handle, using paint only on one side of brush. For the top, bottom and hinged side of door, slide a piece of plastic or white paper in and shut the door, tape outside edge of paper to casing on top and hinged side. The paper under your door will stay in place on its own. To paint the handle edge, open door, put door stop under opposite side you are painting. Cover hinges with tape if they are on the side you are painting. So much easier, quicker and no door knobs, hinges to put back together, no hauling a heavy clumbersome door back and forth not to mention lifting to get back on hinges. I primed my door in less than 20 minutes. Came back and painted later, took less than 10 minutes. Only wish I could put up a picture of it.
I have a question… I just had my maple doors painted. “Supposedly” the painters sanded the doors as they had a clear coat finish on them. In any case, the doors were painted with semi gloss Benjamin Moore interior paint. Its a week later and I’m wondering if they did the job right b/c I accidentally scratched my finger nail against the door and the paint peeled/chipped off. Is this normal? What happened here? Any tips would be super appreciated.
Alice, did the painters use a primer? If not, you need to get your money back! That is not what is supposed to happen. Also, it helps to have a paint that is made for trim & doors. i.e. Benjamin Moore Impervo. Sadly the best option will be to strip the doors and have them repainted. I’d be furious if I were you.
Thanks for your tip. The next time I paint, I will keep this in mind !!
The link to paint doesn’t work.
Although interesting as a tutorial, for my money it misses 50% of the issue. The last 50% is ‘does the door look good?’. Well that is covered here very well. The first 50% (in my books) is ‘does the door fit?’ Most nice-looking doors don’t fit in my experience. My measure for a well-fitted door is will it close with the lightest push with one finger (a lady’s finger will do… 🙂 )? Will it stay firmly closed without rattling in a wind? Will it open nicely without needing the wrist strength of a wrestler? And is there an even gap around the door to make it look right?
To achieve all this takes a lot of understanding of how things fit together; how to fit hinges; how to prepare the door edges so that beads of paint don’t form – those beads of paint can jam a door; and how to fit the hinges, the catch and handles so they operate smoothly.
In my view there is no point in painting a door without hanging the door properly which includes recognising when it is necessary to remove old paint from the door and frame edges. And I think anyone who does this proficiently will agree that the effort and skill required is probably four or five times the effort to paint the door.
my husband was requiring TREC OP-H a few days ago and came across a great service with a searchable forms database . If others need to fill out TREC OP-H as well , here’s a
https://goo.gl/5kKdPyI really enjoyed this post. My question is – Do you wash the door between sanding and priming? Maybe that is implied in the article.
I wipe the doors off with a damp rag after sanding.
Glad you found my tips and tutorials helpful!
What kind of brush did you use? Mines leave a strick of paint. Also, how did you do to cover the tiny sections of the door?
I like Purdy brushes. Using good paint is also helpful. Don’t cheap out on paint.
Thanks for the detailed tutorial, it’s been very helpful! You know, it never even occurred to me to use a roller for the door, I always did it with a paint brush only, and it took ages to get everything even. It seems like an easy task at first, but only when you have to do it is when you realise how difficult it can be to give it a quality painting.
The roller definitely speeds the process of applying paint.
What a helpful and easy to follow tutorial! Thank you so much!
Great tips! Thank you so much!
You must either be lost or a troll. This is not “how to fit a door” this is “how to paint a door”.
We have several interior doors with paint peeling off of them. I think previous homeowners did not prime them to start. Do I have to remove ALL the paint to paint them? Or an I just sand where there is/isn’t paint? Thanks
Sand down any chipping paint (of course make sure it’s not lead paint before sanding). The use primer to seal it.
For three hours I painted an out door fence with a very expensive solid stain paint. Now I don’t like the color and want to repaint it another color. So, do I need to sand the whole fence or is it okay to just paint it over the color I don’t like with another solid stain ?
You should be able to paint over it. But, check with the paint manufacturer.
Our front door is a large, custom sized wooden door that is well over 60 years old. I completely removed the paint about 20 years ago and repainted because the paint was cracking. Yes, I primed it when I repainted but now it is checkering again and the door looks terrible! What can I do besides replacing the door?
Where is it cracking? Along the seams? Send me a picture if you like and I’ll take a look.
Thank you for the step by step process on how to paint doors like an expert!
Well done and commended!