How to paint a wooden door white, new or already painted

What you need

• Screwdriver and a small hammer to knock out the hinge pins
• Sandpaper in 100, 180 and 240 grit (cork block or orbital sander)
• Small filling knife
• 10 cm foam roller and a mini roller for mouldings, 40 mm flat brush
• Paint tray
• Trestles or two chairs to rest the door on
• Vacuum cleaner and a microfibre cloth
• White water-based acrylic satin enamel, about 750 ml per door (Titan, Bruguer or Montó)
• Wood sealing or bonding primer, 375-500 ml (Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 if the door is lacquered)
• White wood filler
• Masking tape (Tesa 4334 or similar)
• Plastic sheeting or cardboard for the floor
• Kitchen degreaser or soapy water

Step by step

1. 1

   Take the door off or protect the hardware

   For an interior door, lift it off by knocking out the hinge pins with the hammer and lay it flat on two trestles. If you cannot, remove the handle and lock and cover the hinges and frame with masking tape. Cover the floor with plastic or cardboard.

2. 2

   Clean and degrease

   Wipe the whole door with a cloth, water and degreaser, especially near the handle, where grease from hands builds up. Leave it to dry for 30 minutes.

3. 3

   Scrape and fill the gaps

   Remove loose flakes of paint with the filling knife. Fill dents, holes from old locks and cracks with wood filler and leave it for 2 hours. Then sand it flush with 120 grit.

4. 4

   Sand the whole door

   Sand with 120 grit, always along the grain, and go over it with 180 grit to dull the shine. On the mouldings use folded sandpaper or an abrasive sponge. Vacuum up the dust and wipe with a well wrung-out damp cloth.

5. 5

   Apply the primer

   With the foam roller, and the brush for the corners, apply one thin coat of primer. On new timber, work it well into the knots. Wait 2 to 4 hours, depending on the tin, before going on.

6. 6

   Sand the primer lightly

   Go over it with 240 grit without pressing, vacuum and wipe with a cloth. This step removes the wood fibres that the primer raises and is the secret of a smooth finish.

7. 7

   First coat of enamel

   Start with the mouldings and edges using the brush and carry on with the panels using the roller. Finish with light vertical strokes from top to bottom, without going back over an area that is starting to dry. Leave it to dry for 4 to 6 hours.

8. 8

   Sand between coats

   Go over the whole door very gently with 240 grit to remove roughness. Vacuum and wipe off the dust. Do not press: you are only dulling the surface.

9. 9

   Second coat and removing the tape

   Repeat the coat in the same order. Remove the masking tape when the paint is touch dry but not yet hardened (after 2 or 3 hours), pulling at an angle so you do not lift any paint.

10. 10

    Let it harden before rehanging and closing

    Wait 24 hours before hanging the door again and closing it, and a week before wiping it with damp cloths. If you have also painted the frame, leave the door open the first night so it does not stick.

New, varnished or already painted door: what preparation it needs

Before you open the tin, work out what surface you have, because that decides the primer. Bare timber (pine, sapele or the typical veneered chipboard door sold at Leroy Merlin and Bricodepot) soaks up paint and raises the grain. On a varnished or gloss-lacquered door, new paint will not grip unless you sand and prime it first. On a door that has already been painted, what matters is the condition of the old coat.

Run a fingernail over the paint. If it lifts in flakes, scrape back to a firm layer. If it is intact but glossy, a light sanding to dull it is enough. If the mouldings have yellowed or are greasy, wash with water and a degreaser before sanding, because greasy dust clogs sandpaper.

One safety note for older flats: in buildings from before 1980, old gloss paint can contain lead. If the door and frame are covered in many layers of old paint, do not dry sand or scrape them. Wet-sand or use a chemical stripper, wear an FFP2 mask and gloves, keep children and pregnant women out of the room, and wipe up the dust with damp cloths rather than sweeping it.

Enamel, lacquer or emulsion: which paint to choose

For white interior doors, the most convenient choice today is a water-based acrylic satin enamel. It has little smell, cleans up with water and does not yellow as much as white solvent-based gloss. Titan, Bruguer and Montó all have versions at Leroy Merlin and Bricodepot. Solvent-based enamel stands up a little better to knocks, but you need white spirit to clean the brushes, and in white it tends to yellow over the years, especially in dark rooms.

Wall emulsion is no good on doors: it marks with fingernails and the friction of a hand, and it peels when you clean it. If you want a factory-lacquered look, you need more thin coats with sanding in between, which is closer to lacquering than to ordinary painting. We explain it in how to lacquer doors white.

• Matt: hides flaws, but it gets dirty and is harder to clean.
• Satin: the usual balance for internal doors.
• Gloss: looks smart but shows every imperfection in the sanding.
• Coverage is about 80-100 ml per m² per coat: an internal door (close to 4 m² with both faces) needs about 750 ml in total for two coats.

Common mistakes when painting a wooden door

Nearly every problem comes from rushing. These are the ones we see most on doors we are asked to repaint:

• Painting without sanding. On gloss lacquer the paint peels off in strips within a few weeks.
• Overloading the roller. It causes runs and drips on the edge. Two thin coats beat one thick one.
• Painting the door in place without protecting hinges or handle. You always end up with paint on the ironmongery. Take the door off or mask everything with masking tape (Tesa 4334 or similar).
• Closing the door too soon. It feels dry to the touch after 2 hours, but the coat takes 24 hours to harden. Close it earlier and it sticks to the frame.
• Forgetting the bottom edge. It is the first part to absorb moisture. Paint the top and bottom edges too.
• Skipping the sanding between coats. A gentle pass with 240 grit takes off the dust and rough bits left after drying and leaves the surface silky.

When to call a professional

You can paint one interior door yourself over a weekend. It is worth calling a painter if you have several doors and frames (the preparation multiplies), if the doors are in poor condition with many layers of old paint, or if you want a lacquered finish with no marks, which calls for a spray gun or several coats with sanding between each.

With our painters service in Valencia and Alicante we lacquer and paint doors, frames and radiators. We have no fixed rate per door because it depends on the condition, so we give a fixed price by WhatsApp from a photo. As a guide, hourly work starts at €35-45 for the first hour and €28-35 per hour after that. If the real problem is a door that rubs or will not close, adjusting a door costs €40-70 and is best done before painting (see how to adjust door hinges). You will find more figures in how much it costs to paint a flat. We arrive in 20-45 minutes in Valencia, Alicante, Torrevieja and Benidorm, with a 6-month written guarantee. If you are also painting the walls in the room, read how to paint a wall without streaks, and for the city centre see painters in Valencia.

Damp, salt air and sun: how the coast affects painting

On the coast the humidity is high almost all year and timber swells and shrinks. If a balcony or terrace door is on the seafront (Torrevieja, Benidorm, Dénia, Jávea), the salt air eats the hinges and the paint. For exterior doors use an exterior enamel with a UV filter and paint the bottom edge too, because it gets wet when you mop and when it rains.

Do not paint with direct sun on the door or on warm timber: the enamel dries too fast and leaves roller marks. The ideal is to paint in the morning or late afternoon, with ventilation and a temperature between 10 and 28 degrees. In winter with high humidity, expect each coat to take 30-50% longer to dry. If the door opens into a room with mould, deal with the cause first, as we explain in how to remove mould from a wall.