Painting waxed interior doors General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[janejigsaw]

I have recently bought some original Victorian doors which are lightly waxed. I would like to paint the doors white. Do I need to remove the wax before painting? If so, how? The doors are also heavily beaded around the panelling - how would I get the wax off of these areas? Any tips on the best way to paint them also? (i.e. do I need to sand, do I need an undercoat, should I use a brush or roller? etc..)

Please help (i'm a complete novice, so an idiots guide would be helpful!). Thanks very much.

[prime decorators]

[quote="janejigsaw"]I have recently bought some original Victorian doors which are lightly waxed. I would like to paint the doors white. Do I need to remove the wax before painting? If so, how? The doors are also heavily beaded around the panelling - how would I get the wax off of these areas? Any tips on the best way to paint them also? (i.e. do I need to sand, do I need an undercoat, should I use a brush or roller? etc..)

Please help (i'm a complete novice, so an idiots guide would be helpful!). Thanks very much.[/quote] Hi, the best thing you can do is to have the doors dipped and stripped,otherwise you are facing a lot of hard work.There are quite a few dip and strip companies and they are very reasonable in price.Once this is done you can sand down and paint using a good quality undercoat first,remember decorating is all about preparation,good luck

[pbp]

I would not recommend to dip these doors which might have already been dipped in the past.

If you have them dipped you run the risk of months and months of oozing caustic coming back out of them and damp patches that will take for ever and an age to dry out.

Get hold of some meths, latex gloves, brass brush, wire wool and loads of old cloths. lay the door down outdoors on a bench and have your meths in an open tub. Dip the wire wool into the meths and scour the door surface then wipe off the meths with the cloth's.

For moulded areas use the brass brush to get into all the tight gaps and again wipe off the meths afterwards. This should take away the wax leaving you with a surface to sand and paint. You might have to repeat this process a few times as the wax can penetrate quite deep as they are softwood.

[the paint pot]

[quote="janejigsaw"]I have recently bought some original Victorian doors which are lightly waxed. I would like to paint the doors white. Do I need to remove the wax before painting? If so, how? The doors are also heavily beaded around the panelling - how would I get the wax off of these areas? Any tips on the best way to paint them also? (i.e. do I need to sand, do I need an undercoat, should I use a brush or roller? etc..)

Please help (i'm a complete novice, so an idiots guide would be helpful!). Thanks very much.[/quote]

HI I HAVE BEEN A DECORATOR FOR 10 YEARS I FOUND THE BEST WAY TO GET OLD WAX OF IS TO USE FURNITURE CLEANER FRON ANY GOOD DIY STORES APPLY WITH RAG IF THERE IS A LOT OF WAX YOU MIGHT NEED TO GIVE IT AGO AGAIN THEN TO PAINT USE ZINSSER BIN TO PRIME YOU CAN GET IT FROM ANY GOOD DECORATOR MERCHANT.
BUT DON'T FORGET BEFORE USING ZINSSER YOU MUST GIVE A GOOD SAND DON'T FORGET THE CORNERS.
HOPE THIS HELPS
THE PAINT POT