What color would you paint these doors?

[Susie]

Our basement is half finished and has luan doors between the finished and unfinished sides.  The doors show a water mark from when the basement flooded in December.  The flood was a one time thing in our 12-13 years here, the result of a power failure + heavy rain, not a chronic problem.  

We are now preparing the house to put on the market, pending finding a new house.  Our realtor made the very valid suggestion of painting the doors so as not to suggest water problems unnecessarily to buyers.  The baseboards and sheetrock are fine.

In the upstairs, we painted all the trim white semigloss, and replaced all the luan doors with solid pine six panel doors that we also painted white semigloss.  However, I'm not up for painting trim in the basement, or all the work of replacing 2 hinged doors + 2 sets of bifold closet doors.  I'd really like to restrict the project to painting those two doors.

I'm afraid white doors will look funny with the wood trim.  I was thinking about black or gray instead of white, but WWYD?  

[TR]

I found this picture of wood trim, white paint and I don't HATE it. I don't love it, but I can see what you're trying to do by hiding the water stain and that's probably a good idea. 

[TR]

I think with the blue walls I'd go gray over black.

[TR]

Ok so looking at more pictures I saw some that were dark gray with light gray walls that looked nice. And a navy one with tan walls so you could also consider navy with your blue walls.

[undecidedowl]

I would probably paint it brown to blend with the trim. That's not a type of door that I would want to stand out.

[hazelden]

I'd probably go gray. I had our bathroom vanity painted Sherwin Williams Peppercorn for a bit and it's a nice dark gray color. I went to use it on the board and batten we installed in the rest of the bathroom and it looked like a chalkboard! So too much is too dark in that color - but just something little, like a door, is just right.

[hbomdiggity]

I’d paint the doors white. IMO, anything else looks like you are hiding something. White doors looks more like a project you started and didn’t finish and this way they can just pick up where you left off.

[whattheheck]

I’m sure I’m going to get flamed but I’m feeling salty so here goes. How did a flood that left a water mark on your door not seep into the Sheetrock? Have you done a mold test? Without a mold test this approach seems unethical.

[orval]

What about staining or painting the doors to match the wood trim? They are quite a bit lighter in this photo. I just found this stuff on Home Depot. It would probably hide the water mark

www.homedepot.com/p/Faux-EZ-Natural-Wood-Grain-Cabinet-Paint-8-oz-Natural-Grain-Faux-Wood-Cabinet-Refinishing-Step-One-Base-Coat-FEZ-105/202985693

[lolalolalola]

I would paint them white. Plenty of people have white doors with wood trim.

Grey would look nice too.

[dontlook]

I would go with white. I had white doors and oak trim in my old house.

[af1212]

Did you have to replace the drywall?

[maudefindlay]

Feb 6, 2021 7:43:39 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

I’m sure I’m going to get flamed but I’m feeling salty so here goes. How did a flood that left a water mark on your door not seep into the Sheetrock? Have you done a mold test? Without a mold test this approach seems unethical.

Unfortunately not all states require you to disclose flood info. I agree, this thread rubs me the wrong way too.

[Susie]

Feb 6, 2021 7:43:39 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

I’m sure I’m going to get flamed but I’m feeling salty so here goes. How did a flood that left a water mark on your door not seep into the Sheetrock? Have you done a mold test? Without a mold test this approach seems unethical.

I do hear this sentiment, and I don't take it badly.  I think the water mark on the door looks worse than the water really was, because of the way luan wicks water up, to a much greater degree than any door material that I can think of.  

This was what the basement looked like when we found the water.  




^ That threshold is the door at the far right of the pic on the OP.  We pulled up the linoleum that night.


The black mat flooring is 3/8" thick for reference.



Although the water mark on the door is up around the top of the baseboard height, that exaggerates the actual water depth quite a bit.  We watched it go up even as we dried and cleaned up the mess.

As far as mold, at the time that it happened, we weren't yet thinking of selling the house, and we treated it accordingly.  We vac'ed up the water immediately, picked up all the black mat flooring, washed and dried it upstairs, ripped out the linoleum so no mold could grow between the linoleum and concrete, and set up fans and dehumidifiers.  We looked for but did not see any places where sheetrock got wet, including on the back, unfinished side of the wall with the TV on it.  

I would not, and will not, take any steps to hide actual mold or defect.  In this case I am genuinely not aware of any that exists, even after looking for it.

[whattheheck]

Susie, Thank you - that clarifies a lot. Also - thank you for keeping it civil - this could have gone off the rails.

[Violet]

I’d say white or maybe the same color blue as the walls. As someone above said, make it look like you didn’t finish the project? I’d also make sure to prime the water stain really well or it will show through the paint in a few weeks.

[icedcoffee]

Oh yeah we used Killz before repainting the ceiling where our bathtub leaked and it hid the watermarks very well and no issues since.

[winecat]

You might be able to reskin the doors? youtu.be/jv4t4lpVQFE

[definitelyO]

I would just go white - even if you don't like the look - you're selling and they can change what they don't like.

[sandandsea]

You could also remove the doors and just hang a curtain or leave it open depending on how “finished” vs “unfinished” it is.

[redheadk]

In that case, I'd paint them white. It is the most logical for those doors and you don't have any other fixed finishes in the room that you can paint them that would make sense.

[Deleted]

Can't you just get new doors? You can get a slab door for around $50. That way it's perfect, and also a heck of a lot easier than painting imo