# Paint doors with air gun



## nitting (Mar 28, 2011)

I'm putting in new doors and I need to paint them. They are six panel and not prehung doors. So just the doors. I would like to spray them because it gives very smooth texture.

My questions are:
1) I'm thinking about using an air gun. I read from this forum that the airless one is the way to go, but it is quite expensive. Will I receive an acceptable result with the air gun? I know I'll need a lot of practices, and I would like to know what to expect.
2) I read that to use the air gun I have to thin the paint (I'm planning to use SW Superpaint). The manual of the spray gun points to the paint manufacturer instruction on how to thinner the paint. The paint instructions itself doesn't say much. Any guidelines/tips on this? I know that I need to test it after thinning but I would like to make sure that I do it right (or close) before I put it to a test.
3) Any other ideas (such as give up and use the brush)?

Thanks in advance for the help.


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## Brushjockey (Mar 8, 2011)

Please read the thread below about renting an airless- same points apply.
By air gun, do you mean conventional (with compressor) or HVLP?

I highly recommend :
1) get an experienced painter to do this, 6 panels are not easy
2) spraying is a great way to ruin something fast if you don't know what you're doing. Do them by hand. 

Most painters are very good at handwork before they approach spraying. Faster is not always better.


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## spraygunn (Nov 14, 2010)

Hey nitting,
I know of no better way of ruining a good spray gun than to spray latex through it if it was not intended to do so. I lost a good friend over 40 years ago because he didn't tell me he was going to spray latex through a conventional cup gun after borrowing my compressor I ended up throwing the whole set up in the garbage and he never paid me a dime. To my knowledge SW does not make an enamel in the Super Paint line, that being said do you plan to spray flat? It takes a great deal of practice to spray correctly. If you want to ruin a couple of doors while learning, then have at it. I would hate to see another post by you asking "how do I remove runs". Even those who call themselves painters can't spray. If you're adventuress then go for it.


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

You can achieve the same results and use less paint by using a brush and roller. I woulnt break out a sprayer for six doors. It sounds like your talking about an HVLP. Using an airless with latex you shouldn't have to thin. Sherwin Williams has Proclassic and multi purpose enamel. Superpaint is not an enamel, but will work on doors.


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## Ed G (Apr 5, 2011)

I was just painting doors last weekend with my HVLP conversion gun and got fantastic results. Here is a quick rundown of my setup/situation:
Paint: SW Proclassic waterbased acrylic-alkyd, semi-gloss, thinned 8% with water (50ml water + 600ml paint)
Gun setup: Porter Cable PSH1, 2.2mm tip, 40psi, medium fan, max. fluid 
Compressor: 30 gallon 
Spray conditions: Outside, cloudy, 55 deg F, doors flat on saw horses, gun held approx. 6-7" from door
My technique was to spray a medium coat as quickly as possible and get the door inside to dry flat on the floor of an empty room. Never spray waterbased in the sun or on a hot day or you'll get orange peel and get the doors inside quickly as certain flies seem to love the smell of the Proclassic. I would recommend practice painting the backsides (i.e. closet interior) of the doors first to get the hang of it.


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

nitting said:


> I'm putting in new doors and I need to paint them. They are six panel and not prehung doors. So just the doors. I would like to spray them because it gives very smooth texture.
> 
> My questions are:
> 1) I'm thinking about using an air gun. I read from this forum that the airless one is the way to go, but it is quite expensive. Will I receive an acceptable result with the air gun? I know I'll need a lot of practices, and I would like to know what to expect.
> ...


Airless would be the sprayer to use. However, if you have not used one before, you're in for a real learning experience. They throw on a *lot* of paint, and fast. Plus, you'll have to deal with over-spray, etc. 

I'd have to concur with _*housepaintingny*_ and advise you to use a good paint, and apply it with a brush & roller.


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## nitting (Mar 28, 2011)

Sorry, for not being clear about the spray gun.

It's a siphon-feed spray gun that uses a compressor.


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## pyper (Jul 1, 2009)

I guess I didn't know that air sprayers were bad. I used one to for a project, spraying primer, laytex, and polyurethane. I thought it was great. The work went fast and the results were good. It took a few minutes to adjust the gun, but then it was like using spay paint, on steroids.

The gun I have is this one, I think:
http://www.chpower.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/chPrd3_10051_10001_86617_-1_10676_10716_

But for six doors I don't know if it would be worth the effort of taking them down and carrying them outside. I'm certain I would not use my air spray gun indoors.


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## hknwbec (Apr 5, 2011)

Hi, After reading your message,May I ask one question, I have made a 6 ft TV stands and I want to use spray painting, I use Aquatec Enamel Finish ( water based ) and set the air compressor around 40 - 100 psi and I us W71 spray gun. According to the instruction of Nippon Paint, I put 15% of water to disslove the enamel, but I found it is hard to spray out , it is because the density of paint are to high. Could we put 30 -50 % to disslove the paint, is it workable. or we use paint by brush first and spraying on the last.Thanks


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## nitting (Mar 28, 2011)

Some of you spoke as if the SW SuperPaint is not suitable for trims and doors because it's not enamel paint. Is it only for spraying or applied to brushing as well?

I specificly told the guy at SW store that I needed their best paint for trims and doors and he handed me SuperPaint semi-gross.

I just painted a couple trims and still have many more to go including doors. Should I continue to use the SuperPaint or get an enamel one?

OK. I just got off the phone with local SW store. They told me that the SuperPaint is just as good as ProClassic for trims and doors. They also told me that many contractors use the SuperPaint on trims and doors. I would like to hear what pros on DIY chatroom have to say.


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

pyper said:


> I guess I didn't know that air sprayers were bad. I used one to for a project, spraying primer, laytex, and polyurethane. I thought it was great. The work went fast and the results were good. It took a few minutes to adjust the gun, but then it was like using spay paint, on steroids.
> 
> The gun I have is this one, I think:
> http://www.chpower.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/chPrd3_10051_10001_86617_-1_10676_10716_
> ...


Airless sprayers are not bad. They are a great piece of painting equipment. It just depends what you want to use it for. I have sevral commercial airless sprayers, but for six doors I would just have the guys paint them with a brush and roller, get the same results and not have to break out an airless. With doors you need to have a drying rack or do one side at a time and then your still waiting for one side to dry before spraying the other side.


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## housepaintingny (Jul 25, 2009)

nitting said:


> Some of you spoke as if the SW SuperPaint is not suitable for trims and doors because it's not enamel paint. Is it only for spraying or applied to brushing as well?
> 
> I specificly told the guy at SW store that I needed their best paint for trims and doors and he handed me SuperPaint semi-gross.
> 
> I just painted a couple trims and still have many more to go including doors. Should I continue to use the SuperPaint or get an enamel one?


SW Superpaint will work great on your trim and doors, but if you spray it you will need to use a .015-.017 tip. You can brush it, roll it or spray it


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## painter162 (Apr 6, 2011)

Benjamin Moore 333 ultra white, roll as much as you can and brush the rest (Brush first) . You'll have to backroll with sprayers anyways.

Use that paint and it will do the work for you. Only BM product I use regularly.


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## ltd (Jan 16, 2011)

i would say pro classic waterborne alkyd is a better paint for doors and trim, with that being said i use super paint,most all the time ,also for the weekend warrior super paint is easier and cheaper to work with:yes:


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