Questions on painting a wooden exterior door

[dennis thompson]

I will be painting a new exterior wooden door which is bare wood and I have a few questions:
-should i use oil or water base paint (I really hate using oil but if it's best I'll use it)
-should I use primer first and follow it up with two coats of the color or just use two coats of the color
-should I paint it before it's installed, I realize I'll probably have to do some touch up after it's installed
any other thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
thanks

[David Weaver]

I've painted my doors before they're installed, and when I can, I've always sprayed them instead of brush. They just look better.

If the door doesn't come primed, then I'd put primer and two coats on. The prime coat gives you a chance to see if the grain raises (and then sand it) much if you use something water based, anyway. I trust oil based paint more on exterior than latex, but I've had good luck with latex paint doors that don't see too much water constantly and will probably use it from now on.

[Tom M King]

I've had really good luck with this stuff:http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...e+Polyurethane

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I'd go with a couple coats of oil primer with sanding between, then three or four coats of Latex.
You want the latex thick as a bandaid that won't crack at the seams.
Most won't agree, but I find nothing looks better. Others are amazed.

[Jason Roehl]

A local professor did a pretty extensive exterior coatings test.

The best regimen:

1. Clear seal all sides (saturate with clear deck stain or something similar).
2. Prime with a quality exterior ACRYLIC primer (oil primers get too hard and inflexible while the wood continues to move, causing failure).
3. Top coat with 2 coats of a quality exterior 100% ACRYLIC paint.

Exterior oil is dead technology. No research has been done on it for a couple decades now (at least in consumer products), and exterior acrylics surpassed oil paints in virtually every aspect long ago anyway.

[Don Morris]

This isn't about PAINTING an exterior door, but if you try to put a varnish over wood on an exterior wood door...Fine Woodworking magazines did an extensive test with different brands of exterior finishes for wood doors. The finish that came out the best was EpiFanes varnish. The stuff is expensive but I've had it on my Mahogany door for years and it still looks great. Epifanes is used a lot on the exterior of boats, thus it takes a lot of UV exposure well and still looks good. My source for it is West Marine supply. Here is a small brief from the Magazine:

Editor's Review: Torture Test for Outdoor Finishes

by Tom Begnal
review date: May 1, 2009
For this test, five wood species were treated with five different types of outdoor finish, and then racks of sample boards were left to sit outside for a year in Oregon, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Connecticut. Each region subjected the samples to a unique set of climate conditions. In the end, this test provided new insight on how outdoor finishes and different types of wood hold up to the elements.

Seven coats, thinned per instructions, of Epifanes High Gloss Marine Varnish were applied to the wood samples in this test. The finish held up well, as there were no signs of finish deterioration, and no signs of flaking or chipping. Samples showed only the slightest change in color. The Epifanes High Gloss Marine Varnish received a rating of very good. It is available from www.epifanes.com.


Read more: http://www.finewoodworking.com/tool-...#ixzz3GIDgIzhf
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[Jason Roehl]

What FWW left out of their report on that test is that the Epifanes has a dry time of 12 hours and a re-coat time of 24 hours. So to put 7 coats on would take a week. I don't see many contractors getting paid to go through that (I'd charge something like $500 for that, not including the finish--2 hours per trip minimum, 7 trips), and with weather concerns, that could take several weeks to accomplish! I'd rather use an exterior waterborne poly that I know will generally get 5 years or so, and tell the homeowner that's when they need to call me again. I could do it for half the price and be done in a day.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

What FWW left out of their report on that test is that the Epifanes has a dry time of 12 hours and a re-coat time of 24 hours. So to put 7 coats on would take a week. I don't see many contractors getting paid to go through that (I'd charge something like $500 for that, not including the finish--2 hours per trip minimum, 7 trips), and with weather concerns, that could take several weeks to accomplish! I'd rather use an exterior waterborne poly that I know will generally get 5 years or so, and tell the homeowner that's when they need to call me again. I could do it for half the price and be done in a day.

Same thing the hardwood floor refinisher told me about water based poly. Took him a day to do three coats. His motives were clear. After two years of little protection and cupping boards I spent a week and refinished MYSELF with oil based. YES, it definitely takes longer.

I'm rarely interested in the quickest way..

[Tom M King]

Water based floor finishes are just fine, although my experience with them is limited to Bona products. don't know any of those that you can do three coats in a day though. I think they are fantastic, and never had any cupping issues with it. For decades I used moisture cure urethane, but the outgassing of VOC's is severe to the point that it's a bother. Bona TraFFIC IS WAY HARDER AND MORE DURABLE THAN ANY OIL BASED. tO ME IT EVEN SEEMS HARDER THAN Mcu

ve used epiphanes for as long as it's been on the market, but never put on 7 coats. AYBE 3 USUALLY, BUT ON TOP OF cpes AS PRIMER.

sORRY ABOUT TYPING-HAVING ISSUES WITH IE AND KEYBOARD WANTING TO PRODUCE SPECIAL CHARACTERS.
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