Tips On Applying Lacquer To A Garage Door

Zeebo

I have a client who wants me to paint his wood garage door with clear lacquer. The door had presently has lacquer on it, applied about 5 years ago, and it is peeling.

I have never worked with lacquer. Not sure if it is runny, if it dries quickly, if I can apply 2 coats in one day, Should I be applying 3 coats, does it need a sanding between each coat,???? etc, etc.

Any tips or assistance you can suggest would be helpful.

Thanks.

Zeebo

Guardi Pro

Zeebo. Usually lacquer is for indoor use, furniture, etc... Never seen on outside garage door. Lacquer will dry extremly fast less then five min. You will need to use a lacquer retarder to slow drying time. With clear it will turn cloudy or milky on you depending on the humidity so the retarder will help with that. Strain both. Use a HVLP if you have one. Shoot very light coats, it will run on you. Sand in between with 220 or 0000 steel wool. I would do at least 3 coats maybe 4 depends on how it's looking, and you can do all in one day. Good luck

DeanV

Lacquer is too brittle for exterior. It will not hold up well to the expansion and contraction dynamics long term. Look at other exterior rated products such as the acrylic-urethanes or spar varnishes or maybe some epoxy finishes.

Brushslingers

I'd ask him for the can, chances are it's not really Lacquer... haven't seen anyone use that in 10 years.

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Benn

jackG

use a marine clear light sand between coats wess marine is a great product

Zeebo

Thanks for the feedback guys. After doing a little research on my own I found that most lacquers, if you can get them, are for interior, usually furniture - this is what you confirmed. And yes, the customer has used lacquer on the doors the past, ....perhaps this is why it is peeling and blistering.

So you are right, using a product like Varathane (the one for exterior work) would probably be in order.

If he did use Lacquer what would be the best clear finish to use on it - oil base or waterborne? Is there a product you would recommend??

Regarding surface preparation - would I just sand with a light grit, remove the blistering, and wipe off the dust??? Or should I do more??

Thanks for the info

Zeebo

Zeebo

thanks jack.....I'm assuming this is solvent based??? Can I put this product on top of lacquer??

Zeebo

Brushslingers

Wow, how old is this dude? Gotta be at least 50 to use lacquer on a door.... it's a japanese thing, the topcoat on those nice black and etc boxes, doors... is lacquer. Best bet is to sand well and use a shellac based sanding sealer, then either waterbased or oil... though for outside use i'd go with the poly... some paint stores will argue like crazy but when you mention shellac sanding sealer they will sell it to ya. Spar is good, but if this guy didn't do anything in 5 years, the spar will look just as bad.

Bid 4 coats, plus sanding.

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Benn

Guardi Pro

Hey Brushslingers... we use it alot. But we do alot of furniture tho. Just finished a kitchen table set. 3 coats of black lacquer & 4 coats of clear.
I agree with brush, but test a small area first and make sure there's no chemical reaction. If it does it would be in the first 10 min or so. Cracking, bubbling, etc...

Teetorbilt

If it IS laquer and peeling, you need to strip the entire door. No sense in going over a bad substrate. Without the proper prep, anything you apply is not going to last too long.

A quality marine varnish will outlast anything else that you can put on there. You'll know it by the price.

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DeanV

I have not been happy with spar varnish so far, of course when I use it most is on redos of condos whose doors are done every 5-6 years. I have used Ben Moore and Old Masters. I have gone the waterborne clear route and been happier so far.