Doors and windows finished on every edge, and still closing cleanly.
Shutters, frames, window sections and grills sanded back, primed and finished in enamel, melamine or PU, hardware taken off rather than masked, all four edges coated, and each door rehung and checked for a clean close.
- Free site inspection
- Written, itemised quote
- 1-year workmanship warranty
- Same-day callback
At a glance
What's involved in painting and polishing doors and windows?
Door and window work covers the shutters, the frames they sit in, and the metal windows and grills alongside them. Hardware comes off, glass gets masked, and the old coating is sanded back or stripped to bare wood. Then sealer or primer and the finish coats, whether that's enamel, melamine or PU, including the top and bottom edges, which is where water gets in.
When this is the answer, and when it is not.
Sending you to the wrong service wastes your money and our time. This is how to tell.
This is likely right if
- The enamel on your doors and frames has yellowed, and chipped around the handle and the closing edge
- A teak main door has gone dull and patchy where the sun and driven rain reach it
- Window grills are rusting and the streaks are running down onto the sill and the wall below
- The walls have just been painted and the joinery now looks older than everything around it
Something else comes first if
- The shutter is binding or catching, a dropped hinge, a swollen frame or a bowed leaf is carpentry, and another coat only makes it tighter
- The bottom of the frame is soft, sounds hollow, or is shedding borer dust, that timber has to be treated or replaced before anything is coated
- Damp is tracking through the masonry into the window frame or sill, the wall side has to be dealt with first, or the new coating lifts from behind
What the service includes.
Opening-by-opening survey
We go around every door and window, note what each one actually is, solid teak, flush door with veneer or laminate, sal frame, MS grill, identify the coating already on it, and check how each shutter is closing before we quote.
Hardware off and glass masked
Mortice locks, handles, tower bolts, aldrops and stoppers are taken off and bagged rather than painted around. Glass is masked, and the panes are cut clean with a blade at the end instead of left with paint on them.
Stripping, sanding and filling
Old enamel or failed polish is sanded back to a sound key, or right back to bare wood where a clear finish is going on. Dents are filled, open grain is grain-filled, and knots are spot-primed so they don't bleed through.
Rust treatment on metal sections
Rust on grills, MS window sections and hinge plates is taken back to bright metal and given a rust-inhibiting primer. Coating straight over pitted rust hides it rather than stops it, and it comes back through the finish.
Sealer, primer and finish coats
Wood sealer or the appropriate primer for the substrate first, then the agreed finish, enamel, melamine or PU, with a light sanding between coats. The coat count and sheen are stated in your quotation.
Edges sealed, refitted and checked
Top and bottom edges coated, hardware refitted, and every shutter checked closing against its own frame. Doors stay wedged open until the film is hard enough to close on without pulling.
Not included, or quoted separately
- Carpentry, replacing shutters or beading, planing a door to fit, resetting or repositioning hinges
- Termite and borer treatment, and replacing timber already lost to it
- Glass replacement, re-glazing, and renewing putty or glazing beads
- uPVC windows, which we don't paint, and factory-coated aluminium sections, looked at and quoted separately, if at all
- Supply of new locks, handles or hinges, we remove and refit the hardware that's already there
The sequence.
Survey and count
We count leaves and frames, identify each substrate and the coating on it, and separate what's painting from what's carpentry. The quotation is built from this, not from a room count.
Finish and colour approval
Enamel, melamine or PU, and the sheen, matt, satin or gloss. Stains are sampled on the actual door or on an offcut of the same timber, because one stain reads quite differently on teak and on a veneer.
Take down and protect
Shutters lifted off their hinges where they can be, so they're finished flat rather than on the swing. Hardware removed and bagged, glass and floors masked, and a working area set up away from finished rooms.
Strip and prepare
Sanding back, filling, grain filling, de-rusting metal. On a clear polish this stage decides everything, because there's no pigment in the coat to hide what's underneath it.
Coat and cut back
Sealer or primer, then the finish coats, denibbed between them. Dust discipline matters here, anything airborne while enamel or PU is still wet lands in the film and stays in it.
Refit and hand back
Hardware refitted, swing and closing checked at the frame, glass cleaned off, and a walkthrough with you to list and close anything outstanding.
What moves the price on this job.
We do not publish a rate, because it would change once someone measured your property. These are the variables that decide it.
- Shutters and window leaves counted per leaf, both faces and every edge, and whether frames are included with them
- How much of the old coating has to come off; stripping built-up enamel or a failed polish is the largest variable
- Shutter type, because panelled, moulded, louvred and glazed leaves take far longer per leaf than flush doors
- The finish chosen, and whether it is a clear polish over grain, which demands more preparation because nothing is hidden by it
- Whether the joinery can be taken down and finished flat, or has to be coated in place in an occupied home
- Condition of metal windows and grills, and how far the rust has gone into the section
Door and Window Painting and Polishing — your questions.
Will the doors stick after they're painted?
They shouldn't, if the film is kept thin on the closing edge and in the rebate, and the shutter is left open until it hardens. Sticking usually comes from coat piled on coat down the hinge stile, or from a door that was already tight before we arrived. We check the swing at survey and say plainly if it is a carpentry problem rather than a paint one.
Can you polish over the polish that's already on the door?
Rarely. Melamine and PU cure into a hard film, and a fresh coat laid over a worn or flaking one lifts away with it. For a clear finish we sand back to bare wood across the whole face, because a clear coat has no pigment to disguise a patch line. Touching up one panel of a polished door almost always reads afterwards as a repair.
Do you coat the top and bottom edges of the door?
Yes. Those two edges are where a door takes in moisture, and they're the ones most often skipped because nobody looks at them. The bottom edge sits in mopping water; the top collects dust and damp. On a flush door an unsealed bottom edge is the usual reason the skin swells and starts lifting away from the core.
Can you paint our aluminium or uPVC windows?
uPVC we don't paint, a coating sits on the surface and shows every wipe and every scratch. Anodised or powder-coated aluminium can be recoated, but only after it is abraded and given an etch primer, and it won't come back looking like the factory finish. We look at the section at survey and tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.
Can we stay in the house while the doors are being done?
Usually yes, with some planning. Solvent-based enamel and PU carry a strong smell and need windows open and air moving through. Coated shutters stay wedged open until the film is hard, so bedroom and bathroom privacy is affected while that happens. We normally sequence the openings so you aren't left without a usable bathroom door.
Related services
- Anti-Rust Treatment and Metal CoatingWindow grills that keep rusting need the rust dealt with, not just recoated.
- Gate, Grill and Railing PaintingThe same enamel work outside, main gate, balcony grills and railings.
- Interior Wall PaintingFreshly finished joinery makes the wall paint behind it look tired, so it is worth deciding on both before either starts.
Let us look at your walls first.
Tell us about the property and we will set up a free colour and wall inspection. You get a written, itemised quotation afterwards, with no obligation to go ahead.
- We call you back the same day to get a picture of the property and the surfaces.
- We agree a time and come out for the free inspection.
- You get the written scope and itemised quotation.
- Nothing starts until you approve it.