# Painting a fiberglass door



## hdtuck (Mar 13, 2006)

I'm a faux painter and a good customer asked me to paint a fiberglass? front door. It was originally finished with a stained look and polyurethaned. The finish is bubbling and cracking from sun exposure. Firstly, is there a stripper safe to use on these doors or is sanding the best way to go to remove the old crap. Secondly, if she just wants it painted a solid color is it best to first prime it? and if so, since it's an exterior door, would an oil base primer perform better? And lastly what brand paint would be recommended.

Thanks, 

hdtuck


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## jackrabbit5 (Apr 30, 2006)

hdtuck said:


> I'm a faux painter and a good customer asked me to paint a fiberglass? front door. It was originally finished with a stained look and polyurethaned. The finish is bubbling and cracking from sun exposure. Firstly, is there a stripper safe to use on these doors or is sanding the best way to go to remove the old crap. Secondly, if she just wants it painted a solid color is it best to first prime it? and if so, since it's an exterior door, would an oil base primer perform better? And lastly what brand paint would be recommended.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> hdtuck


Don't sand a fiberglass door, you'll just tear it up. If it's a Thermatru door you can use a methylene chloride based stripper on it. It's probably safe to use stripper on other brands as well but you might want to check with the manufacturer.

For primer I like Zinsser 123 but any premium exterior 100% acrylic primer should also work well. For paint brand, I prefer Diamond Vogel but it's kind of a regional brand and may not be available to you.

When a customer wants me to finish a new fiberglass door I always recommend that it be painted on the exterior side because paint will always stand up better than varnish, especially if it has sun exposure. If you do have to restain it, be sure to use an exterior spar varnish on it and NOT polyurethane.


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