Laziest/Quickest way to smooth a wood-grain-textured door

paint

We have some ultra-cheap hollow-core doors in our upstairs. They aren't real wood but this synthetic laminate with a raised wood-grain texture. Ugly things.

But, I'm cheap, and am trying to salvage them with paint before I throw in the towel and buy new ones. Any suggestions on the quickest way to smooth them down?

My first thought was to glop up on a thick coat of primer with a roller, let dry, sand (removing the primer from the raised part) then add a second coat, sand, then paint. Viable theory? Would a few coats of primer be enough to fill in a raised texture like that?

I was also thinking skim coating it with plaster, but I don't think the plaster would adhere to the plastic laminate surface. Plus, that sounds like more work that I wanted to invest in these things.

Best Answer

  1. If it's the same door I'm thinking of, I don't think two coats of primer will do it. You'll need an actual crack filler.
  2. Bear in mind, if they're flat/slab doors, you can fully replace them with a luan veneer door pretty cheaply. Something like $45 per door last time I bought them. Not too far from the price of paint.
  3. Is the fake woodgrain so ugly that a nice coat of paint won't dress it up ok?