Having a little problem with paint peeling off the trim around the window in a Therma-Tru steel entry door. The trim appears to me made of some plastic material (it’s a crappy detail, to be honest–complete with fake wood grain texture!)
After washing the new door, rinsing, and letting it dry thoroughly, I first primed with Benjamin Moore’s acrylic latex primer and then topcoated with a couple coats of Moorgo (acrylic latex). This is exactly the type of primer and paint that Therma-Tru recommends. Temperature was OK and the door was never in direct sun while being painted.
After a year, the primer on the outside edge of the trim is peeling–it clearly didn’t adhere very well (the primer is holding to the steel fine).
Anybody have experience with these doors? Is there a secret?
Thanks,
Ed
Replies
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Thermatru: ONE
Ed: ZERO
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I have installed a number of Thermatru doors... The installation instructions I have call for an alkyd-based primer on the plastic window grids of steel doors.
On all doors with trim, regardless of brand, I use XIM, a "bonding" primer. Never had any peel. Start using it. It's white #400.
My brother is a chemist and he said that the plastic used is not 100% stable and is effected by the heat used in it's forming process. I guess it's like using urethane caulk which "flashes" when painted, causing paint to peel, unless it's allowed to cure for several weeks first.
This isn't a grid, actually--it's just the stuff they install around the perimeter of the glass. But maybe it's the same material.
I did double check the instructions and it says primer can be acrylic or alkyd, but recommend only acrylic topcoat. I suppose I could try a little Moorwhite primer on there, which works great under Moorglo.
Does seem temperature-related. The peeling is happening on the outside edge adjacent to the metal. And this particular door faces west--although it's shaded by a porch roof, the late afternoon sun heats it up wicked. The metal surface almost gets too hot to touch at times.
It does seem like a cheesy detail--I almost returned the doors when I saw that phony wood grain, but decided I was being too fussy.
Did the primer look at all unusual when you applied it? A few years ago, I installed and painted four fluted fiberglass columns. The primer (acrylic) seemed to be beading up a bit as I applied it. Sure enough, after a few weeks, primer and paint started peeling off. What a pain it was to scrape the failing paint out of those flutes!
I had neglected to properly clean the fiberglass before I primed it. My paint dealer recommended a solvent to get the manufacturing residue off.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
I'm with Sonny on this. XIM for the primer.
First, do this. Verify that the door lite and frame are in fact manufactured by Therma-Tru. The glass should bear a small postage-stamp size label, silkscreened on, near one corner of each lite. The little "temper blaze" logo on the glass should say "Therma-Tru." The plastic frame should have "Therma-Tru" embossed on it, near the outer edge of a corner.
The way door distribution works, distributors buy the lites and door slabs separately, then shop-assemble prehung doors to order, installing lites then. Distributors have been known to buy lites made by someone other than Therma-Tru, then put them in a Therma-Tru slab. If this is your situation, ignore the rest of this post.
If your lite checks out as made by Therma-Tru, call them directly, at their engineering offices, in Butler, Indiana. Ask for the engineering director. Tell him your problem, but be sure to have the age of your door lite frame (approximately when it was first bought or installed).
They will need to know this to identify which molding compound was used. It is important. From time to time, they switch from one to another, and paint bonding characteristics can change.
I know that they can give you a list of primers, by manufacturer name and type, that have been tested for long-term adhesion.
Beware of other advice, other than from this direct source.