How to Remove Paint from Metal Door

In this guide, I’ll show you how to remove paint from the metal door – paint that maybe landed there on purpose or from errant paint drips and splatters.  

Water and soap definitely won’t scrape off stubborn paint from the metal doors, doorknobs, hinges, and radiators. First, I would recommend using a paint stripper for metal to remove the paint leave the metal bare. 

In summary, here’s how to how to remove paint from the metal door; prepare the metal surface and wear your protective gear, apply the paint stripper (and wait for 8 hours), remove the paint stripper and use some mineral spirits, and finally clean the metal surface. 

Details: How to Remove Paint from Metal Door

Step 1: Gather the Requirements 

First, gather the requirements, including a respirator, paint scraper, drop cloth, eye protection, disposable paint brushes, rubber gloves, nylon brush, mineral spirits, and paint stripping gel. 

The paint removal process won’t require many supplies. However, to avoid lead poisoning on your kitchen or cookware – you may opt to put the liquid supplies on some disposable aluminum tin. 

See Also: Does Vinegar Remove Paint?

Step 2: Prepare the Work Area 

First, lay down some drop cloth around the door you’ll be working on to remove paint. However, wear some PPEs, including gloves, eye protection, and dust masks.

As noted above, the paint on the door could have lead, and hence it’s critical to protect yourself, family members, and your pets. So, prepare the work area such that you won’t breathe any paint flecks and avoid it getting into the eyes. 

So, use some drop cloth that’ll protect the floor or tiles, and this will render the cleaning process even easier for you when you’re done removing paint from the metal door – even when a latex paint sprayer was used. 

Step 3: Apply Paint Stripper

Next, now apply the paint thinner onto your painted metal door using a paintbrush. Use a pressure washer at 80 psi to wash the area with the thinner. Also, remember to use sweeping motions around nozzles and doorknobs while also pausing regularly to inspect.

Now use a stripper and a steel paint scraper to apply your paint stripper and let it work for some hours before scrapping it off and repeating the process. However, the project requires patience, and you must apply a clear sealant for metal to further protect the door – reapply regularly since it’ll tend to oxidize. 

Step 4: Apply Nail Polish Remover 

Finally, you’ll now require to use some nail polish remover having acetone plus a brush with soft bristles to scrape off the paint from the metal door. Finally, scrape off the metal door using water to rinse out the paint from the metal surfaces. 

The nail polish remover will come with acetone being the main ingredient. Acetone is an excellent ingredient for removing latex-based and oil-based paints – you may also use the strip-off or even thin uncured paint. 

You’ll need to apply some rust remover that’ll appear due to the presence of normal moisture –  this will mainly be on windowsills and radiators.

Thus, it’s evident that removing paint from the metal door will require more care than just scrapping the paint coat layers.

Rust removers will soak the metal rust and restore the door metal surface without scrubbing or chipping. However, you can also use white vinegar to remove the door metal rust. 

It’ll also soak or cover the metal surface – next, allow it to soak for 3 hours or overnight before scrubbing off the rusty paste. Some good products in this class include wink 1081, jelmar calcium, and wd-40 specialist. 

See Also: Removing rust from large metal objects

How to Remove Paint from Metal with Baking Soda 

Soda blasting will help remove paint and stains from the metal surfaces – including on your metal door. For this process, you’ll blast baking soda onto the door metal, machinery, or cars with the help of compressed air. 

Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) creates an abrasive impact on the door metal that’help remove the paint – it’s also effective on surfaces such as wood and glass – it’s luckily non-toxic. 

So, the baking soda blasting process is non-hazardous. Simultaneously, the chemical is also food-grade, which means it can be used both at home, commercially, and for industrial applications in removing paint coats. 

After the paint removal process is completed, you’ll need to dissolve the baking soda into water and wash it down the drain. It won’t contaminate materials or cause adverse health effects on both humans and your pets –  but you’ll need to wear PPE for protection against paint lead. 

See Also: Rustoleum galvanized metal primer

Other Alternatives to Removing Paint from Metal Door

Here’s an outline of the options to use in removing paint from the metal door. In the lest below, I begin with one that’ll be less invasive.

1. Putty knife – The putty knife will readily remove paint from the door metal. It’ll remove the new paint speckles since the putty knife is sharp, but you’ll need to lift the paint speckles while also preserving the metal door surface’s integrity.  

2. Cleaning agent – This must be a mild cleaning agent like trisodium phosphate (TSP) plus some warm water.

I would recommend that you also use a Scotch-Brite pad that’ll you’ll dip inside the cleaning solution and finally scrub the pint from the metal door – repeat if necessary. 

3. Paint thinner – When the paint specks don’t fall off upon using the cleaning agent, you can now proceed to use a paint thinner plus additional elbow-grease – but you’ll also need to practice a lot of patience as you apply the thinner so that it removes the paint. 

4. Use lacquer thinner or Acetone – So, finally, it’s now time to get to the ultimate solution for removing paint – lacquer thinner or Acetone. However, these could discolor and dull the metal and wood finishes, so it’ll help try the chemical at one corner of the metal door. 

See Also: Removing Latex Paint from Metal

Conclusion 

Use the best heat gun to remove the paint from the metal door – this one will curl the paint, and hence you can easily use a scraper to remove the paint.

It’ll warm the paint coat and make it soft, ready for scrapping. However, don’t the heat gun on wood as it’ll discolor or burn it.