I’m having a major remodel done on my house and will eventually have about 28 doors that will need to be stained and clear coated. The doors are VG Doug Fir. I shudder at the thought of having the painting contractor finish these doors so I’m thinking of finishing them myself.
My problem is that I’ve never finished a project of this scale. Hand finishing will likely take too long. I’m thinking about spending about $300 for an HVLP spray kit. My question is whether it will be too much of a project for me to tackle having never used an HVLP sprayer before. I’ll be spraying water based poly.
Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice!
Replies
Have you ever sprayed before at all? If so, I find HVLP is a bit easier. The typical problems you might experience with normal spraying carry over -- runs from applying too thick, thin spots, etc. But my wife was able to get the hang of it after a few tries when we made a set of kitchen cabs a few years ago, and she had never sprayed. You might want to find something to practice on such as plywood scraps, old doors or the like before tackling the real deal.
You'll also need a lot of dust-free space to handle 28 doors. Without some special racking, you'll probably have to do them all one side at at time and allow for drying before doing the other side. Standing the doors up buys you more space, but makes runs more likely, especially since poly takes a while to set up. Leaving them flat helps reduce the chance of runs, but increases the chance of dust contamination. (Always a tradeoff!) You may also want to construct a spray booth. You can make a servicable, limited-use booth out of plastic tarps and a window fan. Make sure the tip you get for your gun will handle the poly you plan to use.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Good suggestion on laying the doors down horizontally. That's how I do doors when I have to repair something. Otherwise I hang them sideways. But you're definitely right that vertically it's easy to cause a run or sag.
One that that I've found helpful is to run a stout bolt/screw into the end at each corner - just drill a hole tight enough that the bolt doesn't have a lot of slop to move around in. That way you can rest the bolts on your sawhorses which allows you to flip it over and do the other side while the first side may still be soft or even still wet. Then you can plug or patch the bolts holes easily enough after the fact if that's needed for like an exterior application.
To Kevin's suggestion of the bolts in each corner--if you install a bolt in each corner of one end and ONE bolt in the CENTER of the other end, it's a one-man job to turn the door over.
Also, don't forget to pre-drill your pilot holes to avoid splitting the rail!"Roger Staubach for President"
I've used drywall screws successfully in the corners in the past. Of course those were hollow core doors, these wood doors may be too heavy for dry wall screws.
Oh I love it! That one never occurred to me. Nice thinking!
Hi Mike ,
I would agree in full about laying the doors flat and the good and bads of it as well . Finishing one side completely before flipping has worked well on 1 or 2 doors .
The op has a space issue imo , if I were him or me for that matter I may coat a side then when tacked up stand them up to dry and get a coat or 2 on all of them on one side in a day or so depending on the drying time and conditions , then continue with the process .
otherwise the job could take 90 days or so
dusty
Hi oldusty,Good advice on spraying one side of each door and then standing them up to dry. The space issue is major concern of mine, especially since I haven't figured out where I'll be able to do this yet. I'm hoping that construction my new garage/workshop will be finished first. If the garage is finished, I think I can lay 3 to 4 doors flat for spraying.Just to be clear, is standing up the doors and spraying them vertically just not a good idea? Too many runs from overspraying?
Yes, the disadvantages of vertical spraying outweigh the dust problems associated with horizontal (for the reason you state).Drive two nails in both ends of the doors, use saw horses, and paint both sides in one session.IMO, jim
Jointer ,
I've seen top notch painters and finishers spray doors vertical and have good results .
Much of it depends on the material used and conditions as well as the spray rig used . I guess I should mention your skill level is going to be the determining factor whether you lay them flat or stand them up imho . `
I spray many floor to ceiling cabinet finished ends in the vertical position and have been doing so for 25 years or so and what I have noticed is it is easy to get sags and runs and harder to get a good build up of finish , figure that one out ? BTW I use an airless and use lacquers only .
regards dusty
From what everyone else is saying, it sounds like I will be much better off if lay out the doors horizontally. I will be finishing with polyurethane and maybe a water based stain (undecided if I will stain the doors, maybe just tint the poly...). I would like to have a satin final finish on the doors, should all the spray coats be satin? I'm concerned that it will cloud too much of the grain, I'm thinking that maybe several coats of gloss with a final coat of satin would be the way to go.BTW: The learning curve will be a major factor for me. I will likely purchase an inexpensive ($300) HVLP spray kit. I have never done any spray finishing other than with an aerosol can on a pair of lamps that I made. I guess I'll be buying lots of scrap wood to practice with... or maybe and extra door? ;-).
I'm thinking that maybe several coats of gloss with a final coat of satin would be the way to go.
Yep. You're on the right track.
In my experience, poly is one of the easiest to spray (and you can change viscosity w/o harm).Initially, painter's paper or cardboard works well (actually better than wood) to see how you're laying out the poly or whatever. A light sanding takes you back somewhat to square one. So if you have trouble with a coat, sand and repeat with better technique.As has been posted many times here, spray finishing can be "fun" and rewarding. The challenge is when you embark on using more viscous material.Keeping the gun clean is important (and not difficult). Cleaning alone will solve some spray finishing problems.
Here's a respectful effort at providing fodder for thought . . .
. "I shudder at the thought of having the painting contractor finish these doors
. I've never finished a project of this scale [and] never used an HVLP sprayer before"
Your logic may be questionable.
It is tempting to suggest hiring a better painter—perhaps for the doors alone. What you're wanting is routine for a kitchen cabinet finisher. I would closely examine the source of your angst about the present painter.
It is a different matter, however, if you simply want to know *you* did the work. That does make sense to me. And, you do have the option of handing over your work to a painter, should your enthusiasm wane.
(Mike Hennessy's comments are well put, IMO.)
IMO, jim
Edited 3/16/2007 12:27 pm ET by InMyOpinion
I have been wanting an HVLP sprayer for a while, just because its a power tool that I don't have and was hoping that I could justify it for the doors! However, you bring up a good point in that I have no experience doing this! I was hoping that I could get the hang of it by spraying some of my old doors.That said, a good friend of mine tells me that the best resolution would be for me buy the HVLP kit for myself and hire someone to finish the doors for me. The reason being that I'll have nicely finished doors and a cool new tool.
Here's an idea... buy the gun, hire someone to finish the doors for you and stipulate that you want to help finish them with the hopes of learning how to do it yourself. Odds are pretty good that the painter will be happy to show you some tricks in exchange for the free labor.
I'm thinking about the same thing. Do you have any suggestions for an inexpensive HVLP outfit that will do the job professionally?
good luck to ya.
eric
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled