Welcome to our Wood Door Series, where we’ll cover a variety of topics, from choosing the right wood material to customizing the design, to help you decide what door is best for you and what to consider once you receive it. Whether it’s interior doors or customized front doors, there are a lot of factors to consider.

Throughout this series, we’re speaking with Brad Loveless, Marketing and Product Development Manager at Simpson Door Company. With 17 years of experience in marketing, operations, and sales at Simpson, he has a tremendous amount of knowledge about wood doors, trends that have come and gone, and how to navigate the many decisions involved to select the right door for your project.

In this episode, Brad helps set customer expectations for primed doors, advises what to do once the product arrives, and explains how weather can impact the life of your product. Watch our discussion in the video above, or keep reading to get the highlights.

What is a primed door? 

Wood doors can be stained or painted to get the look you want for your home. If your door needs to be painted, it must be primed first. In most cases, doors can be ordered “primed,” meaning the manufacturer has already primed the door, taking a step out of the preparation process for you. 

Once a door is primed, you can have a professional paint it for you or you can do it yourself. 

How to prepare doors for painting

A door travels a long way to your home—it’s been handled, packed, and transported. Sometimes, small scuffs are inevitable. To prep a primed door for painting, it’s important to scuff-sand the product, which means using light-grit sandpaper to smooth out any scuffs or minor imperfections you may find. 

The sanding process is straightforward when sanding flat surfaces, but what about the more intricate design elements? You can use a smaller piece of light-grit sandpaper with your hand to get into the tight corners or crevices in the door. Once you’ve sanded down the product, clean up the dust or wood shavings with a damp cloth. Then, you’re ready to paint.

Wood doors are easy to repair if they are lightly damaged or dinged up. If you find your door needs repair, contact a door specialist to determine whether you can make the repairs yourself or need to talk to the manufacturer.

Factors to consider when staining or painting wood doors

When you stain or paint a door, there are many factors to consider, including: 

  • Climate
  • Sunlight
  • Product compatibility

Any exterior door benefits from the protection of an overhang or porch. The less weather hitting a door, the less frequently you’ll need to refinish it. For example, if you live in North America, south-facing doors get more sunlight than north-facing doors and will degrade in color more quickly. 

Something that often gets overlooked is product compatibility. For example, the staining process requires a conditioner, so ensure the conditioner is compatible with the stain you’re using. Use products as a system so they all work together. The best way to do this is to talk to your local paint professional to discuss products that will work for your specific climate and product.

Maintenance tips to keep your door under warranty

Simpson provides best practices and recommendations to help you ensure that your door lasts a long time, looks great, and stays under warranty. Different materials and product lines come with different levels of protection, so be sure to carefully read the warranty terms for your door. For example, painting requires a priming step and at least two top coats of paint to be covered by the warranty. Regardless of where you purchase a product, check the manufacturer's warranty and their requirements to protect your purchase.

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