Can I paint over stained trim?
Can you paint over stained trim? As you look at any contemporary home, and pictures in today’s trendy magazines, you really do not see many homes that contain stained trim. There has been a large push to paint the trim in new homes and in existing homes that are wanting to update their appearance and bring them into today’s flavor of home buyers.
Are you ready to join the fad and paint your trim? You absolutely can paint your currently stained trim. There are a few ways to paint your stain. There are a couple of right ways to do it, and there are a couple of wrong way to paint your trim. I will take you through the correct ways and the incorrect ways to paint over the stained trim.
The right way to paint stained trim – number one
This is a GREAT way to paint over stained trim. First, sand the trim and doors down to break through the polyurethane. What that means is that you want to sand the “gloss” off of the surface. Second, apply a shellac primer over the surfaces that you want to paint. This makes sure that the paint is going to adhere to the surface properly. In this process, it is important that the primer cannot be scratched off easily with your fingernail after it is dry. If the primer is easily scratched, that means that the surface is still to “glossy” and the job is probably not going to hold up as well as it could. After priming, you will want to apply two finish coats of really good paint like Emerald by Sherwin Williams. Emerald is pricey, but it hardens very well. It is a tough, strong paint that can handle adversity.
The right way to paint stained trim – number two:
This is a GREAT way to paint over stained trim. In this step, you are going to sand the stained trim, but you are not going to break through the polyurethane surface. You are just going to lightly sand and dull the stained trim. After doing that, you are going to apply 1 thin coat of Extreme Bond by Sherwin Williams. Extreme Bond adheres to glossy surfaces. You are still going to finish this job with two coats of Emerald by Sherwin Williams.
The wrong way – These are a couple of ways that you DO NOT want to paint over stained trim.
- Do not apply paint directly onto stained trim. There are prep steps that you must take before painting stained trim.
- Do not go without sanding stained trim before painting stained trim. It stinks…I know…but you MUST do some sanding.
- Clean the surface before priming or painting. Pollutants and build-up can cause the paint or primer not to stick as well as it should.
- Do not put primer or paint on too thick to try to do one coat. Do two coats. Again, it stinks, but for the job to last, it is a MUST.
And if you do not want to tackle this job, as it can be labor-intensive, give us a call for a free painting quote. We paint stained trim every day.
