Painting advice

celod

I'm new to any type of DIY, but i have decided to paint my apartment. I think i'm mostly sorted except i have noticed that the paint on the timber - cills, skirting etc. is very loose and scraping off in large pieces in places- there seems to be at least 3 different layers of paint. I was just going to sand it down a bit, but i'm worried that when i paint over it - its just going to continue peeling off. Should i get something to remove all the paint or just try my best with the sand paper?
Any advice is much appreciated.

Buford T Justice

If its flaking, then using sandpaper will break your heart. Use a heat gun (they cost around 30 squid) or hire one and it'll take most of the paint right off. You can get chemical paint strippers like nitromors which will do it, but its nasty stuff.

I found a heat gun is much better with a scraper.

ART6

Fingers is right. If the paint is flaking it's probably the result of someone slapping more coats of gloss paint on top of gloss paint without sanding it down, and you will never get through several coats of flaky gloss by hand with sandpaper. A hot air stripper is the way to go, but be very careful not to let it near the window glass as it will crack it. Near the glass you need a tapered nozzle that narrows the jet of hot air to a more manageable size.

Once you have the paint off, then sandpaper the bare wood. If you want a really high class, smooth finish, dampen the wood with a damp cloth and let it dry. That raises the grain so that when it's sanded and dry its very smooth. Then use a good quality wood primer/undercoat, give it a smoothing off with fine sandpaper when it's dry, then gloss paint. Oil pased paints give a good finish but have a strong smell and take time to dry. Acrylic paints (water based) dry very quickly and don't smell strongly, although they never seem to me to give as good a finish.

Doing it that way, as Fingers says, is easy enough. Going all the way with sandpaper will be torture;)

celod

Thanks a million for the advice.
Just another quick question - the doors are also gloss paint and it looks like there are a few coats, but luckily its not peeling. Will a quick sand do before i start painting these? Should i hire a sander or will a light sand done by hand be ok?
Thanks again

ART6

celod wrote: »

Thanks a million for the advice.
Just another quick question - the doors are also gloss paint and it looks like there are a few coats, but luckily its not peeling. Will a quick sand do before i start painting these? Should i hire a sander or will a light sand done by hand be ok?
Thanks again

If the paint on the doors is good then the easiest way of preparing them is to buy a pack of wire wool from your local hardware store and rub the paintwork down with that. It's much better than sandpaper as it doesn't clog and it leaves a better surface. Just wear rubber gloves when you use it or it will play havoc with your hands.

jack of all

A great way (I find anyway) of prepping existing, sound painted wood work is to rub down with one of those sanding sponges, used with a bucket of water. A little messy but the abrasive sponge gives a flat surface and a good key for subsequent painting, de-nibbing and taking down any high spots too. It's very quick and will ensure an excellent surface for further decoration. When used with water this also eliminates dust; a qucik rub over with a damp cloth or sponge after and you're ready to go.

celod

Thanks again for the advice. I managed to paint the hallway ceiling last night anyway, so thats a start. I have a feeling its going to take me a while to get it all done at the rate i'm going.

kodak

If you haven't bought the paint for the walls yet.... I'd recommend color trend paints. I've just used them for the first time and they are lovely to work with, give a brilliant finish and have good coverage.

The 10 litre can is €85 for a white base and a little more expensive for darker colour. So works out the same if not cheaper than the more expensive dulux/crown paints but I found it much nicer all round.

No connections with company, just a happy customer.

Good luck with the painting, it's worth every minute preparing the walls and wood right and the results should be A++ if done well!

Juwwi

kodak wrote: »

If you haven't bought the paint for the walls yet.... I'd recommend color trend paints. I've just used them for the first time and they are lovely to work with, give a brilliant finish and have good coverage.

The 10 litre can is €85 for a white base and a little more expensive for darker colour. expenSo works out the same if not cheaper than the more sive dulux/crown paints but I found it much nicer all round.

No connections with company, just a happy customer.

Good luck with the painting, it's worth every minute preparing the walls and wood right and the results should be A++ if done well!

what a load of rubbish.

jack of all

You might want to expand on your point there robbie, I was quoted over €60 for a 5 litre tin of Dulux "Modo" emulsion recently...bloody dear I thought! I also like Colortrend and have used in the past.

kodak

robbie1977 wrote: »

what a load of rubbish.

How's that rubbish robbie1977?

Yeah sure you can get 10 litres of paint for €30 or less even but imo it's hard to work with, requires more coats resulting in more layers of paint and a rougher finish and not to mention time.

I think a 10 litre Color trend tub is excellent value when all factors are considered.


Now farrow and ball at €72 for 5 litres is a bit crazy

Juwwi

kodak wrote: »

How's that rubbish robbie1977?

Yeah sure you can get 10 litres of paint for €30 or less even but imo it's hard to work with, requires more coats resulting in more layers of paint and a rougher finish and not to mention time.

I think a 10 litre Color trend tub is excellent value when all factors are considered.


Now farrow and ball at €72 for 5 litres is a bit crazy

I was refering to your comment that €85 for a 10 litre tub of paint
worked out less than the more expensive dulux /crown.

dulux and crown are both way cheaper than that.

two coats of dulux/crown is nearly always enough to cover with most
colours and you would still have to put two coats on with colour trend.

Dulux/crown dont leave a rough finish if applied in the correct way.

Im not saying colour trend isnt the better paint it is a better quality paint but its not cheaper.

michael999999

im a pro painter and colortrend is twice the quality of dulux.there emulsions and there exterior acrylic satin is brilliant.

rabinc-74

i've worked with all types of paint,and i have to say,colortrend stinks.very smelly and takes ages to dry