The doors/trim in our house were originally painted with a white oil-based paint. We decided we wanted a brownish paint, but the contractors that painted it did a spray on straight over that with acrylic paint. That brown paint is now peeling and just simply looks bad.

So we've been trying to remove the paint, but nothing seems to be working. The chemical paint stripper hasn't worked, it will only bubble a little, no matter how much of the stuff we put, and leaves patches. On top of that, it has just been removing the brown, not the white as well. So we've rented a Speedheater to use the infrared heat; however, that has only worked for the banisters in the house, which are actually solid wood. Anything that is the regular hollow-molded composite doors, the speedheater doesn't work.

At this point, we're just thinking of buying new doors (25$ a piece at lowe's), but we still are going to have to do something with the frames/jambs. What other options do we have? How much would it cost to get about 16 doors replaced in the whole house (with the 25$ doors) including the frames/jambs (I couldn't quite figure out this price, since I don't know much about it).

Thanks for your help in advance!

PS here are some pictures of the one door we were testing everything on (it's extremely damaged right now):

 

Welcome to the forums!

I don't see the pics - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html

If you are just wanting to paint the doors correctly, you don't need to remove the white paint, just the brown latex that is failing. Once the latex paint is gone, coat the doors with a solvent based primer - they will then be ready to repaint with your choice of enamel - latex, waterborne or oil base.

Another option that usually works is to aggressively sand [80 grit] the doors and woodwork, then prime, sand again [120-150 grit] and enamel. The 80 grit will usually remove any poorly bonded paint, the primer and 120 grit will hide the sanding scratches and help the remaining paint to stay adhered.

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'll look into trying the sanding method. One question I have about that specifically is: does the sanding take away that texture, or dose it mainly just get the paint? We had one of those sanding sponge looking things, (I think it was 120 grit) and it didn't seem to be working all that well. I'll head over to lowe's tomorrow and try to just grab an 80 grit, and is there any specific primer (just a recommendation brand) that I should grab?

And I assume that's going to be cheaper than replacing it all with new stuff, but if you have a number off the top of your head for the full replacement, that'd be great.

Again, thank you so much.

 

I'm a painter [retired] not a carpenter so I wouldn't be able to give you any idea on what it would cost for replacement...... but we have several good carpenters that can - maybe they'll get a chance to chime in later.

I'm not sure what texture you are concerned with. Do you mean the wood grain on a masonite panel door? Latex paint has a softer film than it's oil base counterpart. For the most part, the oil enamel will protect the wood grain texture - just don't go crazy with the sanding. While I like and use the sanding sponges, real sandpaper will be more effective for the initial sanding. The sponges will be fine for sanding the primer.

Most any interior solvent based primer should be fine.

 

From experience a few years back...replacing an interior door incl trim if required was about $120 ea plus materials required. An independent might ask less....but I doubt it would be less than $75 or so (plus material) and thats if they just take a prehung door and install it. No painting or anything else.

 

Thanks for the replies. Tomorrow morning, I'll get the sanding stuff and test that all out, and get back to y'all. I guess this is the cheapest way to do it, I've just been having a lot of trouble with that chemical stripper, and even the speedheater (although it worked like a charm on the solid wood stuff).

 

Sanding paint is not fun but I think that's what you're likely going to have to do.

As for primer, I like Zinsser and would use their 123 product for this job.

I believe the reason your paint job failed was a lack of prep but poor products can also cause this - the best paints and advice are found in paint stores, not paint departments.

 

Alright, I've been sanding it, and it's working fairly well. I'm just wondering if there's an easier method/tool than just the ol' fashioned sandpaper in hand. I was going to grab one of those things that holds the sandpaper for the flatter areas. Is it worth it? Any tips/tricks?

 

I'd definitely consider a sanding block for flat areas

 

Got a sanding block, and it works great for the window ledges. Also 000 steel wool has been nice for some of the harder to get parts in the detail. And the paint doesn't have any lead in it, so i think we're fine. We're keeping the place kind of aired out.

Thanks!

 

One issue with using steel wool - when latex paint/primer is applied over an area where steel wool has been used, any steel fibers that get left behind will rust.

 

Yep, make sure you remove all of the steel wool from the wood.

While it works well, this aspect is why I don't use it.

 

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any steel wool whenever we use it. Thanks for the tip.