# Painting Old Hollow Doors



## redline (Mar 5, 2006)

You should be able to lightly sand and paint them.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

To get the best job, take the doors off and remove all hardware. Put on saw horses.

Sand and prime, especially if you are painting over a stained finish. Use a roller where possible.


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## mischka222 (Jan 10, 2007)

I painted an old table that had an old butcher block laminate surface. Worked lovely! But I used some kind of primer that you used instead of sanding. It reduced the amount of time involved in the whole process. But if you have the time - sanding and priming would be the best option.


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

Scuff sand (to rough up the surface, not sand the finish off)
Prime with solvent-based primer (oil would be good for most, pigmented shellac for very dark, or doors in iffy condition)
Paint with quality paint of your choice


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## joewho (Nov 1, 2006)

When you say dark color, are you talking about stain or paint?

Either way, you should definately prime. Covering dark with light will require more work without primer and won't be as durable and long lasting.

I always remove the handle and lock set, but you can take them down to remove hinges also. Problem with this is that the screws may not be as tight when you hang them again. An alternative is to tape the hinges and just remove the handle/lockset.

Make sure to get all the dust out of the open holes before painting to ensure a smooth finish.


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

'.m guessing what you have is flat "laun" slabs. They have a very open grain in the wood, and were extremely common before "masonite" panel doors came in. Best thing is to remove the door and hardware, being sure to number each one as to it's location . Sand them down until you see lots of raw wood and most of the brown stain is gone. They will sand quite easy with a random orbit and some 80 grit pads. Removing most of the exiting dark stain will allow the new primer to soak into the wood, and help prevent a dark spot from showing whenever a door is eventually nicked. Prime with a quality brand oil base ( Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams), not a store brand from the big box home center. Lightly sand, then apply two topcoats of quality oil finish, lightly sanding between coats). Add some Penetrol to the finish coats to help with brush strokes.


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## diywoman (Jan 4, 2007)

Here is a partial view of the type of door I have throughout the home. Is this the type you are referring to? I won't be tackling this until spring, and I am not fond of sanding in -20° weather. 
Thanks for all the tips

Lisa


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

diywoman said:


> Here is a partial view of the type of door I have throughout the home. Is this the type you are referring to? I won't be tackling this until spring, and I am not fond of sanding in -20° weather.
> Thanks for all the tips
> 
> Lisa


I can only see a small piece of the photo, but it looks like luan slabs. Whether it is 'LAUN" or another species of veneer doesn't really matter, I would suggest the same procedure. Looks like a pretty heavy coat of high gloss finish.

Oops, missed that you said it was a partial photo.


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## joewho (Nov 1, 2006)

They are stained and clear coated with poly or some other durable clear finish.

If you look inside, you'll see that they are easy to remove. Push the bottom in and lift up and out to remove.

Lay them on saw horses and sand them really well. Tack the dust off. Prime with a bonding primer. There are lots of primers on the market, some are specifically for bonding and some are specifically for stain blocking. In your case, I would recommend a bonding primer due to the glossy finish and the wear these doors will have. 

They may need several coats of paint due to the dark color, depending on what paint you use.


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## diywoman (Jan 4, 2007)

It's partial because my friends would not appreciate me posting their mugshots online!!! 
Thanks for the info. I will start with sanding and take it from there. I wasn't thinking I could do much with them, so I may just put a lighter stain, or just paint them. I could get fancy, but not sure it's worth the effort with these doors. Has anyone ever put fake accent trim on these style doors?
I'd have to see it done like that beforfe I'd tackle that idea.


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## joewho (Nov 1, 2006)

The sliding closet doors may have a piece attached to the floor to keep them aligned. This piece will scrape the doors. If there isn't one the doors will bang against each other. This is why it would be necessary to prime them. Plain paint over the sanded finish won't hold up very long.

Staining is for use only on bare wood. Trying to stain over the sanded clear finish just won't do anything except make a mess.

Accent trim? Do you mean around the edges? Or on the face of the doors? They slide and have very little clearance so anything that would raise from the faces would keep them from opening. Trying to nail or screw anything to them would also be a problem because they are hollow.

One idea is to see how much they cost new.

Hope this helps.


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## slickshift (Aug 25, 2005)

You won't be able to put a lighter stain on them until all the finish is removed
That would be possible, but it would be time/effort prohibitive
(ie: it won't be easy)
Sanding the finish off would be a mind-numbingly long process, and chemical stripping messy and fraught with waste disposal problems
If you were paying me to stain them lighter, I would remove them and have them dipped by a stripper, which isn't cheap

Unless the doors are unique, antique, or in some other way very expensive or impossible to replace, probably not worth the money to lighten them a bit

Painting them however, would be relatively easy
A light scuff sanding with 180 grit, a coat of pigmented shellac (I prefer Zinsser's B-I-N) for a primer, another light sanding, then paint away, two coats, quality coating of your choice


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