Costs & Guides

Do you want to know how much painting interior doors costs?
For the answer, read this guide, which covers interior paint prices, painting and decorating charges, as well as any other costs and levies you might encounter.
Let’s get going!

How Much Does It Cost to Paint Interior Doors?

The colours and patterns we see around us influence our thoughts and feelings; as a result, whenever the opportunity to use your favourite fabrics and paints arises, you should take advantage of it, which needs an understanding of the associated costs on your part.

We’ll go over the various prices of painting interior doors here. We’ll go over the extra expenses, labour expenditures, and supply costs. We’ll also go through the advantages of painting inside doors so you can be confident that you’re making the best selection for your home.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to painting rates. Your location, as well as the painter you choose, will have a big impact. For example, hiring a painter in London can cost up to four times more than hiring one in Sunderland.

However, calculating how much money you’d lose if you took time off work to paint and comparing it to the cost of hiring a painter is an excellent idea.

The type of paint you select will influence the cost. The importance of selecting the right paint goes beyond the final look and feel of your home. One of the most critical factors determining your budget is the paint you choose.

Matt emulsions, which are rather simple, are relatively inexpensive in most situations. You may have to stretch your money a little farther if you choose a gloss or silk emulsion.

Interior paints have a smooth texture, are stain-resistant, and easy to clean. Color fading and mildew formation are both combated by exterior paints.

They’re usually also UV resistant and water resistant. In interior paints, water is frequently used as a solvent to prevent dangerous vapours from gathering and to make cleanup easier.

Interior door paint colours that are more vibrant are more expensive than neutral colours like white or magnolia. Furthermore, if you want bespoke paintwork, you may have to spend far more than the norm. Keep an eye out for discounts and special deals.

When purchasing paint in bulk, you can occasionally get some very amazing bargains. Compare paint prices at several retailers before you invest your money.

A lot of the decision-making when it comes to commencing a painting project is dependent on the expense. Before you start painting your doors and/or trim, figure out how much you’re going to spend.

Start by measuring everything that needs to be painted, whether you’re doing it yourself or getting a quote from a professional painter.

The cost of painting an interior door is dictated by the size of the door, the number of doors to be painted, and local labour rates.

Most interior doors cost between £50 and £200 to paint. Doors that open to the outside, on the other hand, can be quite costly, costing between £200 and £300.

Glossing a door costs between £60 and £100 depending on the type of paint used and the number of coats necessary.

While you may be able to recoat some painted doors and achieve a satisfactory result, you will not be able to save the paintwork on others.

You’ll need to engage a paint stripping or ‘dipping’ service to get rid of all that goopy, lumpy old sheen. Door stripping costs anything from £15 to £25 per door.

Paint Interior Door Prices

The costs of painting inside doors are broken down in the table below:

Job	Cost
Painting interior doors	£50 – £200
Painting interior doors that open to the outside	£200 – £300
Glossing interior doors	£60 – £100
Door stripping	£15 – £25

What are the Supply Costs to Paint Interior Doors?

Another approach to save money is to purchase materials yourself or inform your painter that you will be paying for each item separately and that you will need copies of all receipts.

It is not uncommon, nor is it unethical, for a decorator to add 20% to the cost of materials to cover the cost of obtaining them as well as the risk of not getting paid at the end of the job.

They can’t take their paint back, after all! Your painter will be glad if you pay for materials as you go, but never pay in advance.

You might choose to go the DIY way if you’re handy around the house and confident in your ability to paint a door. Painting doors, on the other hand, is one of the few instances where employing a pro is more cost-effective.

This is owing to the high material costs. If you have a lot of painting equipment and only need paint, you can save a lot of money by doing it yourself rather than hiring a professional painter.

If you don’t have any painting supplies and can’t borrow them from a friend, though, hiring a professional might be a better option! The cost of your materials vs. the cost of hiring a professional painter is all that matters.

Keep in mind that you may need to purchase some items that you wouldn’t have on hand otherwise, and they aren’t all painting supplies. These will eventually increase your painting costs.

We’ll go over the various supplies you’ll need to paint interior doors in this section. So, if you want to paint your inside doors yourself, you’ll discover everything you need to know right here.

A dry cloth will set you back between £3 and £10. Painter’s tape costs between £1.50 and £9, while a paint roller frame costs between £3 and £10.

Paint roller covers range in price from £4 to £20, depending on the quality of the roller; however, a good quality paint roller cover is suggested for a decent work, while a paint tray costs between £0.69 and £7.

Paint brushed will cost £10 – £15 these will be needed for detail on your interior doors, the primer will cost you £22 – £39 per litre, stain and varnish cost £22 – £52 per litre, and paint will cost £22 – £48 per litre.

For protection, you will need disposable painters to mask, which costs £2 – £12, and disposable gloves will cost £2 – £3. The table below will break down the supply costs of painting interior doors.

Type of paint	Price
Dry cloth	£3 – £10
Painter’s tape	£1.50 – £9
Paint roller frame	£3 – £10
Paint roller frame	£4 – £20
Paint roller	£4 – £20
Paint tray	£0.69 – £7
Paintbrush	£10 – £15
Primer	£22 – £39
Stain & Varnish	£22 – £52
Covering paint	£22 – £48
Disposable painters mask	£2 – £12
Disposable gloves	£2 – £3

An average door requires one quart of primer and one quart of paint for two coats on each sides. The type of door, existing colour, surface condition, and material dictate the amount of primer and paint necessary.

Apply one layer of premium paint or a 2-in-1 paint and primer. Apply two layers of primer and paint on a glossy surface for drastic colour changes and to ensure an even shade of colour. It is not recommended to mix oil-based primers and paints with water-based primers and paints.

If you’ve painted before, you probably won’t need everything on this list, and you’ll probably just need one gallon of paint to cover one door.

What are the Additional Costs of Painting an Interior Door?

If you hire a tradesperson to paint your inside doors, you may encounter additional fees that have increased the overall cost.

As a result, knowing what to expect while painting your interior doors is essential. We’ll go over the many additional charges that may arise while having repairs done in your house.

So, if you’re looking for an average price, this is where you’ll find all the hidden fees.

Hanging a Door

The cost of installing an internal door is usually dictated by the door design you choose. Bi-fold doors are one-of-a-kind doors that exude sophistication and elegance.

They are commonly considered to be one of the most expensive entry types accessible today. Their costs range from £2,450 and £2,600.

Flush doors are another sort of structural door. These doors are smoother in design, less intricate, and thus less expensive than bi-fold units. We utilise them for internal reasons since they are less difficult. The costs range between £70 and £140.

Internal doors with panels are used frequently. The typical inside door is made of pressed hardboard or wood, and it can be customised in a variety of ways to meet the needs of the buyer. This door is priced between £90 to £150.

Cottage doors are priced differently depending on the type of frame and its condition. These ornamental doors are used in most homes for a more classic feel.

Due to the unique nature and inventiveness involved in their creation, they are priced at £40 – £45 each unit, with installation ranging from £140 – £550 per door.

The average installation cost for ledged doors is slightly more than for regular doors. This is due to the method they’re built and the level of expertise required.

Prepare to spend between £2,200 and £3,800 per door if you want ledged doors in your home.

Joiners charge different hourly rates depending on their current location and the project they’re working on. For the installation of hanging doors, joiners can charge as little as £20 per hour or as much as £30 per hour. Each day will cost between £160 and £240.

On average, it takes 6-8 hours to install a door. From measuring the space to installing frames, decorating, painting, and all other installations, a single door can take up to 8 hours to complete.

Please see our guide to the expenses of hanging a door for more details.

Painting and Decorating

During the decorating process, walls, skirting boards, door frames, kitchen cupboards, and furniture are all painted.

Painters and decorators can also remove old paint and wallpaper, as well as prime and prepare walls for new paint or wallpaper application.

You should consider how much interior painting will cost for various services while remodelling. For example, painting a room can cost anything from £180 for a small bedroom to £600 for a huge living room.

Other fixtures, such as skirting boards, which cost between £180 and £350, and window painting, which costs between £400 and £1,500, should be factored into the painting and decorating budget.

Painting doors, which costs between £220 and £1,600, and repainting kitchen cabinets, which costs between £600 and £1000, are two more services.

Wallpapering can cost anything from £180 for a small room to £600 to strip and hang, while internal cladding can cost anywhere from £1,500 to £2,500.

A typical quote for engaging a painter and decorator for extensive decorating work, such as painting or wallpapering many rooms, ranges from £100 to £300 per day. Smaller painting chores, such as painting door frames and kitchen cabinets, may only cost £15 to £40 per hour.

If you’re only painting a small bedroom, it should only take one day; but, if you need any wallpaper or paint removed, add another day. The job could take three to four days if you want the tradesman to remove and replace any furnishings.

Redecorating a two-bedroom terraced house can take five days, seven days for a three-bedroom semi-detached house, and up to fourteen days for a five-bedroom detached house.

Please see our cost of interior painting and decorating guide for more details.

Painting House Exterior

The cost of exterior painting is determined by the project’s scope. Render painting, for example, can range from £600 to £1,200, while painting the outside of a home might cost anywhere from £500 to £1,500.

To improve the appearance of your outside, you may choose to have your soffits and fascias painted, which costs between £700 and £1,100, and your external windows painted, which costs between £200 and £400.

Painting garden walls ranges from £100 to £320, repainting fences from £100 to £340, and painting decking from £120 to £430. Outdoor woodwork, such as a shed, can cost anything from £100 to £350 to paint.

Because craftsmen charge by the hour, the longer and more expensive an outdoor paint work takes.

It should take 3 to 5 days for a terraced house and 4 to 5 days for a semi-detached or detached house to hire someone to paint the smooth outside walls of your property.

If your walls are pebble dashed, the time frame will almost certainly increase. Painting terraced houses, for example, would take 5 to 6 days, while semi-detached and detached houses would take 7 to 9 days.

This varies significantly depending on the tradesperson you choose and where you live in the UK. To paint outside walls or outdoor furnishings, a painter and decorator would typically charge between £100 and £300 a day.

This, however, differs depending on whether you work as a solo trader or as part of a corporation, as well as your geographical area (as London quotes tend to be much higher).

Please see our guide to the expenses of exterior painting for more details.

Location of the Door

The location of a door is also important since the easier it is for a contractor to complete the project, the more accessible it is. The longer the job takes in this case, the higher the labour costs are. Naturally, this will be determined by the contractor and the accessibility of the entrance.

Size

Unsurprisingly, the larger the door, the more it will cost to paint an interior door. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but larger doors often require more materials and take longer to maintain than smaller doors. This, however, is unlikely to be a major budgetary consideration.

Duration

The time it takes to complete the task may or may not have an impact on the total cost, and it all depends on the tradesperson’s methods. A contractor will be paid a fixed amount up front in some cases, while they will be paid by the hour in others.

Location

The cost of living in your area will have an impact on the pricing that individuals or businesses establish, as will supply and demand levels in your area.

Another factor to consider is how quickly adjacent service providers can arrive at your location. Their gasoline expenses will climb as their trip lengthens, increasing your overall payment.

Amount of Doors

The quantity of internal doors in your home will have an overall impact on your pricing, since the more doors you want painted, the more money you’ll spend.

Minimum Fee

A painter may charge a little fee at first. This could be a little fee added to your final bill or the result of a fixed labour rate. You can see how this effectively acts as an additional expense if you charge free fixed labour for four hours yet the project only takes two hours.

Tradesmen Costs of Painting an Interior Door

Unfortunately, interior door painting is one of those crafts that attracts the inexperienced handyman. Many individuals think that painting is as easy as picking up a brush and starting to paint. How could they be so incorrect?

Over the phone, a painter will not be able to give you an exact quote. They must evaluate the current paintwork and assess whether there are any access issues at your property. As a result, you should ask a few questions to make sure you’re ready for anything.

So, what should be considered when seeking a skilled painter at a reasonable price? You are completely free to offer to pay cash for any work done if you are not pushing the painter to avoid paying tax. It usually means you won’t obtain a receipt and, as a result, no guarantee for the service done.

If your painter is a one-man band or works with an apprentice, they are likely to be operating under the VAT registration threshold, which means their quotation should be 20% less than a quote from a major painting firm with a number of painters on the books that must charge VAT.

Depending on the nature of the work, retired or semi-retired painters are often willing to take on little projects merely to ‘keep their hand in.’

If you’re intending to install brand new doors to your home, they may factor in internal costs like door jambs, door painting, and other minor tasks like drywall repair that may be required throughout the construction process.

When you employ a painting company, you’re paying for knowledge, convenience, labour costs, and a higher-quality painting work. For some people, the extra painting charges are well worth the anxiety of employing a painting contractor.

The pricing of a tradesman is another significant factor to consider. The cost of hiring a painter ranges from £100 to £300 each day. Smaller painting jobs, such as painting door frames, are usually priced between £15 and £40 per hour.

Rates for tradespeople per day, on the other hand, range from between £150 to £300, with rates in London and the South-East occasionally reaching, if not exceeding, the higher sum.

Because paint must cure between coats, the type of paint used may influence the time it takes to complete each room. Painters and decorators frequently work in pairs on larger projects.

It may appear that hiring a single tradesperson is the most sensible method to save money. However, this will almost always result in the job taking longer, saving little if any time and, in some situations, costing more.

Benefits of Painting Interior Doors

Repainting your inside doors is an inexpensive way to update your home. To complement your design style, you can modernise your home with a fresh coat of white paint or a splash of colour on your interior doors.

It’s also a cost-effective option for inexperienced DIY house improvement! If you want to understand about the many benefits of painting your inside doors, keep reading.

Fresh Paint

Paint will begin to reveal its age as it matures, making your home appear old and unpleasant. Painting your doors will ensure that they match perfectly for years to come.

It also makes your home look cleaner and more in keeping with its aesthetic!

Cheap Labour Costs

You will save money on labour if you hire a professional painter because painting labour assignments are normally not particularly expensive for little works. If you break the job into two or more projects, you’ll wind up paying different project fees.

Faster Drying Time

Instead of having your unfinished work act as a continual reminder that there’s still work to be done, setting out to complete the entire job means you’ll be free of tension and able to enjoy your interior rooms much sooner.

Resistant to High Humidity

Painting your inside doors will ensure that they last longer. The outer layer protects the surface against water absorption and deformation caused by moisture fluctuations. The models can be used in both kitchens and bathrooms.

Practicality

Contaminants are easily removed, and the surface is resistant to disinfectants and cleaning agents. Because of the paint and varnish layer, unpleasant odours are not absorbed into the structure.

FAQs

Q: How do you avoid brush marks while painting an inside door?
A: You can still paint the door without removing it. To reduce the mess that running paint can cause, we recommend taking it off its hinges and placing it on a horizontal desk.

The paint will have more time to level out because the door is horizontal, resulting in a flawless finish.

Alternatively, if previous paint jobs left brush marks on the door, sand it down to remove them. Sanding also helps the primer stick.

With a somewhat coarse 100-grit sandpaper, remove chipped paint, runny paint, and brush strokes from the flat panels of the door. Use a random orbital sander to complete the process swiftly.

Sanding pads are used to remove defects from the grooved profiles of the door.

Smooth out the door with 120-150 grit sandpaper before painting. Vacuum off the sanding dust from the door, then wipe it clean with a damp cloth. Allow for drying time before applying the paint.

Q: Which paint is best for an inside wooden door?
A: Because interior doors are subjected to a lot of damage in everyday living, you’ll require durable paint. Semi-gloss or gloss paint is much easier to clean than matte paint, and it will last much longer if cleaned frequently.

Matte paint attracts dirt and is difficult to clean; nevertheless, removing the paint could result in the finish being lost. As a result, semi-gloss or gloss paint will work better for painting doors, which get dirty and are used regularly, as well as requiring frequent cleaning. If the door’s current finish is shiny, use a de-glosser to dull the sheen before applying your new paint. Some well-known firms now provide a ‘quick dry interior’ paint that would work nicely on doors.

Q: Should I use a roller or a brush to paint?
A: Remove the rolled paint using a brush. Brush stipple is less noticeable than roller stipple, and brushed paint tends to level out better than rolled paint. When utilising high-quality enamel and roller sleeves, roller results can be exceedingly smooth.

Q: Should you paint the inside of your door?
A: When you open the door from the inside, the side that swings inward toward you should be painted the same colour as the interior of the door. This will help to keep everything in order and give you a more uniform impression when you open the door.

Q: What kind of preparation is required prior to painting interior doors?
A: Before painting, clean the door with a degreasing cleaner. Patch holes and repair defects with sandable filler or spackle. To create a smoother surface that will absorb primer or paint more quickly, sand the door with 120-grit sandpaper. After sanding, clean up the dust before priming or painting.