uPVC door spraying in Cambridge: what the job involves
uPVC door spraying changes the colour of a plastic or composite door where it hangs, so you keep the lock, the hinges and the glazed panels you already have. Our decorators do this for front doors, back doors and side doors around Cambridge, and the door frame is normally sprayed at the same time so the two match.
A door gets more wear than any window. It's pushed, leaned on, knocked by bags and bikes, and locked and unlocked every day, and the area around the handle and the bottom rail takes the most punishment. That's why preparation on a door is fussier than on a frame that never moves, and why the parts your hands touch get the most attention.
Graham looks at the door first. If the skin is cracked, the door has dropped on its hinges or the lock is failing, he'll tell you, because those need a door fitter or locksmith before any coating goes on.
Preparing uPVC and composite doors
uPVC doors
A white uPVC door has a smooth, slightly waxy surface that ordinary paint won't hold to. The usual approach is to clean it thoroughly with a cleaner made for plastics, abrade it lightly with a fine pad so the coating has something to grip, then remove every trace of dust before spraying. Old silicone round the frame that has gone black is usually cut out rather than sprayed over, because a coating on failing sealant fails with it.
Composite doors
Composite doors have a GRP (glass-reinforced plastic) skin, often moulded with a wood grain, over an insulated core. The grain is part of the look, so the keying has to be gentle enough to leave the texture intact, and the coating is built up in thin layers so it doesn't fill the grain and flatten it. Some composite doors come with a maker's finish guarantee, so if yours is fairly new, check what the terms say about overpainting before you book.
Masking the hardware, seals and glass
Most of the time on a door respray goes into masking. On a typical front door that means protecting:
- Handles, escutcheons and the lock cylinder
- Letterbox flap, knocker and house numbers
- Hinges, unless you want them sprayed to match
- Rubber gaskets around the glass and in the frame rebate
- Glazed panels, including decorative or leaded glass
- The threshold, the step and the brick or render around the frame
Why the seals stay clean
Where a fitting comes off easily, such as a knocker or a set of numbers, it's usually removed rather than taped, which gives a cleaner edge. The weather seals in the frame are kept free of coating. Paint on a gasket goes hard and cracks, and before long the door starts to let in draughts.
Picking a colour for a sprayed front door
Coatings for uPVC are mixed to RAL and British Standard colour references, so the choice is wide. Anthracite grey, black and deep greens and blues are popular front door colours, and some people go bold on the door and keep the window frames quieter. Look at samples against the door in daylight, with your brick or render behind them, because a small chip looks different outdoors.
The inside face can be a different colour from the outside, which is common when the hall is decorated in a lighter scheme. If you're unsure about a dark colour across the whole house, a front door is a sensible place to try it first.
Drying, locking up and how long the finish lasts
A front door can't be left open overnight, so the work is planned so the coating is dry enough to close and lock by the end of the day. It goes on hardening for some time after it's touch-dry, so for the first while it's worth closing the door gently rather than slamming it against fresh seals, and not hanging anything on it.
How many years a sprayed door lasts depends on the preparation, the product, the colour and how much sun and wear it gets. We won't put a figure on it, because nobody honestly can for a particular door. What we can say is that early peeling on sprayed uPVC almost always traces back to rushed cleaning and keying, which is the part of the job we take our time over.
What affects the price of door spraying
Every door is different, so the quotation is built from what's actually there:
- Whether the frame, side panels and any fanlight are included
- Outside face only, or both faces of the door
- How much glass and hardware there is to mask
- The door's condition and how much cleaning and making good it needs
- A big colour change, such as white to black
- One door on its own, or doors and windows sprayed on the same visit
Doors and windows together
If you're also thinking about the frames, it's usually more efficient to plan them at the same time. Our uPVC window spraying page explains how a house of windows is approached, and a back door often goes with a conservatory respray.
Booking a door respray
Ring or message us and Graham will arrange a time to see the door. He'll check the skin, the seals and the fittings, talk through colours and explain which parts he'd mask and which he'd take off. The written quotation usually follows by email and lists each door included.
If your door is timber rather than plastic, it's painted by brush instead, and our front door painting page covers that. For frames, doors and conservatories together, see our uPVC spraying service. Either way, you don't pay until you're happy with the finished door.