Tyler Irish Applying One of the First Coats of Tinted Primer

After Rodger Manley built a beautiful door for us from scratch, the old-fashioned way, I decided that I would ask one of our favorite painters, Tyler Irish, owner of North Ridge Painting, to finish and paint the door.  My back door (which originally was the front door) is in great shape and is 150 years old.  I wanted our new front door to look as good for the owners 150 years from now.

Tyler uses the Dutch method of painting doors.  It is a multi-step process using products from Fine Paints of Europe.  The following are the steps:

1. Apply Fine Paints of Europe Oil-Based Primer (Rodger Manley applied the first coat in his shop).  The penetrating nature of the oil-based primer allows greater adhesion of subsequent layers of filler, additional primer coats, and the finished coats.
2. A leveling coat of Swedish Putty is applied in thin coats and sanded multiple times with fine sandpaper.  This product hardens like a rock, so that when the wood is sanded, it can be as smooth as glass.
3. Additional layers of tinted primer are sprayed onto the door.  Between layers, the door is sanded with a very fine-grit sandpaper.
4. Final coats of paint are applied.

Before Tyler begins to paint, he must check the spray pattern of his spray gun.  If the pattern is not perfect, the paint will not have an even coat.  He has a high-powered paint booth wall, which prevents fumes from overwhelming the shop and dust particles from marring the paint.

This is a long and arduous process, but like building the door, there are no shortcuts possible without jeopardizing the final product.

Rodger Finishing the Door Construction

Fine Paints of Europe, Oil-Based Primer

Tyler Applying Swedish Putty

Tyler Sanding the Door After the Swedish Putty Dried

Tyler Checking the Spray Pattern

Carefully Spraying a Coat of Primer

First Primer Coat Almost Finished on One Side

Photos by Jimmy Crisp    Curated Brochure by Crisp Architects: Portfolio

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