Door Painting

timswi · Mar 13, 2016

Let's preface this by me saying that I loathe house painting..That being said, what is the best method to paint interior Masonite doors?

I don't want to roll/brush. I do have a Binks HVLP air gun for painting cars (I do like that) but I don't want to trash the gun.

Is an airless better, or just dilute the latex and blow it through the Binks?

Any opinions are welcome--Thanks.

Billrog · Mar 13, 2016

An airless will do a very good job , but I'm not to sure latex is a very durable finish for doors.

chim · Mar 13, 2016

We refreshed our family room a few years ago and the biggest pain was painting the doors and trim. I always like oil based paint for this work, but now everybody wants to sell the latex low VOC junk. The worst part is the paint didn't want to stay wet long enough. There was virtually no time to work it. Going along the trim was bad enough. Trying to get the whole one side of the door without getting into a dry edge was very difficult.

timswi · Mar 13, 2016

chim said:
We refreshed our family room a few years ago and the biggest pain was painting the doors and trim. I always like oil based paint for this work, but now everybody wants to sell the latex low VOC junk. The worst part is the paint didn't want to stay wet long enough. There was virtually no time to work it. Going along the trim was bad enough. Trying to get the whole one side of the door without getting into a dry edge was very difficult.

Agreed with all of that..Ergo my spraying option.

As an addition, I'm willing to pay for an airless ($400 or so) but I don't want to waste my money.

Deere Dude · Mar 13, 2016

timswi said:
Agreed with all of that..Ergo my spraying option.

As an addition, I'm willing to pay for an airless ($400 or so) but I don't want to waste my money.

I am not sure what kind of airless you are talking about, but my $400 sprayer works fine if you use a minimum of a gallon or a 5 gallon bucket. For small jobs it would be a pain. I got a couple HVLP sprayers for maybe $20 a piece and they paint very good, nice and smooth. They are big enough to hold maybe 1/2-1 pint in the reservoir which is way plenty for a door or two.

timswi · Mar 13, 2016

Deere Dude said:
I am not sure what kind of airless you are talking about, but my $400 sprayer works fine if you use a minimum of a gallon or a 5 gallon bucket. For small jobs it would be a pain. I got a couple HVLP sprayers for maybe $20 a piece and they paint very good, nice and smooth. They are big enough to hold maybe 1/2-1 pint in the reservoir which is way plenty for a door or two.

Therein lies the question...Is it better to dilute the latext and fire it though a $500 Binx and will that work ? I see that you say yes...Dilution ratio, if you have one?

k0ua · Mar 14, 2016

I have one like this. it will do a great job. Use a viscosity stick to adjust the thinness of the latex paint.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Campbell-...fault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

viscosity stick - Google Search

If you don't have or can't find a viscosity stick, just use your own judgement. Start with about 1/2 a cup of paint, put a little water in it. stir it up with a stick, withdraw the stick, look at how the paint comes off of the stick. add more water if needed. Do a test spray on scrap, if the paint looks good, paint the door. if it spits and gobs, adjust gun nozzle or thin the paint some more... Just use common sense.

mikefromnh · Mar 14, 2016

Buy or rent an airless or use a waterborne lacquer like target em6500 or sherwins aqua-kem.

ray66v · Mar 14, 2016

An airless is ideal for house paint.

But, you can spray it with a conventional air powered spray gun, for trim work, if you really want to. I do it all the time.

Thin it only enough to get it to spray well. Don't use anymore air pressure than you have to, to get the paint to go on nice.

An HVLP gravity feed gun with a large fluid nozzle, (1.4, or bigger, works best).

If you are spraying white semigloss, it is often transparent. Using satin for the first coat(s), gets you covered faster. Let it dry. Then, follow up with the semigloss.

Chim: There are additives for slowing latex paint drying time down. This one works well: Flood Floetrol 1-qt. Clear Latex Paint Additive-FLD6-4 - The Home Depot

handirifle · Mar 14, 2016

mikefromnh said:
Buy or rent an airless or use a waterborne lacquer like target em6500 or sherwins aqua-kem.

+1 on the lacquer, lot more durable.

Deere Dude · Mar 14, 2016

I tried finding a viscosity measuring devise for a while and couldn't, so I just thinned it down to where it seemed to thin, then it painted quite well. Can go two coats if needed.

If I left it thicker I had all kinds of trouble plugging up and spitting.

Now i see from a previous post I was looking for a viscosity cup, but I wouldn't pay that much anyway.

ray66v · Mar 14, 2016

Deere Dude said:
I tried finding a viscosity measuring devise for a while and couldn't, so I just thinned it down to where it seemed to thin, then it painted quite well. Can go two coats if needed.

If I left it thicker I had all kinds of trouble plugging up and spitting.

Now i see from a previous post I was looking for a viscosity cup, but I wouldn't pay that much anyway.

All a Zahn viscosity cup is, is a cup with a hole in it.

You still need to know what size hole, and how long the time to empty is, to use one.

That all changes with each product, and different conditions.

But, you can make a cup with a hole in it, and do your own timed test, when you get it thinned to where you want it. So, you can use that viscosity in the future.

You want it just thin enough to spray well.

You can find that with trial and error.

timswi · Mar 14, 2016

Thanks all...looks like using my old siphon gun with lightly diluted latex will probably be the answer...

murphy1244 · Mar 14, 2016

timswi said:
Thanks all...looks like using my old siphon gun with lightly diluted latex will probably be the answer...

Do you have primer gun? That's what I would use.

timswi · Mar 14, 2016

murphy1244 said:
Do you have primer gun? That's what I would use.

Yeah, that's the siphon gun (verboten by the tree police) and I'd rather use that than my Binks for latex.

sld · Mar 14, 2016

A quality roller goes a looong way if you have everything set up to do at one time.

brown40 · Mar 15, 2016

If you are painting one door only, why waste time setting up and cleaning out a sprayer of any kind? I'd pull the door, lay it vertical, brush the edges, roll the top. If you don't like the rolled finish, use the brush to make your laps how you'd like, wrap the roller and wet brush in plastic wrap or a disposable shopping bag, wait for that side to dry, then flip it over and do the other side. Two or three thin coats will be a snap, no cutting, taping or drips to worry about, and no temptation to lay it up thick and have a soft cure on it.

ray66v · Mar 15, 2016

timswi said:
Yeah, that's the siphon gun (verboten by the tree police) and I'd rather use that than my Binks for latex.

I use one of my good guns, when I need to spray latex.

No big deal, it cleans right up.

RBLapham · Mar 15, 2016

I use my 40 year old Binks #7 and clean up with lacquer thinner. Gun still like new, always clean it so you can not tell what color paint was in it.

EddieWalker · Mar 15, 2016

As a person who does remodels for a living, painting doors and trim is something I'm always doing. I have two different airless spray guns. One that I mostly use for enamel. The other is the big one that I put five gallon buckets of paint under it and spray entire houses. The only time I have ever sprayed trim on a house is when it's new construction and there are no floors installed. Then I can spray without taping anything. That's about the only time I consider it better then using a brush. All other times, it's faster and easier to just paint a door with a brush.