Painting a Waunakee front entry: the door, sidelights and trim

What makes up an entry: door, sidelights, trim, columns

An entry has more parts than people expect. There's the door slab itself, often with glass; sidelights on one or both sides; sometimes a transom above; the jambs the door closes against; and the exterior casing, or brick mould, that frames all of it. Many houses add columns, pilasters or a small pediment over the door.

Each part can be a different material. A fiberglass or steel door may sit in a wood or composite frame with wood casing, so a single entry can need three kinds of prep. The threshold and weatherstrip aren't painted, and the hardware comes off or gets masked before anything else starts.

A wood door is handled much like trim: sanded, spot-primed where it's bare, and finished on every edge. Pella's owner's manual asks for the top edge of its door panels to be finished too, to reduce the chance of warping, and that edge is the one most often skipped.

Fiberglass doors

Fiberglass doors take paint well with the right prep. Pella's manual says its smooth fiberglass doors and sidelights can be painted but not stained, and Therma-Tru publishes its own finishing steps. Makers disagree on sanding and primer, so the first step is learning who made the door and following that maker's sheet.

Dunn-Edwards adds a fiberglass quirk worth knowing: fire-retardant additives in some doors release gases slowly, and that pressure can push a fresh coating off in blisters. Its advice is to keep direct and even diffused sun off the door while working, prime with a bonding primer and give the primer about a day before the topcoat.

Not sure what your door is made of? Pella's tip is a small magnet: if it sticks, the door is most likely steel. Our post on painting fiberglass doors goes deeper on the makers' instructions.

Steel entry doors

Steel doors usually arrive primed from the factory. Pella says its steel doors don't need more primer, just preparation: a wipe with a solvent, a light sanding with fine paper and a wash with mild soapy water, then two coats of exterior paint. Other makers publish their own sheets.

Bare metal changes the plan. A scrape or dent through the factory primer can expose galvanized steel, and Dunn-Edwards warns that alkyd or oil-based primers must never go on galvanized surfaces, because they react with the zinc and the paint later peels. Those spots get an acrylic bonding primer instead. Steel also heats up fast in afternoon sun, so a south- or west-facing door is best painted while it's in shade.

Sheen and color for a front door

A front door gets handled more than any other painted surface outside, so it needs a sheen that wipes clean. Dunn-Edwards notes that more gloss makes a coating tougher and easier to clean, but also shows every dent and brush mark. Semi-gloss is the usual middle ground; high gloss suits a smooth, flat door in good shape, and satin is kinder to a steel door with a few dings.

For color, start with what won't change: the brick or stone, the roof, the shutters and the trim. Deep greens, blues, black and red read well against light houses, and a softer color can sit nicely on a darker one. Look at a sample on the door in morning and late-day light before you decide, because a door that sits in shade all afternoon reads darker than the chip.

Entry trim and the door frame

The casing around a door weathers faster than the door, because it's built from short boards that meet at joints and ends. Purdue Extension, writing with the Forest Products Laboratory, says paint normally fails first at those joints and at the ends and edges of boards, and the bottom of an entry casing, right by the step, catches splash and snowmelt.

So entry trim is cleaned, loose paint is scraped and sanded, bare wood is primed, and open joints are sealed with paintable exterior caulk before the finish coats. Soft or rotted wood is a different matter: paint won't hold it together, and a carpenter replaces it first. Our post on painting exterior trim covers the full sequence.

Drying time before the door can close

A freshly painted entry door is the textbook case of blocking. Dunn-Edwards describes blocking as two painted surfaces sticking when they're pressed together, and says pulling them apart can tear paint off either one. An entry door shuts against weatherstrip and a painted jamb every day, so it's where blocking shows up first.

Pella says to let the door dry completely, following the paint maker's directions, before closing it, and to use an exterior paint with good blocking resistance. In practice that means a dry, mild day with the door propped open while the paint sets, and someone home who doesn't mind a draft for a few hours. Dry to the touch still isn't fully cured, so close it gently for the first few weeks.

Smaller exterior jobs like an entry usually take one to three days and are scheduled around dry weather. Because we're based in Waunakee, George can look at the door and frame on a short visit before he quotes. Ask for a free estimate, or read about painting and staining in Waunakee.

More in Waunakee

• Painting in Waunakee
• Cabinet refinishing in Waunakee
• Interior painting in Waunakee
• Decks and exterior, the full service page

Decks and exterior nearby

• Decks and exterior in DeForest
• Decks and exterior in Middleton
• Decks and exterior in Madison

Helpful guides

• Painting fiberglass doors and steel doors: what the door makers say
• Painting exterior trim: caulk, rot checks and timing