How to Paint a Door: Tools & Materials

Series Summary

Home improvement projects are something that most home owners will, at some point, need to tackle. Sometimes the cost of hiring a professional is just not feasible. Fortunately there are many home repairs that can be done with commonly owned tools. Painting the exterior of a house is probably a job left to a professional, but painting doors is cheap, easy and not time consuming. In this free video series, a professional painter demonstrates how to paint a door, with tips on tools and materials, preparation work and painting the door. Discover how to use caulk to get rid of imperfections in doors, how to paint door handles and how to use primer on a door. With these painting tips and techniques, anyone can give their own doors a professional-quality paint job.

Video Transcript

"Okay, in this clip we're going to talk about the tools that you need to paint a door. Now you don't necessarily need all of these tools but it's a good idea if you're going to be painting some doors or some rooms or anything in the house, to kind of get these things, kind of collect them as you will, because they really do come in handy. First of all, you actually need paint. Now in this case, we need two types of paint. We actually need the paint that we're going to paint the door, which is our white, that matches the trim, and we also need a primer and a sealer. We want to prime that door and we also want to seal it. Sealing it will keep the water out and keep any cracking from the paint from the inside out. It's a really good idea anytime you want to paint something, to always prime it and seal it. The next thing is caulk or putty. A lot of times there's some nicks or some actual holes in the door and on the side and stuff, that you want to fill in and smooth out before you start painting it so those aren't visible after the paint goes on. Of course you need a paint brush. There's a couple of different brushes. You can use a straight edge brush or you can use an angle brush. I like to use the angle brush and I'll show you that later. And also, painting a door, you can use rollers. You want to use a roller that doesn't have a lot of lint on it or anything, so that nothing comes off in the paint, and you really create a smooth surface. You'll need a screwdriver. A paint stirrer is a good thing to have. Also a paint can opener is a really good thing to have. You want some sand paper, some painter's tape. This is blue tape that's called painter's tape, and what happens with this is you can put this on the walls or the trim or anything and then paint with it. Then when you peel this off, it doesn't take the paint off with it. This is a putty knife, some people call it a five in one, because it's really got five uses: it's a scraper, it's also to get in there and get some caulk that's maybe in a door jamb that you want off, it's also great to get paint off of rollers, and a lot of good uses for this. You can actually use it as a screwdriver. A couple of other things, you want a bowl, or maybe a five gallon bucket, and a rag full of water. Keep that nearby; there's always drips. Two of the most important things that I've found with painting, are a drop cloth. You want to prepare the area so that when you're done, you leave it exactly how it was except with a brand new painted door. The other thing is clothes. You've got to change your clothes. You're going to get splatters on your shoes, your body, and your clothes, so it's always a good idea to change clothes."