The small job that isn't small
Doors and shutters look like a quick afternoon next to a full exterior repaint. In practice they are some of the slowest painting per square foot on a house. Panels, grooves, hinges, weatherstripping, hardware and louvers all need careful brush work, and a front door is the first thing anyone looks at. This guide explains the choices that change the price of the job, without quoting any figures.
Sun, heat and the painting day
At NOAA's Punta Gorda 4 ESE station, the climate normals count about 135.6 days a year reaching 90°F or more and about 1.2 days a year below 32°F, with an average annual high of 86.8°F.
Those are the station's normals, quoted as NOAA gives them. For door and shutter work they matter in a specific way. A metal garage door or a dark front door sitting in direct sun can get much hotter than the air. Most paint labels set a maximum surface temperature as well as an air temperature, and paint applied to a hot surface can dry too fast, show lap marks or fail to level. A careful crew paints sun-facing doors in the morning or once they've moved into shade, which can stretch a short job across more than one visit.
Color matters too. Dark colors absorb more heat in sun, and some manufacturers make heat-reflective versions of dark exterior colors for that reason. If you're considering a dark door or shutter color, ask the painter whether the product line they're quoting offers one.
Material sets the method
- Steel garage doors and entry doors need cleaning, a light scuff and, where there is bare or rusted metal, a metal primer. Rust spots take extra time.
- Fiberglass doors need a cleaner and a primer suited to the surface; some come with a factory finish that has specific repainting instructions.
- Wood doors need sanding, filling and priming of bare wood, and attention to the top and bottom edges, which are often left unsealed.
- Aluminum and vinyl shutters need cleaning and an adhesion primer; some vinyl has limits on how dark it can be painted. Ask before you choose a color.
Painting in place or taking them down
Shutters and doors can be painted where they hang or removed. Removing them gives better coverage on every edge and avoids masking the wall, but it means reinstalling and, for entry doors, securing the opening while the door is off. Garage doors are almost always painted in place; the panels are opened in sections so the joints get coated. Each approach changes the hours in the bid, so ask which one is priced.
Hardware and masking
Handles, locks, kick plates, hinges, house numbers and weatherstripping all have to be removed or masked. A crew that takes hardware off and puts it back usually gets a cleaner result. Glass panels in doors need careful taping or a cut line.
Old paint on old doors
Under EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, anyone paid to do work that disturbs paint in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978 must hold RRP certification, firms included, even sole proprietorships, and their workers must be trained in lead-safe work practices.
EPA runs the RRP program in states it has not authorized; Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin run their own EPA-authorized programs.
Doors and their frames are friction surfaces: they rub and wear every time they move. If your home was built before 1978, sanding or scraping old door paint is exactly the kind of disturbance the rule addresses, and lead-safe containment and cleanup will add time to the quote. Asking whether the firm holds RRP certification is a reasonable question to put to any bidder.
Cost factors at a glance
- the number of doors and shutters, and their size;
- material, and the amount of rust, peeling or bare wood;
- panels, grooves and louvers versus flat surfaces;
- removal and reinstallation versus painting in place;
- hardware removal and masking;
- color change and the number of coats it takes;
- timing around heat and direct sun.
Questions to ask
- Will doors and shutters be painted in place or taken down?
- What primer goes on bare metal, wood or vinyl?
- How will you schedule sun-facing doors?
- Are hardware removal and reinstallation included?
- Is the color I want suitable for this material?
The exterior painting page covers the wider job, and the pricing guide lists general cost drivers.