Painting, decorating and home improvement tips blog
How to paint a glass panelled door
Posted by Adrian
January 11th, 2010
Painting a glass panelled door
This tip applies to both interior and exterior glass panelled doors, it doesn’t matter how many panels there are, whether it be a 2, 4, 8, 12 or even 15 panelled door, the principle is the same.
The first job is to remove the door furniture such as handles, letterbox, knocker etc, now cover the floor with a dustsheet to catch any splashes of paint. The next job is to remove any loose paint as well as any dirt and grime.
Next rub the door down, depending on the surface you are painting over and its condition 80-grit sandpaper will be fine to use. Rub down, going in the direction of the grain, if you have an internal ‘grain effect’ door be careful not to rub too hard and run the grain effect off!
Make sure you rub down all of the edges of the glazing beads, but be careful not to scratch the glass.
Once you have rubbed down ie ‘keyed’ the surface with the sand / glass paper dust off the surface. If the door has any bare wood showing you will need to use the appropriate primer. Once the primer is dry you can paint the door with a suitable undercoat, finally the finish coat (gloss, satinwood or woodstain etc) of your choice.
So what order do I paint the panel door?
OK, here is the order to paint your panel door:
- Paint the door edge, you should always paint the edge you will see if the door is open. Number 1 in diagram. If it is an exterior door you should also paint the top of the door, and the bottom if you can.
- Paint all the glazing beads and muntins. Paint each window in turn, try and not get too much paint on the railes or stiles. You can brush the excess paint off with an unloaded brush. Number 2 in diagram.
- Paint the top rail, number 3 in diagram.
- Paint the two side stiles next, numbers 4 and 5 in diagram.
- Finally paint the bottom rail. Number 6 in diagram.
- If you are using gloss, check to ensure the paint hasn’t run off the glazing beads, if there are runs simply brush them out with a dry brush.
- You should now have a newly painted door!
NOTES:
Stiles: vertical parts
Rails: horizontal parts
Glazing beads: holds the glass in door
Muntin: vertical glazing beads
Tags: Door, External Door, Glass panelled door, Internal Door, Painting, Panel door
Posted in Decorating Tips | 9 Comments »
If you found this tip useful, you may like these two also:
How to paint a panel door : http://www.propertydecorating.co.uk/blog/?p=28
How to paint a flush door : http://www.propertydecorating.co.uk/blog/?p=46
When painting a door with different colors front and back, which color should be on the door edge?
I have stiles and rails on both sides of my glass panel door. I painted the door brown. The paint seeped behind the white on the back side of stiles and rails. Now I see white with brown paint between the two grids. What is the best solution?
@Bobbie,
It sounds as if the paint is going behind the glass and showing through the other side. You could use putty or decorators caulk to fill in the gaps around the glass beading to stop the paint from getting behind the beading.
I am delighted that I discovered this website, just the right information that I was looking for!
I’m looking for paint to cover glass panel in bathroom door
@Alison
You need a good primer. Look at the Zinsser range, such as Zinsser BIN.
I have a glass panelled door painted white on both sides. Problem is that the bare wood is showing round the edges on both sides. Can I use a filler of some sort to hide this after I’ve painted?
@Maz
Not after you have painted no, as the filler with show. You could use decorators caulk but be careful not to get over glass otherwise its another job cleaning it off.
Typically you ‘strike’ the paint (in other words just allow the paint to touch glass) onto glass and this hides the edge but I know some pre-beaded doors do have gaps. A fine surface filler or caulk can be used but before painting.