# Painting unfinished exterior mahogany door



## charliefreak100 (Sep 4, 2017)

Don't do much exterior paintwork, and I need to prep, prime and paint a brand new, unfinished, mahogany entry door.

SW recommended latex primer followed by their "latex acrylic enamel". But it's only available in a satin or high gloss finish and client wants semi-gloss.

Client's father wants me to do a coat of clear shellac first to make the paint easier to remove if desired in the future, but I've never worked with this and am suspicious about whether it will crack / glaze in an exterior application (direct sunlight).

My instinct is to use an oil-based primer, followed by SW Emerald exterior acrylic semi-gloss.

Will be brushed / rolled.

Would love to hear any thoughts / advice on how to get a good semi-gloss finish on this door. Bonus points for specific brand suggestions!

Thanks you all.


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## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

I would be hesitant to use shellac outside. It's not designed for exterior use outside of spot priming applications. It likely would make the paint easier to remove in the future, and likely cause premature failure as well. 

If you go with an oil primer a slow drying one that penetrates would be best. Quick dry oils like Coverstain don't seem to hold up well on exterior applications long term. They get brittle. There is a school of thought that the newer acrylic primers are superior, and I've seen some evidence that's the case. 

You could always give the customer exactly what they want with a disclaimer that no warranty applies. Using shellac for a solid prime outside would certainly void any material warranties your top coat might have. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## charliefreak100 (Sep 4, 2017)

Any recommendations for a topcoat?

SW also have an alkyd-based urethane enamel paint which is rated for exterior use and is available in a semi-gloss finish.

Or do you think the SW Emerald Exterior Acrylic will work fine?


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## charliefreak100 (Sep 4, 2017)

And thanks for the reply, of course!


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## lilpaintchic (Jul 9, 2014)

Long dry oil, a splash of thinner to help it penetrate. It's mahogany, a latex primer ain't gonna cut it and its a hardwood and its new so you need all the help with penetration that you can get. 
That being said, use whatever top coat fits the bill....id probably just use a straight oil on it but there's loads of perfectly fine acrylics that'll do fine. You've already mentioned one of them. 
Out of curiosity, why paint it? Why not stain it, penofin it, or some other simple means of retaining the natural beauty of mahogany? It's easier to paint it down the road if they just don't like it than to try to unpaint it later...just curious


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## Mastic Mils (Sep 4, 2017)

If you are using SW the Emerald Latex would be a good choice for the top coat in my opinion. 

Like Jmays said no quick drying oil primers. Use a slow drying penetrating oil primer if you use oil. *OIL recommended!*
Oil Primer- SW Exterior Alkyd Wood Primer
Latex Primer- SW Exterior Latex Wood Primer


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## charliefreak100 (Sep 4, 2017)

Thanks for joining the discussion!

They want a solid colour paint finish. The reason it's wood is that it was a custom size. And the house has very little exposed wood trim elsewhere so I can see why the paint would work. Not what I would do on my house though.

SW is the closest store, so it looks like it's gonna be:

SW exterior oil-based wood primer

SW emerald exterior latex acrylic

Any alarm bells with this? Speak now or forever hold your peace!!

Many thanks


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## Mastic Mils (Sep 4, 2017)

Looks Good! Post some pics of this beautiful door when it's finished.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

charliefreak100 said:


> Thanks for joining the discussion!
> 
> They want a solid colour paint finish. The reason it's wood is that it was a custom size. And the house has very little exposed wood trim elsewhere so I can see why the paint would work. Not what I would do on my house though.
> 
> ...


Ha! You're pretty new here aren't you? :vs_laugh:


:wink:


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## charliefreak100 (Sep 4, 2017)

Ha! Great, active forum with people who seem to know their stuff. Love it. Thanks for the help.


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## NACE (May 16, 2008)

Dark Mahogany or blonde? Mahogany is an oily wood. My standard has always been to sand with 120 or 150 and solvent wipe with aecetone to remove surface oils. A long oil primer thinned 10%. I always used a gloss oil such as Fine Paints or Impervo Enamel. I suppose a premium quality acrylic would be ok too but my preference was an oil due to its open time and quality look on Mahogany. Mahogany is very stable and dense so oil mimics the hardness of the wood. Would be concerned of bleed with an acrylic primer especially on darker more oily rich Mahogany.


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## Painting Practice (Jul 21, 2013)

They want a finish that can be removed easily later? I'm not getting that.


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*six sides*



charliefreak100 said:


> Don't do much exterior paintwork, and I need to prep, prime and paint a brand new, unfinished, mahogany entry door.
> 
> SW recommended latex primer followed by their "latex acrylic enamel". But it's only available in a satin or high gloss finish and client wants semi-gloss.
> 
> ...


cf100, I assume you already know this, but better safe than sorry: make sure all 6 sides of the door get properly sealed with primer. Also with finish would be good, too. 

futtyos


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## Lazerlnes (Sep 9, 2017)

Coating for easy future removal, hmm I say Plastidip!! XD


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## getrex (Feb 13, 2017)

Just wrap the door. Works on cars and stuff... 🙋


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## thinkpainting/nick (Dec 25, 2012)

Done my fair share of ipe doors. Oil (long) primer and oil topcoat. I wouldn't use latex but that's me.


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