Find a Retailer
Purchase Samples
Virtual Painter
 
 
 
Email Print Save
 
Interior
 
Exterior
 
Concrete
 
How-To Videos
 
 
Painting Steel Doors

 
 
 
 
Watch videos now
Rust
 
  
 
 
Previously Painted Doors
 
  1. Previously painted steel doors often create an adhesion challenge when it's time to repaint them.
  2. Check the door for peeling or cracking paint. If paint is loose, scrape it off and feather the edges of the remaining paint. Prime the metal surface with a rust-resistant latex or oil-based primer.
  3. Typically, paints with some degree of glossiness are used on steel doors; in order to create adhesion for the new top coat of paint, you'll need to lightly sand the surface first with fine grit sandpaper.
  4. After sanding the surface and cleaning off the sanding dust, apply the top coat using a latex or oil-based enamel paint.
  5. Enamel paints generally are more resilient in terms of stain and scrub resistance than are conventional wall paints; therefore, they tend to be more durable for surfaces that experience a lot of wear and tear.

 
New Steel Doors
 
  1. Most new steel doors come "pre-primed" from the factory, which the manufacturer typically does in order to protect the door during the shipping process. This primer does not perform as well as a quality primer coat and therefore should be covered before you apply a top coat of paint. Valspar recommends that all steel doors be first primed with a quality rust-resistant latex or oil-based primer.
  2. After the primer has thoroughly dried, apply one or two coats of a top quality acrylic latex semi-gloss, gloss enamel, oil-base semi-gloss or gloss enamel paint.

 
 
 
 
Locate a store
Retail Locator
 
See How-To Videos
Watch a project from start to finish.
Watch Videos
 
 

© The Valspar Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Computer screens and printers vary in how colors are displayed. Colors which display on the screen and printed colors may not match the paint's actual color.