Enamel painting, with the rust and the old gloss taken off first.
Doors, window frames, grills, railings and metal fittings finished in enamel, gloss, satin or matt. The colour is the easy part; getting the surface bare, dry, keyed and primed is what decides whether the film stays on.
- Free site inspection
- Written, itemised quote
- 1-year workmanship warranty
- Same-day callback
At a glance
What's enamel painting and where is it used?
Enamel is a hard-curing paint for wood and metal: doors, window frames, grills, railings, gates, shutters and painted furniture, rather than plastered walls, which take emulsion instead. It cures to a tight, wipeable film in gloss, satin or matt. Most of the work is underneath: removing loose coating and rust, sanding the surface to a key, and priming wood and metal differently.
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
- Doors, frames and skirting have gone chalky, chipped or yellowed and need recoating
- Grills, railings or a gate are flaking and showing rust at the welds and the base
- You want a hard, wipeable finish on joinery that gets handled every day
- Painted furniture or a metal almirah needs bringing back to one even colour and sheen
Something else comes first if
- The timber is soft, spongy or termite-damaged, enamel over it only hides the problem; the section needs a carpenter's opinion and replacement first
- You want the teak grain to show, that's a clear polish or melamine job, because enamel is opaque and covers the grain completely
- The metal has corroded through or a weld has given way, fabrication and rust treatment come before any coating goes near it
What the service includes.
Substrate survey
Every item checked for rust, moisture in the timber, chalky or blistered old enamel, and previous coats that won't accept a new one. Wood and metal on the same unit are treated as two different jobs.
Stripping and keying
Flaking enamel scraped or taken back, and every sound glossy area sanded dull. A fresh coat can't grip a hard, shiny film, it sits on top and lifts later in sheets rather than patches.
Rust removal and metal primer
Rust taken back to sound metal by wire brush, emery or mechanical means, then a metal primer applied in the same working session, bare steel left open in this humidity begins rusting again quickly.
Wood filling and wood primer
Nail holes and dents filled, raised grain sanded flat, knots sealed, then a wood primer so the enamel is not drawn unevenly into open timber and left patchy in sheen.
Hardware, glass and edges
Hinges, handles, latches and tower bolts removed or masked, glass taped, and hanging edges kept thin so the door still closes cleanly on its frame afterwards.
Enamel coats and curing
Applied at the agreed sheen and coat count, dusted down between coats and laid off for an even film, then left to harden before hardware is refitted.
Not included, or quoted separately
- Carpentry, replacing rotten timber, rebuilding joints, planing or re-hanging doors
- Welding, fabrication or replacing corroded sections of gates, grills and railings
- Clear polish, melamine or PU finishes where the grain is to stay visible, quoted separately
- Powder coating and other factory-applied finishes, which need the item taken to a plant
- Making good the wall around frames and skirting, emulsion work is quoted as wall painting
The sequence.
Inspection and item list
We list every item, door leaves and frames, window shutters, grills, railings, gates, furniture, note which are wood and which are metal, and record the condition of each. The quotation is built from that list, not from the floor area of the room.
Sheen and colour approval
Gloss, satin or matt seen on a sample piece in the light the item actually sits in. High gloss shows every ripple and brush mark in the substrate; satin forgives more. You choose knowing that.
Isolate and protect
Floors sheeted, walls and glass masked, hardware removed and bagged. Enamel dries slowly and picks up whatever is floating in the air, so grinding and sanding elsewhere stops while a coat is going on.
Strip, de-rust and prime
Loose coating off, rust off, timber filled and sanded, then wood primer on wood and metal primer on metal. This is the stage that decides whether the film holds or lifts.
Apply the enamel
Coats applied to the agreed count, brushed and laid off, or sprayed where the item and the setting allow. Each coat goes on only once the one below has hardened enough to take it, overcoating a soft film wrinkles it.
Cure, refit and hand back
Hardware refitted, every door and window worked to check nothing binds or sticks, and a walkthrough with you against the original item list.
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.
- The measured surface of each item, with grills and railings counted on developed area, every face of every member, not the size of the opening
- How much stripping and de-rusting the existing finish needs, which is the largest variable on old metalwork
- Whether an item is wood, metal, or both on the same unit, since each needs its own primer
- The sheen chosen, as high gloss demands far more substrate correction than satin or matt
- Solvent-based or water-based enamel, and whether the space can be ventilated while it cures
- Access and handling, worked in place, taken off hinges, or reached at height on a gate or stair railing
Enamel Painting — your questions.
Can enamel go straight over the old paint on our doors?
Only where the old film is sound and firmly bonded, and even then it has to be sanded dull first, nothing grips a hard, shiny surface on its own. Where the coating is chalky, blistered or lifting, it comes off. Paint bonds to whatever is under it, so anything applied over loose material fails with it, and on enamel that failure comes away in sheets.
Do you've to remove the rust, or can you paint over it?
It has to come off. Rust keeps oxidising under a coat, pushes the film off from beneath and reappears as brown blisters at welds and at the foot of grills where water sits. We take the metal back to sound material and get a metal primer on before it flash rusts again, in Bengaluru's humidity that window is short, particularly through the monsoon.
Will white enamel go yellow?
Solvent-based enamels tend to shift warmer over time, and it shows most on whites in places that get little daylight, a cupboard interior, a north-facing frame, the back of a door. Water-based enamels hold a white far better and smell far less, though they behave differently under the brush. We'll tell you which suits the item before you settle on the shade.
Why can't the door be closed as soon as it looks dry?
Enamel is touch-dry long before it is hard. Close a door or window onto its frame while the film is still soft and the two faces bond together, then tear when next opened, leaving a print of the frame on the edge. We keep openings wedged and hardware off until the film has hardened, then refit and check that nothing binds.
How strong is the smell, and can we stay at home?
Solvent-based enamel smells strongly while it cures, needs windows open and puts the room out of use, awkward in a flat with small children or anyone with breathing trouble. Water-based enamel is much lower in odour and is usually the sensible choice in an occupied home. We also sequence the work so you aren't shut out of the whole house at once.
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.