Painting - painting over high gloss varnish

I'm planning on painting over some wood trim that has been coated with glossy varnish in the past. Would there be any problem painting over it directly, after sanding and cleaning, with a gloss latex enamel? Do I need to prime it first? Thanks.

For proper adhesion I suggest cleaning, lightly sanding with a 220 grit sandpaper, putty where needed, and priming with an oil based primer, such as kilz. Lightly sanding again, clean away dust and caulk where needed with a PAINTABLE latex caulk, when dry paint 2 coats of quality trim paint, I prefer oil based but latex will adhere at this point, just won't be as durable.

Hi Mark,
Chip is right, you do need to prime it after prepping. I've found Benjamin Moore's QD-30 an excellent alkyd underbody. Dries in an hour, yet is oil based and sands like a dream!! Kilz is a good product as well, I use it where needed, but isn't as friendly to sandpaper.

Good Luck

Sonnie

Hi Sonnie, yes there are undercoaters that sand easier than kilz, but since more people are familiar with Kilz and is more widely available is the reason I recomended it, that and the fact that the existing surface is already sealed and will be fairly smooth after sanding prior to priming. I myself use white lacquer undercoater(mostly for bare wood), talk about smooth sanding, but since it must be sprayed, I do not recomend for the DIYer. Have you ever tried Seals-All, it has better sanding qualities than Kilz also.

Good point and welcome aboard :)

BTW, I live in N. Texas and your name sounds familiar, you ever do any work up in the Texome region?

Lacquer is a wonderful material. I do understand your referring to KILZ for the reason you stated. Like you I'm a stickler for product selection. Just seems like every other person leaving Home Depot nowdays has a five gallon bucket of KILZ in their basket. It's pretty good stuff and at the time of it's inception or release to the market it was about the hottest stuff going, eh?

I'm familiar with the sanding properties of lacquer, but haven't used Seals-All. I guess my current favorite sealer is white shellac. I'm experimenting with growing my own from raw product and am extremely impressed with the difference from ready made shellac. If you haven't visited yet, log on to http://www.shellac.net it's a fun place and very educational.

Texoma, no, but I used to live around Texarkana. Owned a commercial greenhouse operation there and had customers as far west as Clarksville. Also did a fair amount of construction in TXK area, so maybe that's where it came from. You get any fishing done in that little pond you got there? hehe Nice water, tho' I've only been there twice as a kid.

best regards,

Sonnie

Oops, I spelled Texoma wrong, oh well. Yes it is quite a pond, that is what we call it, The Pond. Actually it is about 84,000 acres and the fishing is good if you know where to go.

I must be thinking of another Sonnie, sure does sound familiar though, I am going to check out that shellac site, good day.

Thanks Chipfo and Sonnie. I sanded and primed as you said, since a lot of the varnish was put on poorly and had lots of drips and roughness. I had hoped to avoid priming, but I AM one of those that walked out of Home Depot last month with a big ol' bucket of Kilz primer, which goes a LONG WAY in a small house like mine! Always looking to reduce my work on these projects, but everything looks great now that I'm done. Glad you guys are available to respond.

Mark

Great job, Mark...

nothing like doing it right. By the way, if that trim is 6" or more as it often is in older homes, buy yourself a whizz roller, 4" wide. Roll the finish coat on a section at a time, then brush it out smooth. Big time saver. Little expense. And another tip... when you're painting with semi-/or gloss latex, don't let your brush get back into paint that's become even slightly tacky (5-10 minutes). The paint will never "level" and flow out brush marks. Add floetrol (tm) to the paint at about 1 pint per gal paint. Buy a good, full, poly/nylon brush with plenty of flex and a thick heel and you'll do better than most guys in my area who get paid for doing what they don't do.

Don't hesitate to ask other questions.

Regards,

Sonnie
http://www.sonnielayne.com