# Forum Home Renovation Painting  Painting Doors - Can you get a good job with acrylics or an enamel that stays white

## Geoff2005

Hi
I've just decided to go do a run of door painting. Last time I did this about 15 years ago in another house the doors were removed and done in the back yard. Used a combo of Bosch PEX 150 sander and sprayed Dulux enamel and got great result. The downside was the yellowing of the paint. 
This time I'm using the same prep technique (doors off and 150mm sander).
I got a can of Dulux Aquanamel, no problems with yellowing and water clean up. 
I've tried roller, brush and a Wagner 860E HVLP spray but all fairly average results. I used 10% Floetrol in the spray, it seemed too thick and sprayed like it. I am hesitant to dilute any more as the paint spec sheet says use up to 5% water. 
I guess my questions are:
Has anyone achieved a good result applying Aquanamel (no orange peel)?
Is there an Acrylic gloss suitable for doors that sprays well?
Are there any oil based gloss paints that don't yellow? 
Any feedback appreciated. 
Geoff

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## rrobor

If you want a mirror finish its got to be an oil base and there are all sorts of tips and tricks for that.  Oil paint will yellow unless it gets some UV light on it. as will floor coverings etc. Then again too much UV and it fades, so you aint gonna win.

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## Master Splinter

Add a little bit of blue tinter to the white - then it won't go yellow, it'll go a little grey instead! 
Or you could spray on automotive enamel or acrylic - I've done that on occasion.

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## Gooner

I very recently used the Dulux Aquanamel on some skirts, architraves and window frames. Can't say I had a problem with it (other than one door frame that I forgot to sand, and gloss on gloss means peel). 
Didn't feel too thick to me and got a reasonale result on these items. 
However, at the same time (and I am still in the process of doing it) I painted some furniture with oil based white enamel (Dulux Super Enamel High Gloss) and I have to say the oil paint does give a much better glossy and smooth result even if it is a little harder to work with. I believe one of the reasons is that the oil paint thats 16 hours to dry instead of 2 and so has more time to self smooth. 
However, the tin does say that if you don't want the yellowing effect to use a water based enamel.  
I can tell the difference between the "toughness" of the two finishes with the oil being much better. I also noticed the oil based takes AGES to fully dry and go hard. I put on three coats leaving 2 days between coats and one week later it was certainly dry to the touch but still not "rock hard" yet. Two weeks later and it was much better.

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## Geoff2005

Thanks for chiming in guys. 
I had wondered about using auto finishes. Years ago I had a 500ml tin tinted to match my car colour and did some repairs cutiing back rust. Used an airbrush to apply the paint and it was easy to get good results. Needless to say I had a lot of paint left over so I applied it with a brush to a bare wooden toolbox. I think for a a one coat job it again got a good result. So what is the downside with todays auto paint (toxic?, cant brush frames?, prohibitively expensive, needs buffing?) I dont know but something must hold back the masses from using it. 
I had hoped that product advances would have solved the enamel yellowing or the "flow" of acrylics. What about acrylic colour coat, light sand then clear top coat (something sprayable or brushable)?

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## Axel

Wagner recommend thinning acrylics with up to 15% water. I would try thinning with water and adding some floetrol. Maybe 10% water plus 5-10% floetrol.  
Also I don't think a clear coat is a good idea. Unless you use an auto clear - or similar solvent based acrylic clear - the clear will probably yellow worse than a white enamel. If you are going to use an auto clear well then you may as well just use an auto white to begin with and be done with it. 
How long did the dulux enamel you originally used take to yellow? Could try cleaning the doors with sugar soap then a cut and polish to bring them back to life and/or put them in the sun for an afternoon.

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## Geoff2005

Thanks for the comments Axel.   

> Wagner recommend thinning acrylics with up to 15% water. I would try thinning with water and adding some floetrol. Maybe 10% water plus 5-10% floetrol.

  I have an airbrush with a range of nozzles, one is specific for hi coverage acrylics. I'll see if I can get a good finish on a small patch using progressively more dilutant. _Bunnings is running out of sandpaper with me sanding off semi dried coats off the first door._   

> If you are going to use an auto clear well then you may as well just use an auto white to begin with and be done with it.

  I don't know why these "non yellowing " products dont get marketed for domestic applications. I'd pay the extra $50 for 4 litres if that was the only difference   

> How long did the dulux enamel you originally used take to yellow? Could try cleaning the doors with sugar soap then a cut and polish to bring them back to life and/or put them in the sun for an afternoon.

  Have been in this house 10yrs, everything painted before then. As the yellowing occured slowly I cant say when it became "yellowed" So a day in the sun will whiten up the paint, then should also be able to apply UV lamp, is this done?
Is the yellowing only on the surface of the paint, I just assumed it was all yellowed so will try a "buff up" and see how it goes. 
Geoff

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## Blocker

Geoff,
Adding Floetrol at 20% will give an improved finish ,as it will extend the drying time of your Aquanamel without losing opacity.This gives the paint a little more time to "self level' before drying.Adding water is counter-productive.Also best to wait a bit longer to sand between coats as paint takes longer to harden in cooler months
Regards,
Blocker :2thumbsup:

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## totoblue

> Hi
> I got a can of Dulux Aquanamel, no problems with yellowing and water clean up. 
> I've tried roller, brush and a Wagner 860E HVLP spray but all fairly average results. I used 10% Floetrol in the spray, it seemed too thick and sprayed like it. I am hesitant to dilute any more as the paint spec sheet says use up to 5% water.

  I tried spraying doors with a Wagner W660 (similar to yours but the model below).  I was using Dulux 101 Semigloss from memory.  It came out ok but the spraying made them come out less glossy than painting with a brush. 
Since then I have done more doors with Dulux Aquanamel and a paint pad.  You do get visible "grain" from the pad but it's less than with a brush.  I used a paint pad about the size of a postcard which has little wheels on the side and is intended for cutting in (it's not very good for the intended purpose IMHO as you have to keep the paint off the wheels).  It is good for a door though because you can easily get a full length stroke on the door. 
Depends on your doors I suppose but mine aren't that flash and I think I'll be doing future doors again with Aquanamel and a paint pad. 
I have just sprayed a dresser with the Wagner W660 and oil-based enamel and I found it went on much better than my previous experience with acrylic (I have not tried spraying Aquanamel though).  
I have seen others recommend Resene Lustacryl (Aqua Enamel - Woodwork Forums) semi-gloss waterborne enamel for spraying.  Haven't tried it myself. 
My wife bought some Resene paint recently because we wanted a particular orange colour in interior flat and we couldn't get it in the major brands in flat.  It was quite expensive.  Of course it may be cheaper than mucking about with stuff that doesn't work.

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## Geoff2005

Well I sanded back a bit or door frame today and tried some Aquanamel, applied with a 20mm brush. The result was good and if I could get a system to paint the doors I was away.  
So I sanded the door once again and set up in the garage to spray as it is a bit windy outside. Created a mix of 400ml Aquanamel and 100ml Floetrol, stirred in a 700ml container for about 5 mins and then added to the spayer pot. Air temp ~ 20 degrees and 47% humidity. Sprayed the door and although I have just done it I can tell it is going to give a result similar to the previous sprays with that orange peel surface.  :Frown:  
One thing I notice holding the airhose was the air temp into the gun must have been around 40 degress, not sure if its a product of the air compression or the blower passes the air over the electrics to cool them, anyway that wont help trying to get droplets of paint to wet together on the spray target. 
Off to Bunnings tomorrow to get some enamel.

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## MelbMan

Hi Geoff without wishing to rain on your parade I'm in the process of having a very old house up in country Victoria painted inside and out and after one visit got a very practical local handyman/painter to do the work.  
Like you I'd read about taking the doors off (knocking the hinge pins out) and then laying them flat on trestles or similar outside and spraying them. 
But my handyman is in a remote location and time is money and he seems to have the happy knack of being able to turn his hand to anything and keeps his approach be it equipment or materials "simple" . In my case I washed the doors down, their actual condition was good. Brett simply rolled the doors insitu with this 6" mini roller with acrylic gloss paint (same shade and strength as the walls but gloss) and the finish is brilliant. If you're a car buff you might see some orange peel in the finish but I'm quite happy with that. Colour in my case Dulux Whisper White. 
Apart from doors this house has a lot of built in wardrobes with walls full of doors. He's tackled all these in the same way. Straight over the original paint with 2 coats. I consider myself pretty fussy and very happy with the result. 
The painter and I did have a talk about whether to highlight the doors and trim in double strength of the colour on the walls. This is quite common on old kitchens in Victorian and NZ.... for some strange reason often you see kitchen doors in 30 and 40 year old kitchen painted brown, tan or orange. Mulling on this in a smaller house I really hate picking out details like this. After a very quick trial sample pot double strength patch I made the decision to just go with same strength gloss for trim. I'm really happy I made this call as the result is subtle and calming to the eye. Also extremely happy with Dulux Whisper White which is a warm white. If you're playing around with whites you're probably aware of the variations in white. In my case I was armed with Australian Home Beautiful articles and recs on white and a Vogue magazine article. Some of the Dulux whites look way too yellow (our principal house has Chalk USA which is way too yellow unless a room is sunkissed) and Napkin White is way too creamy for me... a lot like ice cream. One architect in one of these articles just recommended base white as the white of his choice when on his own house he did not have time to trial pot. Getting the colour right is vital when you're spending so much time and effort. Really happy with Whisper White and would do another house in this without a second thought.
Good luck with your project!

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## Geoff2005

Hi Melbman,
I'm all for the easiest way and I did look out for the Mr Bean paint bomb at Bunnings but couldn't find one (although I do recall seeing a Mythbusters episode when they tried it and I think it was busted). 
Anyway on the serious side I try to look at this with a fairly objective view. The acrylic gloss offers a a non yellowing finish, a plus. However it's still a matter of tradeoff as far as I can tell with the finish on a broad area.  
In my first post I mentioned I had done the doors in a previous house by removing them so I'm familiar with pros and cons of doing this. One step I believe is critical is providing a good surface for the new paint. Over existing gloss I think most paint maunfactures recomended sanding first. I'm new to these forums but I've seen a few posts where people have had paint peel off after painting over existing gloss. There is some talk of "wet sanding" with a chemical but all I can find is s product called "ESP" and there is some dicussion here about it not living up to it's claims. (this is a bit long winded, sry) So I conclude part of the QA in this process is sanding gloss. In this respect taking the doors outside and putting on a trestle and using my 150mm sander is far better then trying to sand doors in situ. Once I finaise the paint "system" I would probably batch 4 doors at a time. (lets see including BIR's there are 27 doors in white, 3 in natural timber) 
This house is about 15 years old, I've had it for about 10 (and painted nothing in that time), the youngest child has started uni so it's time to freshen it up. The house has a lot of natural Jarrah internally which is in excellent condition so I wont be touching that. I guess colour hasn't been such an issue in planning this exercise, bedrooms an off white, rest of the place a pale apricot.  
Geoff

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## MelbMan

Hi Geoff... good job... with 27 doors you've got/will have quite a production line there.
Must admit prior to this painting job I would call myself a sucker for modern 2 pac spraypainted doors be they kitchen or wardrobe doors. That lovely white gloss finish. 
I guess in this house just about done it was such an ugly duckling to start with.. Federation WB house with sleepouts off the lounge and back verandah... almost Qld looking out the back. So it looked 1920s in parts but pulling up some broken lino we found papers from around 1953/54 and the wood stove in the kitchen was only made in the 1950s. So we're thinking this was either a Victorian Railways house or a State Savings Bank of Victoria designed house. Prior to being sold to the CBA, the SSB used to have a catalogue of house designs from about 1920 onwards which I guess when you went to get a loan to build, they could also supply the plans. As part of this renovation I looked online for more information on SSB houses and generally drove myself mad for about a week down at the local library borrowing all the books on Australian housing and architectural styles 1910-1950 without a great deal of succes. Missed an old copy of an SSB housing book at an antiquarian bookshop in Camberwell by about 2 weeks. Went over there on spec after seeing this listed in an online auction. Perhaps the search for another one of these will continue in the future. But like many projects and the steps involved you can or do tend to move on after working through a project. Or rather than looking backwards you stick with the "here and now" and getting on with the job. 
Working with my handyman has been a revelation. These pros are not like us amateurs spending mornings and last thing at night washing brushes and rollers. For them it's into a plastic bag overnight and back on the job the next day. Little things like this and their speed with handtools, hammering, general fitness and experience makes them perhaps 3 to 4 times faster than DIY. I found this very interesting and for general fitness renovating can use a few muscles you'd ordinarily not use. 
This house was so dirty and disgusting before new paint, peeling ceilings, but underneath all this picture rails, nice doors and a few basic Federation style features so apart from paint and labour not a lot of new materials needed. The transformation was astounding. Hats off to the power of paint and good luck with your painting!

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## totoblue

> There is some talk of "wet sanding" with a chemical but all I can find is s product called "ESP" and there is some dicussion here about it not living up to it's claims. (this is a bit long winded, sry) So I conclude part of the QA in this process is sanding gloss.

  I've tried ESP (without sanding) on trim (old oil-based enamel I think) and doors followed by Dulux undercoat and Dulux Aquanamel and it did not stick. 
After removing all the new paint by scraping, I did a light sand by hand and used Zinsser BIN which worked very well.  BIN is very easy to apply as it is quite thin.  It dries fast and sands well (although not much sanding required as it is easy to apply smoothly than normal paint).  Also sprays well. 
The only tip you need to know is to clean brushes with laundry ammonia (I actually use the Zinsser BIN  cleaner they sell in Bunnings - but it is just ammonia I think).  I have tried cleaning in metho (they say on the can use metho or ammonia) but metho is useless for cleaning brushes (ok for cleaning spray gun). 
BIN is now my undercoat of choice if there are issues with paint adhesion (also seals knots).

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## Geoff2005

Tried some Dulux Hot Weather Thinners (DHWT) in the Aquanamel, Oh Yeah!!! it behaved like paint should  :2thumbsup: , flowed nicely at 20ml per 100ml of paint. 
I just did a test on a sanded door, painting areas of about 10cm x 20cm with a brush and a pad. Used 4 mixes, per 100ml of Aquanamel.   
1. 10ml DHWT
2. 20ml DHWT 
3. 10ml DHWT, 10ml Water
4. 10ml DHWT, 10ml Floetrol 
Mixed in sealable 200ml plastic containers and let stand for 2 hrs before remixing and applying. 
Ambient Temp 22 degrees, 70% humidity 
I'll post some pics of the results tomorrow, if the 20% DHWT doesn't wrinkle it could be a satisfactory solution.  
Geoff

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## Axel

Yes that is interesting. I have been wondering if the hot weather thinners are the same as floetrol and had assumed they probably were. Maybe not? Post up your findings anyways.

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## Geoff2005

Here are some photos of results with the DHWT in Aquanamel. In all cases results were better then achieved previously with the paint "melting" to a flat surface. It also took longer to touch dry. 
The paint, particularly the 20% DHWT, lost it's real wet gloss look as it dryed. From the picks I think the 10% DHWT brushed is the best result. I shot some enamel on the door this arvo so I'll create a photo tomorrow for comparison. In comparison the pad application seems thinner and less lusturous then the brushed areas but this may be the way I used the pad. Have also included sprayed 10% water for comparison.

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## Geoff2005

Here are some pics showing for comparison roller application of Aquanamel with 10% DHWT and a spray can of NON YELLOWING enamel (White Knight Appliance White). 
Overall I think the 10% DHWT allows the Aquanamel to "melt" and get rid of brush marks or roller stiple better then water or Floetrol. Would probably get a better spray job as well. 
Also interesting that the solvents in the spray didn't lift the existing bits of old enamel and more recent aquanamel underneath.

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## Project1080

Hi Geoff,
Glad someone has paved the way before me-less headaches. I'm looking to repaint all my doors semi gloss white. Was still undecided whether to brush or spray.  
From your pics, my personal preference is the White Knight appliance paint, sprayed. I would never have thought to go this path but you've opened my eyes to the possibilities. Good work! 
Regards, 
Project 1080

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## Geoff2005

Hi Project,
The appliance paint will give equivalent finish to hi gloss enamel, so try it out before you buy, also that it doesnt react with any previous paints or primer. 
I did shoot an email to White Knight to see if the same non yellowing paint was available in a tin so it could be brushed on frames. 
Geoff

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## Geoff2005

> The appliance paint will give equivalent finish to hi gloss enamel, so try it out before you buy, also that it doesnt react with any previous paints or primer. 
> I did shoot an email to White Knight to see if the same non yellowing paint was available in a tin so it could be brushed on frames. 
> Geoff

  Got a really vanilla (lame) response from my email enquiry to White Knight. The answer was   _"Unfortunately we do not have that product available in any sized normal can. It is normal for enamels to yellow with age._  _Regards White Knight Paints"_  So no joy there.

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## Geoff2005

Just an update on my experiences spraying Aquanamel. 
Have found my old fence sprayer, a Wagner 200 airless with a 0.6mm nozzle on full noise gives better results then the 860E. I have been spraying the doors with 100ml Dulux Hot Weather Thinner to 1 litre of paint. This mix is noticably less viscous and I apply a lot of paint (300ml - 400ml) to the horizontal surface in about 30 seconds. In 20 - 25 degree conditions the paint has enough time to melt to an even finish. How ever when a second cost is applied I think I have problems with glycol that has "sweated" out as the first coat drys. If I were brushing it would just mix with the new paint but when spaying it causes like an oil - water beading effect. 
Other methods I will try is to 
-sand door, prepcoat and fine sand then one coat of Aquanamel.  
-try water dilution with the Wagner 200. 
When painting door frames I pick one face and chase the wet edge all the way around with neat Aquanamel. If you have 4 frames on the go you there are enough faces to cycle around and do adjacent faces when they are touch dry. I find I need to refresh the brushes though as the paint drys in the upper parts of the bristles. (Using Selleys Dream Finish 38mm and soaking brush in water then brushing off excess water before starting).

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## gb2203

I too have recently been repainting using a gloss enamel on skirts and doors in my place. I did use some aqua enamel on a previous project in my kitchen and was certainly underwhelmed with the finish. I was using the vivid white colour so given its tendency to yellow, i went for the aqua. Like other posters here, the doors are time consuming. Is it possible to use a roller with enamel paint. I am not going down the spray route and worried i may get rush marks using brushes. Also, i would also like to add that I have used the Zissner No Peel after washing and sanding and this seems to provide a good sealer over the old layers.

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## Axel

Geoff, why don't you try applying the first coat(s) of aquanamel without any hot weather thinners, sand smooth, then apply only the final coat with the hot weather thinner.

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## Geoff2005

> Geoff, why don't you try applying the first coat(s) of aquanamel without any hot weather thinners, sand smooth, then apply only the final coat with the hot weather thinner.

  Not sure if it makes much difference to the result using prepcoat or Aquanamel and sanding for a topcoat of Aquanamel. Can anyone comment on this?  
I know if I apply the Aquanamel un thinned I can't avoid ridges and valleys with a brush or stiple effect with a roller so it means lots of sanding. The same goes for the 3 in 1 prepcoat I have. 
I haven't tried un thinned Aquanamel through the fence sprayer but it just looks too thick. I will try water diluting and spraying though.  
I should be in the Dulux R&D department. :Rolleyes:

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## Geoff2005

Finally got a good result, still spraying with 5 -10 % DHWT but did a 1200 wet sand between the two coats of Aquanamel. 
Pics of dry sanding setup, usually about 15min per side. 
Brushed two coats of 1 Step prep coat then dry sand. before spraying. 
Still going to try water thinning through the fence sprayer and try and remove the wet sanding step.

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## renabelz

Hi Geoff and everyone else...  I know this thread was back in Oct 2009 but seen as how you seem to know what your talking about i thought i would take a chance and see if you could help....  Im a total total newbie to painting and renovating, never painted in my life, however decided to take on the challenge on repainting our entire house (by myself bit at a time)... so i went to Bunnings and as our window sills, doors, skirting boards and wardrobe frames were all an apricot colour had the vision of changing them to white.   
Bunnings told me about this new "aquanamel" product which stays white, water based, blah blah blah...  me not knowing what it all meant kinda just thought yep that sounds great so i bought a massive 10 litre bucket of it in white.   
Got it home and yesterday started on my wardrobe frames first, found it dried very very quickly (considering we are in gold coast) and it was streaky and lumpy here and there and just a real mess - and to make it worse cause the frames have ridges in them there was areas not done etc.  So i carried on to the window sill which was a bit easier but still left the same effect.   
Went to Bunnings tonight who gave me that Flo stuff you were talking about which i haven't opened yet...  but now after reading this thread im a bit scared to carry on with it  :No:   ... I still have the skirting and the doors to do and then the rest of the house eventually!  I've only done that first coat (if you could call it that) but im not sure what to do now? 
Do you know if there is any way of fixing this or making it look better?  Will i need to sand the whole lot back and start again with something else? Would the second coat just look better if i put that DHWT in it you were talking about?  I only have a brush and a small roller to work with too. 
And the worse thing is that i've bought 10litres of the stuff!!   
PLEASE HELP!!!!  I'll try take a pic and post it tomorrow...

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## Geoff2005

> Hi Geoff and everyone else... I know this thread was back in Oct 2009 but seen as how you seem to know what your talking about i thought i would take a chance and see if you could help.... Im a total total newbie to painting and renovating, never painted in my life, however decided to take on the challenge on repainting our entire house (by myself bit at a time)... so i went to Bunnings and as our window sills, doors, skirting boards and wardrobe frames were all an apricot colour had the vision of changing them to white.  
> Bunnings told me about this new "aquanamel" product which stays white, water based, blah blah blah... me not knowing what it all meant kinda just thought yep that sounds great so i bought a massive 10 litre bucket of it in white.  
> Got it home and yesterday started on my wardrobe frames first, found it dried very very quickly (considering we are in gold coast) and it was streaky and lumpy here and there and just a real mess - and to make it worse cause the frames have ridges in them there was areas not done etc. So i carried on to the window sill which was a bit easier but still left the same effect.  
> Went to Bunnings tonight who gave me that Flo stuff you were talking about which i haven't opened yet... but now after reading this thread im a bit scared to carry on with it  ... I still have the skirting and the doors to do and then the rest of the house eventually! I've only done that first coat (if you could call it that) but im not sure what to do now? 
> Do you know if there is any way of fixing this or making it look better? Will i need to sand the whole lot back and start again with something else? Would the second coat just look better if i put that DHWT in it you were talking about? I only have a brush and a small roller to work with too. 
> And the worse thing is that i've bought 10litres of the stuff!!  
> PLEASE HELP!!!! I'll try take a pic and post it tomorrow...

  
I've been doing other things so just read your post. I've been brushing door frames with Aquanamel but only do it when temp is about 20 degrees. Can get a reasonable result doing one face of a frame at a time, so you do one continuous run in 3 to 4 brush loads and a final finishing sweep with the brush over the 2m or so length. By face I mean an individual 30- 40 mm wide section, so there maybe 8 in each side of a frame. Do not paint adjacent faces till touch dry. 
If you have lumps and ridges in the surface you should sand back as painting over top wont hid them.  
I can't see how to achieve a resonable result with Aquanamel on a broad surface like a door using a brush or a roller. Perhaps Dulux could post a vid on how to do it or stop the promotion of this product as a replacement for enamel on doors. It's almost a consumer hoodwink I feel.

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## tony2096

I painted all the new doors in my renovated house a couple of years ago using Dulux gloss aquanamel (vivid white). Used a roller and it went on quite easily with none of the ridges etc that are mentioned in this thread. They were new doors (I used 1 coat of Dulux 3-in-1 prep coat + 2 top coats) so maybe this is a lot easier than the re-coating of previously painted doors that is mentioned here. 
I definitely wanted to use acrylic after watching my enamel whites fade none too slowly to yellow in my last unit. 
Tony

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## strangerep

> I can't see how to achieve a resonable result with Aquanamel on a broad surface like a door using a brush or a roller.[...]

  Have you tried using a roller in combination with a foam brush?
I.e., whack slightly diluted paint quickly onto the whole surface
with a wide roller, and then immediately lay it off gently with a
100mm foam brush (very long gentle strokes). 
This works best if the foam brush also has some paint on it,
otherwise the foam tends to suck too much paint off the surface
rather than just laying it down. 
Don't fuss with it too much -- just lay the peaks in one direction
and then leave it alone. 
I've used this technique for exterior surfaces using Weathershield
gloss and I found the finish is quite reasonable for only modest effort.

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## Geoff2005

> Have you tried using a roller in combination with a foam brush?
> I.e., whack slightly diluted paint quickly onto the whole surface
> with a wide roller, and then immediately lay it off gently with a
> 100mm foam brush (very long gentle strokes). 
> This works best if the foam brush also has some paint on it,
> otherwise the foam tends to suck too much paint off the surface
> rather than just laying it down. 
> Don't fuss with it too much -- just lay the peaks in one direction
> and then leave it alone. 
> ...

  
Tried something similar, layed a door on a trestle and poured paint on, ran it out with a 300mm paint pad and finished with full length strokes, and my wife picking up the runs on the edges with a brush. Even added thinners. Could see ripples in it when it dried so sanded it back and sprayed it.

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## Geoff2005

> I painted all the new doors in my renovated house a couple of years ago using Dulux gloss aquanamel (vivid white). Used a roller and it went on quite easily with none of the ridges etc that are mentioned in this thread. They were new doors (I used 1 coat of Dulux 3-in-1 prep coat + 2 top coats) so maybe this is a lot easier than the re-coating of previously painted doors that is mentioned here. 
> I definitely wanted to use acrylic after watching my enamel whites fade none too slowly to yellow in my last unit. 
> Tony

  Tony,
Can you post a pick showing a reflection off one of your doors so it is possible to gauge the finish? Does it have an orange peal or stippled texture? 
I would love to be able to roll this stuff and achieve a surface like the turps clean up enamels.

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## wozzzzza

geeez, i never knew it was soo hard to paint doors.

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## Wombat2

Each to their own I guess - Have used Aquaenamel but never again. Even with a thorough sanding and clean up in preparation 12 months later the slightest knock and it starts to peel. Finish was also not "perfect" - On the other hand I used enamel gloss white on the doors in in main home and they came up fantastic. Because the doors were panelled I used Eziprep (?) first and the enamel flowed on beautifully with a brush and levelled off smoothly. Very happy with the results - as to yellowing - have been told UV light stops/reverses this happening and as our place has a lot of windows and natural light in 16 years have not considered it a problem. Maybe a UV tanning lamp would help  :Wink 1:

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## totoblue

Since my last post, I have been doing a lot of trim, cabinet and door painting with Dulux Aquanamel and I am still using the same size paint pad.  You do get visible "grain" from the pad but it's less than with a brush.  I used a Shur-line Paint Edger paint pad about the size of a postcard which has little wheels on the side and is intended for cutting in.  The pads have 4mm long white bristles mounted on plastic (no foam underneath).  I went to buy some new pads for the old one I had and I saw that they had a new premium model where the wheels flip up out of the way when not required or when reloading with paint. 
It is quite good for cutting in but doesn't always get all the way to the edge, and it is good for a door because you can easily get a full length stroke on the door, even with the door in situ. 
I am also using Monarch brand "sample pot brushes" which are 25mm wide  and quite thin.  They are great for doing the bits too thin for a pad or the edges where the paint pad didn't reach fullly.  My wife was buying me a 25mm Monarch premium brush and she also bought these sample pot brushes which were $3.95 for a two packl.  They appear to be the same quality  as the other Monarch brand premium brushes I normally use. 
I have tried the smaller paint pads about 2.5cm x 4cm with a stick handle and they are too small and not as easy to use as the paint edger pads.  I am not a fan of foam brushes. 
I have used a large paint pad with foam backing in the past and it is faster and you get a slightly better job but with it, you really need to take the doors off the hinges to get a full stroke, and I am not doing that this time. 
Also the large foam backed paint pads are much harder to clean.  The paint edger pads are very easy to clean (not having foam backing), as are the little Monarch sample pot brushes. 
I have been using Dulux Hot Weather Thinners too, which is the greatest advance my painting has made recently.  I have been using 50ml per litre as recommended on the paint tin (the thinners tin says to use 50ml to 100ml per litre).  This stops it drying so fast and gives you a wet edge for much longer (also makes it drip more but you can't have everything).  Slower drying also means it is much longer before your paint pad or brush goes gummy. 
I find HWT much better than Floetrol.  I didn't know about HWT until I read this thread. 
My wife said she didn't know I could paint so well!  (Hrmph what about the great jobs I have done before???). 
We have used turps based enamel in the past and IMO there is no worthwhile difference in quality of the job.  Certainly the lack of stink is more than enough compensation for any difference in quality.   
Turps based enamel does dry harder and properly so it is the best choice for windows and shelves (having books stick to a shelf is a pain, same when windows stick and the paint comes off).  Am using White Knight flat white epoxy enamel (turps based) for the steel windows we have.  For some reason, I have never had a problem with doors sticking due to paint, but it has been a problem for windows and shelves. 
I don't know whether turps-based enamel will become no longer available (at least to the public).  One of the staff in Bunnings told me all brands of enamel paints were pretty much the same because no-one was investing R&D into turps based paint as it will be phased out in a couple of years.  I saw on "This Old House", when they were doing a house in New York, that turps based enamel was not available to the public, only to painters (which presumably means some kind of licensing). 
But then we can still buy acetone in Bunnings.

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