Question about a front door pediment and paint

[JerseygirlCT]

Our house is about 12 years old now. The front door was built with a nice pediment and surround. It seems to be some sort of plastic - vinyl, maybe?

I've had to repaint the wood frame of the door fairly often to keep it up, but haven't done anything to the vinyl part. Now it looks pretty dingy. Can I paint it? With what? Also there are some screws in it that have now rusted and I'd like to get that covered over (so there aren't these lovely rust brown circles in the white) What would I use?

Sorry I don't know exactly what I'm dealing with here. Hopefully someone knows?

TIA

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

1. It should except paint

Latex or enamel. Actually they do make plastic paint -brush on or spray. the screws you simply remove one at a time than replace.You can buy white screws. Or just paint the new ones. You can do a test spot on the molding to see how well the stuff excepts paint. Ok so, I think rustolium makes the plastic paint,but,I don't think you need that.

You can go to oh, say home depot or lowe's or yer local builders supply where doors are sold, find that type and ask about that. That information should be in their catalogs. if it were me and I were spraying your door, I would spray it all.

The bottom line is it can be painted. It should except latex paint.

[Paper Roses]

2. While you are at it, I'd suggest you replace the screws

with stainless. Remove one, take it to the hardware store and buy the number needed that are the same head size and length. No more rust. Even if you paint the, nothing would bleed through.

[Inchworm]

3. Also, if the "pediment" includes the jamb side of the door...

Don't reap on the screws as you replace them.

Certain ones you can tell you are getting solid wood through and through but depending on who hung the door there may be a few screws that if overtightened could throw off the swing of the door.

Like I said, it depends on how the door was hung. In a perfect world this shouldn't be an issue, but the world isn't perfect and people take silly shortcuts to get a job done.

Oh yea, pediment to me is the fancy do-hicky thinger above the door, so all this jamb-side stuff may be irrelevant. Depending on the situation don't forget to consider caulk. :)

:hi:

[JerseygirlCT]

4. I guess I should have said pediment and pilasters

Not up on all my terms!

Similar to this:

[MajorChode]

5. You have a couple of options

You can try cleaning it first, which is an excellent idea because even if you have to repaint it, you're going to have to clean it anyway. Just use some Dawn dishwashing soap in a little stronger ratio than you would use to clean dishes, and scrub with a soft brush (like those used to wash cars). Rinse very well afterward as dawn has a fairly high Ph and can be corrosive if left on the surface. If this doesn't do the trick, you can use an oxygenated cleaner like Oxiclean, mixed to manufacturers recommended levels.

Assuming your surround is vinyl (which is most likely), it's possible it may be stained and can't be cleaned. If this is the case, you can paint it, but you should use a product that is specifically made to paint over vinyl siding. The reason is because vinyl will expand and contract with the changes in temperature so conventional paint (even if it's latex based) may not work very well. Look for a commercial paint store, or someplace like Sherman Williams to find the right product you will need for the job, and follow the manufacturers instructions. You can use this same stuff to paint your wood parts so that everything matches.

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Thanks

That makes sense. I was just wondering about whether a cleaning might do the job today. I'll try that first and see!