Water based or enamel undercoats/primers?

[Goldie]

Apologies if this has been tackled dozens of times before but I have read and received so many different opinions I am stuck.

I have just bought my first house, a1920's Cali Bungaow in SE Sydney. All the doors, skirts, architraves and picture rails have been varnished/lacquered and the outside of the casement windows are white and the insides are varnished/lacquered like the doors etc.I am in process of painting the whole interior of the house and the outside of the windows also.

The problem is the timber. The first person I asked at a local hardware store told me to just lightly sand all the interior timber (which is varnished/lacquered) and the use a waer based 3 in one primer by Duralex. I tried it on one door and it seems mostly ok but has chipped in one area about the size of a 5 cent piece where the door touches the jamb. Is this the best method and do I paint the gloss enamel straight over the 3 in 1 primer?

I tried paint stripper today and it gets the varnish mostly of really easily and then it is quite easy to sand down to bare wood. If I do this do I use the acrylic 3 in 1 on bare wood or should I rather use pink enamel primer? I am doing the stripper method also to the outside of the windows and frames and is it the correct thing to do to use an enamel sealer/undercoat when I have most of the old paint off?

Please help, I am so worried I am going to do the wrong thing and waste a dozen weekends and a few hundred dollars and the paint peels or flakes off.

[munruben]

Hi Goldie and welcome to the forum. I take it the inside timber frames you are talking about is actually the timber with a coat of varnish on it. In that case a light sanding and re-coating with varnish is all that may be needed as long as it is not flaking too badly. If you intend to paint the current varnished areas then you can also get away with sanding the varnish and applying the suitable undercoat for the topcoat you intend to use.
Its a good idea to try out small areas with the finish you intend using, then you can gauge for yourself the method you prefer. Good luck.

[durwood]

I think you need to explain a bit more as to exactly what you are intending to do. Munruben has taken it to mean that you are going to re varnish inside again but I think as you have mentioned gloss enamel that you actually intend to paint it a colour rather than clear again. Is that right?

First it is not necessary to strip the paint unless there is a reason to do it, it doubles the time effort and money needed to do the job. If the actual surfaces are in good condition then it is ok to sand the surface to remove the gloss ( sugar soap first) then apply the new finish. So unless the paint has some pacific problem (cracking/crazing. peeling etc or there is more than three coatings where it has been redone before ) then just sand and repaint. There is nothing better than a sound old finish to recoat over.If you strip you may encounter problems as the stripper has to be thoroughly washed off or it will attack the new paint.

Water based paint is now the prefered way to do it for most people as its easy to clean up but often oil based is a better option depending on what you are painting. If the old paint is oil based (enamel/varnish - lacquer is an entilely different finish not usually used on houses) you will get far better results with a like wise product (thinnned with turps) water based paints don't stick as well hence your chipping problem.

If it was new or stripped timber and you start off with a water based primer you will get better adhesion of it to the surface and the top coats will stick to it better. The three in one primer is a primer/sealer/undercoat eliminating the need for pink primer which usually goes on followed by underecoat before the top enamel coat.

The normal rule is to decide whether you want to finish with water of oil based enamel. use oil based primers and undercoats for top coat colours of the same type If you want to do water then you will get better results if you go back to bare timber.

[ian]

I have just bought my first house, a1920's Cali Bungaow in SE Sydney. All the doors, skirts, architraves and picture rails have been varnished/lacquered and the outside of the casement windows are white and the insides are varnished/lacquered like the doors etc.I am in process of painting the whole interior of the house and the outside of the windows also.

The problem is the timber. The first person I asked at a local hardware store told me to just lightly sand all the interior timber (which is varnished/lacquered) and the use a waer based 3 in one primer by Duralex. I tried it on one door and it seems mostly ok but has chipped in one area about the size of a 5 cent piece where the door touches the jamb. Is this the best method and do I paint the gloss enamel straight over the 3 in 1 primer?

I tried paint stripper today and it gets the varnish mostly of really easily and then it is quite easy to sand down to bare wood. If I do this do I use the acrylic 3 in 1 on bare wood or should I rather use pink enamel primer? I am doing the stripper method also to the outside of the windows and frames and is it the correct thing to do to use an enamel sealer/undercoat when I have most of the old paint off?

Please help, I am so worried I am going to do the wrong thing and waste a dozen weekends and a few hundred dollars and the paint peels or flakes off.

Be aware that a house built in the 1920s may have lead (or worse) based paint on some of the timber.
I wouldn't be concerned with timber that has only been varnished, but the possibility of lead paint on parts that are white or another colour depends on when the colour surface wsa added.



ian

[Kev Y.]

I would be careful using acrylic paint on the door/door frames and the wooden windows. Acryilc takes ages to cure properly and has a habit of "welding" two mating surfaces together..

I ALWAYS use enamel for doors/doorframes, windows and skirting boards.

[Goldie]

Hi everyone and thanks for the quick reply's. Durwood you are correct I didn't explain myself that well. I am painting all timber white internal and external. The surfaces that are currently painted white are in really poor condition and have 90 years of caked paint on them so that why I wanted to strip it down first. I want to use enamel paints as I like the gloss look and have it in my head its tougher.

Durwood in your last paragraph you say " use oil based primers and undercoats for top coat colours of the same type' So if I'm stripping down to bare timber as much as possible is it ok to use the water based 3 in one and then put a gloss enamel straight over or do I put an enamel primer on over the 3 in 1 or do I scrap the 3 in 1 (water based) all together?

So many options my head is spinning but that may also be from too many beers in the sun at the cricket today.

[durwood]

You can use the 3 in one primer under the enamel . for best results apply two coats one first on the bare timber for adhesion then a second as an undercoat. this will give you enough build that you can do a light sand and get a good surface for your enamel. The smoother the surface the better the gloss will look as it shows imperfections more than satin or flat finishes.

In future if you start from scratch and have to purchase new material for a project pick your finish paint and get the recommended primer/ undercoats for it.