Why You Should Lay Your Doors Flat Before Painting Them

Although painting a door seems like it should be an easy process, it's easy to make common mistakes when painting a door that can detract from the final look. If you want to avoid problems, one of the best tips for painting doors is taking it off the hinges before you begin painting it. You receive a couple of advantages when you take it down and lay it horizontal.

The primary advantage to laying the door flat is that it helps you avoid runs that can ruin the look. If you apply too much paint to a vertical door, gravity will pull the liquid downward, creating lumpy drips. You don't have to worry about fixing paint drips while you're doing the job on a horizontal door. You certainly could fix the drips after the paint dries, but it's far more difficult and time-consuming. It's easier to simply avoid these issues in the first place by laying the door flat.

If you aren't very tall, you may need a step stool or ladder when the door is attached to the hinges. It'll be a lot easier to do the job by taking it down and painting it when it's horizontal. You can reach all parts of the door without having to reach over your head. You can paint it faster when it's lying flat, too, because you can use longer brush strokes without having to reach awkwardly to the top of a tall door.

When painting indoors, you run the risk of exposure to dangerous paint fumes because air may not move efficiently. If you paint the door while it's still attached to the hinges, you can't control the ventilation in the room. By taking the door off the hinges and moving to a well-ventilated area, you can reduce the fumes and any odor from the paint. You can use an exhaust fan in the well-ventilated room to improve ventilation.

If you want to paint both sides of the door on the same day, you might wonder whether you can accomplish this with a door laid flat. You can if you use sawhorses to hold the door off the ground. To avoid smudging wet paint on one side when you flip it over and set it back onto the sawhorses, use lag screws. Insert a few long lag screws into the bottom and top edges of the door, where the holes won't be visible when you hang it again. (You can also use putty to fill in the holes later.) Leave a couple of inches of the screws sticking out of the door. You and a helper can then hold the lag screws to flip it over without touching the paint. Rest the lag screws on the sawhorses to avoid having any of the wet paint smudge on the sawhorse.