Painting a door frame?
Discussion
I hope someone can help me? In a couple of weeks I plan to paint part of our house (Kitchen and Dinning room). This will be my first time painting but I don’t see it being a problem except one thing. I want to paint the door frames but they have years of paint causing them to look a mess so I don’t really want to add just more paint. If I wanted to do a decent job do I have to remove all the old paint, which seems a bit daunting or can I just sand it down as much as possible and then paint on this? Would this create a decent finish?
I've been in the same position before and to be honest even after removing the paint with a hot air gun and sanding etc the finish wasn't fantastic because the wood gets pitted and marked and it's not the same as nice new stuff.
Have you thought about replacing the frames, it'd probably be less work anyway
Have you thought about replacing the frames, it'd probably be less work anyway

If the existing paint is firmly fixed and not flaking, then you could sand it to a decent flat finish and paint that. However door frames can have lots of angles which would make sanding very fiddly. The 'proper' way would be to coat the old paint liberally with a good paintstripper like Nitromors, then scrape it back to bare wood and start from scratch. Up to you!
As it's your first time painting, be careful to put the paint on thinly and watch for drips - gloss paint is particularly good at looking nice for 30 seconds, then running when you're not looking.
As it's your first time painting, be careful to put the paint on thinly and watch for drips - gloss paint is particularly good at looking nice for 30 seconds, then running when you're not looking.
Thank you for the info. I don’t have the tools to replace a door frame but it is not something that had not crossed my mind.
The current paint is fine with no cracks or damage, just very dirty and tired looking. I think I might just clean the areas with a damp rag and paint it. We are planning on changing the kitchen and the frame in question is between the dinning room and the kitchen.
Never painted with gloss before so thank you for the tip Simpo Two.
The current paint is fine with no cracks or damage, just very dirty and tired looking. I think I might just clean the areas with a damp rag and paint it. We are planning on changing the kitchen and the frame in question is between the dinning room and the kitchen.
Never painted with gloss before so thank you for the tip Simpo Two.
Simpo Two said:
The 'proper' way would be to coat the old paint liberally with a good paintstripper like Nitromors, then scrape it back to bare wood and start from scratch.
Yep, Nitromors will do the job. We (or rather my wife !) used it to successfully remove years worth of different paints from the interior of our wooden windows. We then sanded and stained the windows to provide a natural finish.Bob
bracken78 said:
The current paint is fine with no cracks or damage, just very dirty and tired looking. I think I might just clean the areas with a damp rag and paint it. We are planning on changing the kitchen and the frame in question is between the dinning room and the kitchen.
Wash with Sugar Soap (wear a rubber glove). It will strip away the grease and help the new paint key to the surface. Same applies to walls (be careful around electrical points), and particularly in the kitchenbracken78 said:
The current paint is fine with no cracks or damage, just very dirty and tired looking. I think I might just clean the areas with a damp rag and paint it.
I'd suggest you use a proper cleaner (a damp rag won't shift finger grease, old tobacco or the film of time) and then use a very fine grade sandpaper over the easily-reachable areas to provide a key for the new paint (you don't want scratches, just a matt finish). Paint is only as good as the surface it's painted onto, and might peel off otherwise.Doh, beaten to it.
Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 14th October 13:06
I'd also go with the Nitromores approach if I did not have the tools to replace the frame. Just take care that you get it all out of the crevices / filler areas as it will cause a reaction to new paint going on.
Actually, this sounds like a good time to start your tool collcetion. You do not need a lot of tools to replace the outer bits of a frame (the architrave around the door) which can make quite a difference to the appearance of the door area. The flat bit in the door recess is then quite simple to sand back, working through the grits to get a paintable finish.
Taking architrave off should be a simple matter of a pry bar to get the old wood off. Use a block under the pry bar to avoid damaging the area you lever against.
Putting it back, you'll need a mitre block and appropriate saw (or electric mitre saw starting at about £50 if you are feeling you may have a use for it later), some gripfill, a hammer, a few pins and a pin punch to get the nails below the surface, some wood filler to cover the nails and caulk for where the architrave joins the walls.
Then prime, undercoat and paint, and you will have a nice new, sharp looking profile around your door.
Then when you see it, you will want to replace all the skirtings... which again is a simple job, pretty much as above except you do not mitre the corners, but scribe them in.
The woodwork should only take about an hour for a newbie, and then some nice careful coats of paint, only as much time to paint as it would anyway plus a primer coat.
You'll be amazed at how easy it is, and the result you will get. But be careful, it's infectious and wood is not cheap from DIY stores - shop around on the web.
Actually, this sounds like a good time to start your tool collcetion. You do not need a lot of tools to replace the outer bits of a frame (the architrave around the door) which can make quite a difference to the appearance of the door area. The flat bit in the door recess is then quite simple to sand back, working through the grits to get a paintable finish.
Taking architrave off should be a simple matter of a pry bar to get the old wood off. Use a block under the pry bar to avoid damaging the area you lever against.
Putting it back, you'll need a mitre block and appropriate saw (or electric mitre saw starting at about £50 if you are feeling you may have a use for it later), some gripfill, a hammer, a few pins and a pin punch to get the nails below the surface, some wood filler to cover the nails and caulk for where the architrave joins the walls.
Then prime, undercoat and paint, and you will have a nice new, sharp looking profile around your door.
Then when you see it, you will want to replace all the skirtings... which again is a simple job, pretty much as above except you do not mitre the corners, but scribe them in.
The woodwork should only take about an hour for a newbie, and then some nice careful coats of paint, only as much time to paint as it would anyway plus a primer coat.
You'll be amazed at how easy it is, and the result you will get. But be careful, it's infectious and wood is not cheap from DIY stores - shop around on the web.
Simpo Two said:
As it's your first time painting, be careful to put the paint on thinly and watch for drips - gloss paint is particularly good at looking nice for 30 seconds, then running when you're not looking.
I tried to explain that to my wife when she decided to paint, then carpet our stairs. We now have £600 worth of carpet fitted on and around a drippy, wobbly, run-ridden surface-of-the-moon paint job that I could have done better blindfolded.

bracken78 said:
Thank you everyone for your replies and it seems I now have a little thinking to do! I will inspected the frame tomorrow as I'm not home tonight and see what I think should be the right way to go about this job. I’m not sure what to do!
If the current paint is in good condition with a decent surface, then I'd stick to Plan A (paint). Pulling off frames and architraves is fine for a competent DIYer but you'll need to be able to cut timber accurately, cut mitres and fill in any chunks of plaster that the nails have rusted into and then pull out all over the floor... and you'll still have to paint the new timber anyway!King Herald said:
Simpo Two said:
As it's your first time painting, be careful to put the paint on thinly and watch for drips - gloss paint is particularly good at looking nice for 30 seconds, then running when you're not looking.
I tried to explain that to my wife when she decided to paint, then carpet our stairs. We now have £600 worth of carpet fitted on and around a drippy, wobbly, run-ridden surface-of-the-moon paint job that I could have done better blindfolded.

Many evenings and, a couple of weekends later, I had stripped it right back to how it must have been before being varnished for the very first time. This included teasing out the paint from any open grain and sanding to a smooth surface, readying it for it's first coat of polish. Imagine my horror when returning from work to find my wife had 'helped' with the restoration by giving it a coat of wood-primer.
bracken78 said:
Thank you everyone for your replies and it seems I now have a little thinking to do! I will inspected the frame tomorrow as I'm not home tonight and see what I think should be the right way to go about this job. I’m not sure what to do!
The thing with painting is that if it looks crap then it's not a problem - just rub it down and do it again. If the door frame is in poor condition then you might need to give it a couple (or even more) coats anyway, rubbing the paint down between coats with very fine sandpaper just to break the gloss of the surface and allow the new paint to grip.You could undercoat it first - some people refer to this as flatting - so you can see the surface looks ok and can correct any defects before you apply the final gloss coat.
Simpo Two said:
bracken78 said:
Thank you everyone for your replies and it seems I now have a little thinking to do! I will inspected the frame tomorrow as I'm not home tonight and see what I think should be the right way to go about this job. I’m not sure what to do!
If the current paint is in good condition with a decent surface, then I'd stick to Plan A (paint). Pulling off frames and architraves is fine for a competent DIYer but you'll need to be able to cut timber accurately, cut mitres and fill in any chunks of plaster that the nails have rusted into and then pull out all over the floor... and you'll still have to paint the new timber anyway!I used this extensively in a refurbed Victorian flat and the result was fresh and clean on classic architrave that showed its age by way of the knocks and gouges it had suffered over the years. New architrave would just not have looked right.
Again, thank you all for your input. I did manage to have a quick look at the frame last night and other than being in need of some paint it really is not in bad condition (shame about the skirting board!). I will give it a rub down and clean with Nitromores as suggested and then carefully apply some now paint and I’m sure it will be ok.
I will report back with the results when done.
I will report back with the results when done.
bracken78 said:
clean with Nitromores
NOOOOOO. Nitromors is paint stripper. Either start with that and strip all the paint off or keep it a million miles away.If you want something to clean the paint with then use Sugar Soap - either in a packet or a bottle which you dilute in a bucket.
Deva Link said:
bracken78 said:
clean with Nitromores
NOOOOOO. Nitromors is paint stripper. Either start with that and strip all the paint off or keep it a million miles away.If you want something to clean the paint with then use Sugar Soap - either in a packet or a bottle which you dilute in a bucket.
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