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If you have steel doors on your home that you simply hate, you can do something to change their appearance. For starters, you can paint steel doors, breathing new life into them, making them look brand new with beautiful color. For instance, if you have a taupe colored home, painting the front door a deep blue or red would enhance the appearance of the home, changing and updating it immediately.
If you are interested in painting your steel doors, you need to first use a direct-to-metal or DTM primer. Once the primer is completely dry, you need to apply two coats of exterior acrylic latex paint. The top coats can be applied with a roller, brush, or if you want, sprayed on but only if the door is off the hinges. If you use a brush to paint steel doors, you want to apply it carefully or you could end up with brush marks that are unattractive. Therefore, we suggest you use a short nap roller, which is quick, easy, and leaves a wonderful smooth finish. If you have fiberglass instead of steel doors, you can still paint them. In this case, any pores would need to be filled. Then, the grainy look you find with fiberglass would have to be eliminated by brushing on a coat of exterior oil primer. Finally, use two top coats of exterior acrylic or oil paint, just as you would with steel doors. Again, you can brush, spray, or roll on but make sure you use the right tools and good quality paint. If you want to make your steel doors look like wood, that too is another option. In this case, you want to use an inexpensive wood graining tool along with a heavy bodied wood stain. The great thing about this process is you can do it while the steel doors are still on the hinges. However, if you want, you can remove them, which makes the process a little bit easier. Other materials needed include minerals spirits, polyurethane, lint-free clothes, masking tape, and a paintbrush. Make sure the steel doors are primed with a tan, gray, or white primer. Then, using a lint-free cloth, wipe a uniform coat of wood stain on a small section of the steel doors, completing one section at a time. We suggest you work on the interior panels first and then the outside panels. The key is to create a horizontal grain on crosswise sections, as well as a vertical grain on lengthwise sections of the steel doors. Next, use your graining tool, going down the stained section on the steel doors, using pressure with your index finger. The goal is to move at a constant speed while pulling the tool toward you and slowly rocking it up and down so you create a unique and varied pattern. Once all the grained sections are done, the steel doors have to dry for 48 hours. When dry, the steel doors will need a coat of polyurethane and then be allowed to dry 24 hours. |
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