Is this too much to fix?

Marie asked 10 years ago

We recently had a painter come in to repaint our outdoor trim, front door and sidelights. We asked everything be matched to it current colors. Since we weren’t the original owners we didn’t know what color or paint the front door was painted with. The painter tried to match the color with a Sherwin Williams paint and painted one of the sidelights with it. It doesn’t match and looks awful. I tracked down the original owners and found out they stained the door with a gel stain. The painter is really balking at the idea of stripping the paint he did and restaining the door with the right material. Is it a lost cause and we have to resort to painting now? Which looks stupid on an embedded grain door:( My other thought is stripping the whole door so we start back from scratch so that everything matched again. What would you do and what is reasonable to ask the painter to do?

2 Answers
MagicDave answered.

If the painter had gotten your approval of the color first (from a sample) then you really can't expect him/her to redo it…

BTW… painted grained fiberglass doors look quite well painted, rather than stained!

There's no need to strip off all of the door, or the paint he did… just prime the door with exterior oil primer… then paint all surfaces to match, using Sherwin Williams A-100 (use a satin or semi finish, color of choice)… Good Luck …FYI quality painters are not easy to find these days, but actually you may have a good painter now anyway… just go ahead and have him/her follow these directions…

Crowder Painting answered.

If the door looks painted and is actually stained then way too much stain was used. I agree with Dave, these doors can look great either way- painted or stained. A stain will add color and highlight the embossed wood grain not cover it up and look like a painted surface.

Painter expectations- It really depends on what is on the contract. If it says "paint" then the painter is doing exactly what is expected and previously agreed upon. It is important to remember that the terms 'paint' and 'stain' are very specific to a painter and represent 2 different things and are not interchangeable.

The good news- All isn't lost. If you want the door stained then there are two ways to do it; strip off everything and start over or apply a satin oil base paint to act as the base color for the stain. Tan is a typical base color but depends on the final look you want. Old Masters sells base paints for their stains and their website is a good place to start looking for inspiration. Check out this page for ideas- <a href="//www.myoldmasters.com/products-faux-graining-base.htm" target="_blank">Old Master graining base</a>.