An unsealed or old door can absorb moisture leading to drying and cracking of the wood when the door dries out.
How to stop wooden door panels from cracking after painting.
Use a small razor blade to shave away the old paint and then use sandpaper to gently sand the area you ve cleared.
Next whip out your paintbrush and paint the door.
Sand away bumps and lumps to allow the paint to dry smoothly lessening the chances of the freshly painted door sticking to the jamb.
Most of the time years of paint or caulking the seams around the panels will cause the wood to stick and not allow the panel to expand and contract with the weather.
However this can also be almost completely eliminated by gluing an mdf panel into the frame.
However when we build our own paint grade doors we apply plenty of glue and virtually never have any cracking problems at the stile rail joint.
If the door has been properly sealed moisture absorption shouldn t be a problem.
How to fix cracks in door panels without taking the door apart wooden doors will develop cracks over time especially if the panels aren t free to expand and contract.
How to clean wooden doors.
You can probably knock out painting a full panel in about five minutes less if you only have small cracks on a few sides.
If you put tape on to protect the areas you didn t want to paint peel off the tape as soon as you re done painting don t wait for it to dry and enjoy your crack free and great looking door.
Painting a smooth door gives paint better contact.
It is typical to have cracking at the panel frame joint.