Need ideas for refinishing an old inside door

Mary johnson
by Mary johnson
it has about 5 layers of paint, and i have started to scrape off the paint with a paint scrapper but have damaged the wood! help what do i do now?

  5 answers
  • Sharon Sharon on Nov 29, 2017

    Try sanding it starting with an 80 grit up to 120 grit to see if you can get it smooth.

    • Mary johnson Mary johnson on Nov 30, 2017

      yea, I've thought of that also, but i am hoping to find some sort of treatment to apply to it once i get it stripped. not just paint.

  • Candee Candee on Nov 30, 2017

    use a paint stripper thee paint comes right off then when dry sand it smooth

  • Rowgop (Pam) Rowgop (Pam) on Nov 30, 2017

    Once you have sanded using 80-120 grit, when finished need to use at least a 220 grit to have wood be smooth before staining or painting.

  • Johnavallance82 Johnavallance82 on Nov 30, 2017

    Spread on Paint remover. Leave to work then scrape off. Then repair or sand down, before Priming , Undercoat and then Topcoat..........

  • Gale Allen Jenness Gale Allen Jenness on Nov 30, 2017

    I would use orange stripper you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe’s as well as other paint stores! It works very well and not too smelly compared to other strippers. Although still should be done in a well ventilated area! Just use a cheap or old used brush to spread the orange stripper on your painted door. Let it sit and let the paint bubble up! Then you can take a putty knife and lightly scrape off the paint! You can still use this loose wet paint with stripper to sit on other areas to loosen more paint too! You can get it to stretch more that way! Once you got the paint off, you can rinse your door with a wet rag to clean off any stripper left. Good idea to use gloves too By the way! A mask may also help! Once rinsed and dried completely. Next step depends on if your repainting the door or if your wanting to stain it? But either way you will want to sand it! Again it depends if this is a solid wood door or a vaneer covered wood door? vaneer can be very thin and easy to sand thru and make your door look ugly very quickly!! So you need to know what you’re sanding on? If it’s solid wood I would start with 80 grit paper on a electric sander and sand all the flat surface. If the door has any detail work you may need to do some hand sanding too? Honestly 120 grit sandpaper will be fine for most projects your going to sand. Especially if you’re painting your project? If staining your door, sanding to 120 grit and staining will make your stain look darker. If your looking for a lighter color sand it down to 150 -220 grit. This will not only make the wood another but seal the grain of the wood where the stain won’t absorb into the wood as much which is why the color comes out lighter! You’ll want to put either a oil sealer or another kind of exterior sealer on your door after staining it! I personally like using Watco brand oils to finish my doors and other wood projects! It also comes in clear or several colors that takes a step out of having to stain first! Your first coats will soak in and dry fast! You will need to add several coats while letting the oil dry between coats! I would get a colored oil and a clear oil of Watco if you use it? More coats of the color oil you put on the darker your color will get! So when you get to the color darkness you like, then switch to the clear oil to build up a nice shine! You can also use fine steal wool and pour Watco oil over your steal wool or add a puddle of oil on your door and rub the door down with the steal wool to smooth the surface to a glass look perfection! This is a more time consuming proces, but pretty hard to screw the finish up! It’s also very easy to fix minor scratches down the line to just rub a little more oil on your door! By the way, always lay any used rags out flat outside away from any combustible materials! If rags are bunched together as they dry they can build up heat and burst into flames! So always lay flat someplace where fire won’t spread and let them dry out completel. Once dry throw them away in the trash! Always a good practice with many different products that are capable of building up heat to burst on fire if their piled up at all? So be careful! Good luck