Paint Suggestion for Stee Exterior Door

cjakins

Just got a couple stock, steel, pre-hung exterior doors and want to paint them. They're basically white from the factory, but that's just intended to be a primed surface, I believe - not a finished one.

My questions are:

1) Does that factory surface require a primer before a finish paint? By 'require', I mean for a quality job.
2) Any brand suggestions for painting steel doors? Again, I'm interested in quality of job even though I'm somewhat of a novice.
3) I found a color chip at a local big box that suggests the color MUST be mixed with that brand paint to achieve that color. This strikes me as false in today's hi-tech paint world. Don't most places have these color scanners now that will pretty much match swatches of most anything - fabric, other paint chips, etc.?
4) Any special prep I need to do on those steel doors other than making sure they're clean of dirt and oil?

Thanks for any insight.

diy-er

Hey Cj


Hope this helps

1. If they are exterior steel doors than the paint you are seeing on them now is more than likely a primer. If you buy a quality exterior paint that is also self-priming just in case...you should be ok.

2. Not sure where you live. I'm in Australia and I recommend Dulux - Weather exterior. Try and stick to enamel, a gloss or a semi-gloss suitable for outdoor weather conditions. Enamel is harder to apply than acrylic because of its thickness which gets sticky very quickly, but is definitely the way to go for exterior. You can get paint rollers suitable for enamel paint which will make the job a little easier.

3. Yes that is correct most reputable hardware stores are equipped with colour matching scanners. In most cases they can mix a colour from a chip with your choice of brand paint. I have done this many times a chip say from taubmans (because I like that particular colour) made up in dulux paint because i am a die-hard dulux fan. Some paint brands though do instruct their retailers to use there paint for their chips. Hey its revenue right and in these cases there's not much you can do about it but choose another chip as close to the colour as possible for the brand that you want to use.

4. The quality of the job relies heavily on prep work. Feel the surface. It feels powdery, very lightly sand the surface, using a wet/dry sandpaper,being careful not to scratch the surface to much. If there are any rust spots visible. be sure to sand these and treat with a suitable rust converter. Clean the surface with sugar soap and let air dry.
If you dry the surface with a cloth or rag etc. be sure that you do not leave traces of fluff or lint. Then paint away


Cheers Marianne

ps. If you do use enamel. Be sure to read the instructions as applying the paint in hot weather or too much cool weather will blister, crack your job. There should be a temperature guide on the product.

cjakins

Hmm . . . Dulux isn't a brand I've heard of before. I'm in Missouri in the US. I'll have to check that out and see if it's available here.

diy-er

hey cj,

its highly likely that you dont have it where you are. just make sure when you do buy the paint, its durable and suitable for the outdoors. Maybe another member here from the US can suggest a brand for you. I am not familiar with the brands you have in stock there.

cheers marianne

rwa

we do have Dulux here in the US ... you might find it listed as ICI Dulux

cjakins

I did some internet research and found DULUX as one of the various ICI brands, including Glidden. Turns out there's an ICI store not far from my house - who knew?

Just a curiosity, though, regarding the tip earlier about sticking with enamel vs. acrylic. In the suggested Dulux brand, their own top of the line (Fortis) and pro exterior paints say they are acrylic, NOT enamel.

diy-er

rwa,

cool, thanks for that. good to know.


cj,

hmm, ok well what i would suggest is go into the supplier since its not far from you and check them out. I can't imagine why that would be. Dulux have a huge range of paints over here, from acrylics (in all finishes - low, sheen, satin, semi-gloss etc. and in Enamels (semi-gloss, gloss, high-gloss) as swell as many feature effects (accents)

I have used both in all my jobs. For exteriors, I used Acrylic (for exterior) on walls etc and Enamels (for exterior) on doors, posts, fascias. The general rule of the thumb i use is enamel for areas that need durabilty and will tend to scuff or scratch easier. Also Enamel makes a nice trim finish for the exterior when it is blended in with low sheen acrylic exterior walls.

cheers marianne

chrisn

I am thinking that diy-er being from Australia is meaning oil based when he is saying enamel. I could be wrong but that is how I am reading it.

diy-er

hey Chrisn,

Absolutely! Enamel - oil based, Acrylic - water based.
The different terms and brands and products in different parts of the world makes things a little tricky round here.

I often have to do a wikipedia search to check on terms and products i have not heard of and then find out that so-so in the US is equivalent to so-so in AUS. Learn something new everyday. Great stuff

Cheers Marianne

Matthewt1970

That couldn't be more wrong if they told you that you had to buy their paint brush to apply it to keep the color consistent. Most paint stores can actually match it just by the paint numbers from the other manufacturer. I just put a front door in my house and I had the luxury of being able to put it on a set of saw-horses and put a semi-gloss oil based enamel and let it dry for a couple days before I put it in.

housepaintingny

You can use DTM (sherwin williams. DTM stands for direct to metal. Its ment for use on direct metal surfaces. The door should all ready be primed from the factory.