What are the proper tools and techniques to repaint peeling exterior door trim?

The order is: - remove the old paint - prime the bare wood - paint an undercoat - paint on two top coats '''Removing old paint:''' You have a mixture of flat surfaces and some detail as well. It looks like the detailed parts were better prepared and so have lasted better. Maybe if you concentrate on getting the large flat pieces down to bare wood then you will have an acceptable result.

Else try to take it all down. To remove the paint there are several approaches. You could use a heat gun and scraper to get rid of the large sections and get into the details.

You need about 1600W heat gun minimum. Be careful if there are openings into the house as the heat might ignite loose wood scrapings inside the walls. (Unlikely but possible) Else you can use a straight scraper in a pulling motion (with both hands so you don't cut yourself) or use a power drill with an abrasive pad or wire tool to remove heavy paint.

These last two will remove the paint quickly but will also tear the wood up a bit too. The last step will be to hand sand it all smooth. Use sandpaper on a block for the flat regions and by hand for the rounded parts.

Now it should be back to bare wood - with some pieces of paint in the corners but sanded down nice and smooth. If you find some rot - then cut it out, treat it, and cut wood to replace it. Your Paint shop will tell you which treatment to use.

The rotten wood will be soft and spongy. '''Prime the bare wood:''' Now prime the wood with a wood Primer. Let it dry.

Exterior wood Primer is what you need to buy. Add filler over this if you need to fill any gaping holes. Its best to place on top of the primer as it protects the wood.'''Paint an Undercoat''' You only need one coat.

Apply it with maybe 1 inch brush on the details and a two inch brush elsewhere. No point in using a roller on this small window. Cleanup the brush in whatever the can says you should use.

Probably water. You will need to buy Exterior Undercoat for Wood. Get a brand name to be more sure of the quality.

Follow the instructions on the can. '''Paint on two top coats''' Buy Exterior topcoat to paint the exterior. If you take along a piece of the paint you can get it matched at your paint shop.

Let it dry between coats. The paint can will tell you how long you should wait. Choose a low gloss or high gloss paint to suit the rest of the house.

Looks like low gloss or sheen from your picture. But look at the other windows to see. Good luck...!

I'll approach this from a different direction: time, equipment, and job skills. Some of the tools and techniques to consider are those that help you decide if you want to paint this door and woodwork yourself. Bear with me--this isn't a flippant answer.It is well-reasoned, and asking you to consider your own stick-to-it-iveness when approaching this task.

I've done a lot of painting inside the house, and there are places where I am going to have to go back one of these days and scrape up the last bits of extra paint (I used edge tape, but dripped or misjudged, plus, if you don't take the tape off soon enough, then you have to struggle to get the adhesive off of the surfaces you put the tape on). When you live in a place, it is too easy to think "I'll finish it next weekend." Two years ago I had my house painted.

It is mostly brick and stone, but the upper part toward the peak, the trim, the windows, and the doors needed painting. If I'd started doing all of that tedious work two years ago, I'm afraid I'd still be doing it now. And I'd still be tripping over all of the equipment that I bought specially to do the job.

Though a door doesn't seem that big, I see all of the fine detail on your woodwork that you're going to have to approach carefully. You have to know how to remove old paint without gouging the wood. And the possibility of fire with a heat gun is real.

The house that I grew up in is now owned by an old classmate, and he was using a heat gut to remove paint from the soffit outside what had been my bedroom window. Neighbors alerted them to smoke some time after he quit for the day, and the fire department had to chop a hole in the antique roof to reach the fire and extinguish it.

It takes time to do all of that scraping and cleaning (a step not mentioned in the other answer was to treat for mildew, but a power wash or a weak chlorine bleach power wash is often needed to remove any mildew spores on the paint and wood, or the new coat will show spots after a couple of years).

Then comes painting, touchup, removing edge tape, final touchup. By the time you've lined all of this up, a professional will be finished. Even if you figure that the professional is going to charge several times more than what you would pay for paint and equipment, he/she will finish a lot sooner.

And all of the clutter will go away when they finish. You shouldn't just hire any painter who comes along, you need to do your research, but even as small as this one job is, I would hire a professional to do it. They will already have the equipment and the experience to know how to remove the old paint and NOT damage the bare wood in the process.

They'll know (you should ask) to caulk any spaces that need it first, and if your painter is like mine, will have the carpentry skills to replace any damaged wood. Ask around, your neighbors are a good starting point, and be sure to check with the Better Business Bureau before making a decision. Don't pay in advance (though buying the paint isn't unreasonable).

Get a quote. Ask for references. Believe me, the time it takes to do this research is worth it, because if you hire a professional, they will address the job in the order it needs and will stand behind their work.

And the time it takes to do this research is still far less than you'll spend scraping and painting that door. I hired a painter who is also a carpenter and who has done several jobs for me. I knew of his work because I watched the work he did for a neighbor, and I knew the quality was excellent.

I know that he and his small crew might not be able to undercut an employer who brings in illegal immigrant labor (and some of them do very good jobs, but you need to do your research to know if they owner of the business is reliable and well-rated). I paid him a reasonable rate that was based upon the job--the steps included, the estimated time at the rate he pays his painters. If you are unable to afford to hire a professional do to the job, then be aware that you'll need to give yourself a couple of weekends (minimum) to put into this, after you've rounded up the tools and the paint, and after you've treated for mildew.

You will get a lot of "sweat equity" out of the job, but if you calculate what you could earn hourly if you were working instead of painting, you might find hiring the painter will at least break even. I applaud your interest in doing this yourself, and if you have the focus to do the job, you'll smile every time you go through the door and admire your work. But if you're like a lot of us, and have to struggle to finish projects, then this one, out where everyone who approaches your house is going to see it, might be the one to hire out.

monarchpaintdc.com/images/index_color_consultations.jpg Here is a tip for you or the painter you select: When you choose the color, get a good quality paint (we used Monarch monarchpaintdc.com/). If you have your own color mixed, they use a clear paint base and add a lot of pigment to color it. But there are an array of colors that are mixed at the factory and they don't have the same kind of pigment as what is used to color the base.

They tend to have minerals and are in a white or opaque base. It takes less of this paint to cover the area you have in mind, and you can be sure that any two cans of it are going to have the identical color, if you need more than one can.(This is a trick my painter taught me). Good luck with it, whatever your choice!

(Here's a DIY page that might help also: http://www.diynetwork.com/painting/exterior-painting-preparation/index.html) At least if you know just how much work is involved, you can make an intelligent choice on doing the job yourself or having someone else do it.

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