Painting A Flush Interior Door
Let’s face it, interior doors can be downright ugly. If you have basic, builder-grade interior doors with absolutely no trim or detail, painting interior doors is great alternative to replacing them altogether.
Sealing all edges of the door as you recommend is the correct way to limit oreliminate swelling in wood doors. Indeed, ALL manufacturers of wood doorsrequire sealing on all edges or they will not honor their warranties. Someexterior doors come pretreated with waterproofing to give you a fighting chanceagainst swelling. However, if any trimming or cutting of an exterior door isever done, paint or a clear waterproofing should be applied to the cut area.
After all patching and sanding, prime the entire door with oil base enamel under coater. Apply in the same order as with painting doors with a brush. Allow the primer to fully dry, this could take as little as 4 hours or as much as 24 hours. Hand sand the entire door with a fine sanding sponge or 220 sandpaper. Remove the dust with a shop vacuum and tack rags. A smooth clean surface before painting will produce a smooth finish. Painting Doors Removed from the Frame
There is no surefire way to solve this problem but it can be minimized in aNEW door by completely sealing the door prior to painting with a "paintable"wood sealer. A paintable sealer will give painting recommendations on the label.Be careful to read the label as sealers have special painting requirements, suchas the use of an oil-based primer. Others have minimum waiting times betweensealing and painting. Don't use a deck sealer because many are so rugged thatthey require actual weathering before painting should be attempted! Most wooddoor manufacturers seal their exterior doors before shipment to your locallumberyard, but this is rarely done for interior doors.