Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Sanding Blunder

Yesterday I was reminded (in a not so pleasant way) what the most important step to a quality paint job is… the prep.  And in my opinion, the most important "prep-step" is sanding.  Not the primer, not the filling, but the sanding.
I was reminded because I didn't prep correctly, then paid the price later with peeling paint.  Arg.
Last week I was out with the flu - all week - and with my schedule pretty packed, it put me behind.  And what do you do when you're behind?  You hurry!  
I hurried a bit too much and didn't properly sand the edges of a few drawers before I primed.  I realized this when I came back through to sand the primer and paint started peeling off!  
Lucky for me, it only happened on small parts of the drawers that I didn't rough up well enough and not the hole thing!

Here's a close up.
The drawers look fine now and the first coat of paint is on, but the goof up put me behind a couple hours. 
This leads me back to the whole 'sanding is the most important step' thing.

When I started painting furniture around my house six years ago, there were no DIY blogs. - and who wanted to use the internet with that whole dial up connection thing, anyway?  Because of this, I had no idea what kind of paint to use, when to sand, when not to sand and I didn't use primer.  I thought primer was for dark walls.
I painted with latex wall paint, no clear coat and didn't prime anything.  The one thing that saved me was being an
over-sander.
Because of this, the black paint I used to paint Colby's bunk bed six years ago - without primer and without a clear coat - is still holding strong.
It's good to be an over-sander.  Because I'm an over-sander, up until yesterday, I've never dealt with peeling paint before!

(Sanding is what helps surfaces grip the paint.  It is extra-essential when painting a glossier piece of furniture - or laminate.  Paint doesn't stick to glossy surfaces well!)

Moral of the story:  occasionally, it's good to be reminded what not to do.  

You can follow along with my best life here

11 comments:

  1. Been there than that..I just went through the same thing a few weeks ago...But on mine, the entire piece was peeling, so I had to completelly strip it again and sand really well..Lesson learned!!

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  2. Done that before! I really wish sanding wasn't so important because I hate doing it!

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  3. Wow!! i am very impressed with your lovely post.. I am so glad to left comment on this..This has been a so interesting read, would love to read more here….

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  4. Hello! I love reading your blog! I have painted a few pieces of furniture for our house and my question is what kind of clear coat do you use on white paint. I used a poly that has turned yellow. I guess I'm going to have to go back and sand and try something else. :-(

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    1. Oil doesn't require a top coat, nor does lacquer, so I don't currently use one, but when I painted with latex I used BM's Staysclear water based poly - it's the best. Oil poly dries harder so it's great to use on darker pieces where the yellowing wouldn't be noticeable.

      Good luck on the redo!

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    2. Thank you!

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  5. I've so done this before - it's the pits.

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  6. Thanks for the reminder to sand, sand, sand! If you don't mind me asking...what primer did you use? I recently used Zinsser Cover Stain (oil base) which does not require sanding and is used for glossy furniture. I have to admit, I did lightly sand. The end result was terrific. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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    1. I used Mohawk's waterborne lacquer primer - you can find it on their website. I don't feel like the adhesion is better than Zinsser, but I like the way it sprays. And really, I end up using something like Zinsser if I have problems with tannin bleed. The waterborne doesn't block it.

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