I am getting ready to repaint my Stanley steel, front door before it gets too cold and I have to put it off again. There are some very spotchy spots around the door that I am going to have to scuff or sand off. I have a feeling that some of my clean up work may go through the original primer. Therefore, I am prepared to do a good repriming and then painting. Problem is that I don’t necessarily trust the paint “experts” at Bone Depot or Blowes to give me the right information.
Question: What would be a good primer to use for this task? Top coat for the exterior side? While doing the door, I will be doing a little touch up on the exterior wood trim also and would like to use the same paint I use on the door. Could I use the same latex interior paint on the interior side that I am using in the rest of the house? Is there a good generally available paint brand that is better for this particular purpose?
Replies
Acylic latex paints are recommended for metal doors and most other areas also. The same exterior paint can be used on the door and exterior trim. The same interior trim paint can be used on the interior side of the door.
Be careful sanding your door, it is a galvanized door and it is easy to sand through the zinc coating which then could cause rust. If you sand to bare metal, and most likely through the zinc coating I recommend spot priming these areas with any exterior oil primer. If you don't, rust stains will probably bleed through you latex top coat.
I don't buy my paints at the big stores you mentioned. If you still have questions try a local paint store during the weekdays when the more knowledgeable people are working. A quart is all you need to paint one side of your door almost four times.
In my neck of the woods we like PPG products but there are many good paints out there. Again I would suggest going to a local paint store like Sherwin Williams, Duron etc. Cost should be very close.
we seldom prime metal doors unless they have bare meta, peeling problems or oil paint and we are changing to latex.
Edited 9/2/2002 3:39:10 PM ET by PAINTERGUY
Man, you're my hero!!!
That was exactly the information I was looking for!!! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge!!! I didn't think it would take me more than a quart to do all I need to do, so thanks for the reinforcement.
I'm not a painter, but until they come back from their horseshoes (local joke here on the board) and chime in, I've read countless times on here that they swear by Sherwin Williams paint. Or basically any real paint store paint.
Can't use interior paint for an exterior application. Won't hold up. However, you can use exterior paint on an interior surface. I expect you've already got the extra interior, though, right? Oh well.
FWIW, I use Behr (HD) paint and have no problem with it (so far).
Thanks for the help.
I only have the interior latex color paint, so I don't think there will be a problem using it. Since the exterior is a "maintained" area of my condo association, I don't really have a need for a lot of it, and since I will need to match to the last shade of brown a "real" paint store will probably be my best bet anyway.