Chapter 2

Preparing Surfaces for Painting

In This Chapter

Starting with a clean surface

Tackling problems associated with specific types of surfaces

Repairing and prepping walls, textured surfaces, and woodwork

Priming, sealing, and caulking

W e’re not going to beat around the bush: Properly preparing the surface for a finish is often the most time-consuming, difficult, and least rewarding part of a painting job. If you’re thinking, “Fine. Let’s skip this part of the work and the book,” think again. Any painter worth his colors will tell you that the key to a successful painting job is preparation. This chapter describes what you need to do and how to get it done in the most efficient way possible. The rest is up to you.

Preparing Exterior Surfaces

Although good-quality paint and proper application techniques are important, surface preparation is usually the most important factor in determining the success of a painting job. This section is devoted primarily to the process of preparing the exterior of a house and a few additional preparations to make before you pick up a paintbrush.

Here’s an overview of the proper sequence for preparing a house for repainting:

1. Correct problems that may be causing premature paint failure.

2. Repair or replace any loose, missing, rotten, or damaged siding or trim.

3. Remove any peeling or loose paint.

Hand-scraping and power-sanding are the usual ways to do this job, but sometimes you need to use power-washing, chemicals, or heat.

4. Treat any mildew problem with either a bleach-detergent solution or a commercial house cleaner that contains a mildewcide.

5. Prime bare wood or other problem surfaces that require primer.

6. Patch nail holes and seal gaps and cracks with paintable caulk.

7. Pressure-wash the entire exterior to remove sanding dust, dirt, and grime.

Proper preparation varies according to the type and condition of the exterior surface, as well as the type of finish you intend to apply. Some tips for dealing with the problems associated with typical exterior surfaces are

New wood siding: Make sure to brush the wood clean, working from the top down. Caulk after you stain or prime. If you plan to paint or use a solid-color stain, set any nails that the carpenters missed below the surface and fill the nail holes with caulk.

Weathered wood siding: Stain bonds well to unpainted wood that has weathered. If you plan to paint, then sand or power-wash the wood to remove any gray, weathered surface and to smooth siding that has been exposed to the weather for more than a few weeks. (See the section “Saving time by power-washing,” later in this chapter.) You may have to remove as much as 1/8 inch of the gray, weathered surface to get to the bright wood (nonweathered, natural-colored wood). If you’re staining, use a wood restorer or power-wash the wood to bring it back to its natural color so that staining produces the desired color.

Old painted siding: Scrape off loose paint, using any of a variety of scrapers. Then power-sand to feather the hard edges left by scraping (as shown in Figure 2-1), prime any wood made bare in the process, and caulk all joints. Also, set any popped nails, fill the holes with caulk, and spot-prime the siding.

Figure 2-1: Feather the edges of scraped areas by sanding.

Hardboard siding: Because hardboard siding is vulnerable to weather-related failures, you must carefully maintain a sound protective paint barrier. You can easily ruin hardboard siding by neglecting maintenance or by doing the work incorrectly. Follow the procedures recommended in “Maintenance for Hardboard Siding,” a free booklet available from the American Hardboard Association, 1210 W. Northwest Highway, Palatine, IL 60067; phone 847-934-8800. Some of the preparation guidelines include

• Use a 300-degree steam cleaner (a rental item) or scrub the siding with a very hot detergent solution if the normal siding cleaning process fails to remove a waxy coating or oily grime.

• Lightly sand glossy finishes to remove the sheen (called scuff sanding), but sand, scrape, or cut into the surface only as much as is necessary to correct problems. Replace or fill badly damaged areas.

• Don’t set nails or you’ll break the factory-applied protective coating.

New cedar and redwood: New cedar and redwood bleed tannin. Wash them with a general cleaning detergent and water solution (see the following section) before priming them with a stain-blocking alkyd primer.

Concrete and masonry: Unfinished, fully cured concrete can be finished with concrete stain or paint after being cleaned with a power-washer to remove dirt, stains, and any residue from old sealers. If you’re repainting, use the same type of paint: latex or oil. Although you can scrape or sand small areas of peeling paint off concrete or masonry surfaces, doing so dulls scrapers and chews up sandpaper very quickly. If you’re working on a large area, consider sandblasting or stripping with a chemical remover.

Clean out cracks with a wet-dry vacuum or blow out dust with compressed air before caulking the cracks. Do the same when using a concrete patch and mist the surface before applying the patch.

Stucco: In many cases, a masonry cleaner — available at any janitorial supply store — is all you need to renew a stucco surface. Hose off the loose dirt and, while the surface is still wet, apply the cleaner to lift the remaining dirt. Then scrub with a stiff brush. If the stucco still looks dingy, consider having a stucco contractor redash the finish, a process in which a new cement surface is either sprayed or brushed onto the stucco. For information about patching, repairing cracks, and caulking joints on stucco, check out Home Improvement For Dummies (Wiley).

Power-washing stucco, especially old stucco, is risky. The force of the water can blast the finish off, turning a simple cleaning job into a major repair.

Glossy finishes: Paint doesn’t bond well to glossy surfaces, including painted ones. If a cleaned painted surface still shines, you must dull it. Sanding is a surefire approach, but it’s time-consuming and especially difficult on detailed areas of trim, windows, and doors. Brush-on deglosser, available for both oil- and latex-based paints, is a much easier way to dull the surface.

Iron railings, siding, and so on: Clean the metal to remove dirt, grime, and oil before priming with a rust-inhibiting (direct-to-metal) primer. Follow the paint manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines. Generally, you can use a 50-50 vinegar and water solution for all metal except galvanized steel. Clean new galvanized metal with mineral spirits before priming with special galvanized metal primer.

Rust often occurs under the paint on these surfaces, causing stains and a bumpy finish. Eventually, the corrosion flakes off with the finish. There are two basic approaches to preparing rusty metal for paint: You can eliminate rust by sanding, grinding, or sandblasting. Or, when removing every last spot of rust is impractical, you can use a wire brush to scrape off only the loose, flaking rust and then treat the metal with a chemical to neutralize the corrosion. Results with chemical neutralizing will vary, so always apply rust-inhibiting or rusty metal primer on bare metal. You also can apply a paint conditioner, such as Penetrol, to rusty areas before you apply paint. The conditioner seals the rusty areas and provides a better paint bond.

Aluminum or vinyl gutters: Avoid painting aluminum and especially vinyl gutters, if at all possible. If you do paint, scuff-sand for better bonding.

Mill-finish aluminum storm and screen windows and doors: You can topcoat the exterior face of mill-finish aluminum storm and screen windows and doors with 100 percent acrylic-latex paint to match trim colors. However, you must remove corrosion with sandpaper or a wire brush and apply a primer made specifically for aluminum or galvanized metal. Don’t get paint into the tracks or on the glass or screen sash.

Aluminum siding: A good cleaning is generally all aluminum siding needs before you paint.

Scrubbing the house down

The secret to a long-lasting paint job is cleanliness. The ideal time to clean is after you finish scraping, sanding, spot-priming, and caulking — and take a long nap. Allow two to three days for drying before you paint.

In addition to the many commercial cleaners available, you can make two widely recommended homemade cleaning solutions:

For general cleaning, mix 1/2 cup laundry detergent or trisodium phosphate (TSP) in 1 gallon water. Scrub with a stiff brush and rinse thoroughly with water.

To remove mold, mildew, algae, and lichen, mix 1 quart household bleach and 2 ounces TSP detergent, or a phosphate-free substitute, with 3 quarts water. Spray on with a garden sprayer. If necessary, cover the area for about an hour to prevent it from drying out. Rinse well with water and repeat as necessary.

Saving time by power-washing

Washing your house may seem like an insurmountable job, but an electric or gas-powered washer is one of the most useful and labor-saving machines homeowners can get their hands on. Plus, they’re just plain fun to use.

Small electric power-washers (or pressure-washers, as they’re also called) sell for as little as $150. Gutsy gas models cost two to four times as much. You can also rent a killer unit for about $65 a day. If you rent, you may want to share the rental cost with a neighbor — cleaning the exterior of two houses in a day is entirely possible.

Virtually risk-free uses of a power-washer include preparing concrete and asphalt surfaces for protective coatings and restoring a slimy green or severely weathered wood deck to its original beauty. Other applications may present risks both to you and to your house. For example, if you have an old house with little or no insulation, loose-fitting windows, or very old siding, especially wood shingles, you may want to skip the power-washer and wash the house by hand, instead.

Handling a power-washer

Power-washers usually have a control to vary the pressure of the water stream. For most cleaning projects, especially on wood, 800 to 1000 psi (pounds per square inch) is adequate. On less vulnerable surfaces, you can go up to a maximum of 1,500 psi. Read the power-washer’s operating instructions or request a demonstration of a rental unit.

The jet of water spraying from a power-washer can be lethal. Exercise good judgment when using a power-washer, and most important, never use it around other people or pets. If you’re on a ladder, keep one hand on the ladder and be prepared for the considerable kick that occurs when you pull or release the trigger.

Depending on the application, some products may be used with power-washers that meter chemicals into the water stream from a detergent bottle or through a siphon hose. Be sure to read the label. Many solutions contain chemicals that can damage the washer and/or put your health at risk when used with a power-washer.

Preparing the site and using safety precautions

High-pressure water finds its way into any unsealed opening in its path, so make sure to protect everything you don’t want to spray. No matter what you’re washing — siding or deck — follow these basic guidelines:

Wear rain gear, boots, and safety goggles.

Use drop cloths or large sheets of cardboard to catch paint chips.

Test pressure adjustment, spray pattern, and working distance on an inconspicuous area.

Practice your spray angle by holding the sprayer to the surface until you get the even results you want. Overlap passes for even cleaning.

Don’t swing the wand in an arc; you’ll get uneven results because you’re closer to the surface in the center of the arc.

Battling mildew stains

A brown, gray, or black stain on siding or trim may be simple grime, or it may be mildew. To test whether a stain is grime or mildew, try washing the stain away with water and a detergent like Spic and Span. If the stain doesn’t wash away with water and detergent, it’s probably mildew.

Because mildew is a fungus growth, it thrives on moisture and dirt, so keep the siding open to the sun and air. Don’t store firewood or other materials close to the house. Prune tree branches that shade the house. If you have recurring mildew problems, power-wash the house’s exterior once a year and apply a mildewcide solution every two to three years.

Handle bleach and mildewcide solutions with care. Read label warnings, and always wear protective clothing, especially neoprene gloves and goggles. Protect shrubs and other plantings by watering them down well and covering them before you power-wash the house. Water them well again after.

Cleaning chalking surfaces

Some exterior paints, such as those used on aluminum siding, intentionally chalk for self-cleaning. Wipe the surface with the palm of your hand. If the paint color comes off on your hand, the paint is chalking. Scrub off the chalk with a strong solution of water and Spic and Span or TSP detergent (or a nonphosphate TSP alternative). You can also use a commercial wood cleaner to remove chalked paint. Water pressure alone doesn’t do the trick.

As you scrub the surface, work from the bottom up to avoid streaking. Rinse frequently with clear water, and allow the surface to dry before painting.

Cleaning stucco and other masonry

Efflorescence, mold and algae, lichen, and stains from chalking paint or rusting metal are problems that you should attend to before painting masonry, which includes surfaces such as stucco, brick, and concrete block.

First, eliminate the sources of the problems. Overhanging trees can cause mold and algae; a deteriorating chimney cap can allow water to penetrate behind the brick and cause efflorescence. Rusting may result from the use of various metals reinforcing materials in masonry construction, such as wire mesh or steel structural materials over windows and doors. Even if the metal isn’t visible, the rust stains may bleed through to the surface. If the paint on siding above masonry is chalking, it washes down onto the masonry and stains the surface.

In most cases, you need to scrub the surface with a chemical cleaner. See the introduction to this “Scrubbing the house down” section for cleaning solutions to use for general cleaning and for removing mildew, mold, and lichen. For efflorescence and other stubborn stains, mix 1 cup of 10 percent muriatic acid in 1 gallon of water. (Muriatic acid is available at your local hardware store.) Heavy stains may require up to a 1:1 solution, but the risk of damage to the surface increases. Scrub the surface with a stiff brush and rinse thoroughly with water. Strong acid solutions must be neutralized with a 1:10 ammonia-water solution to stop the etching.

Add the acid to the water or it will spatter. Because the acid vapors can burn your lungs, keep your distance from the acid by using a long-handled brush to scrub the surface. Wear protective gear, including a respirator, heavy neoprene gloves, and splash-proof goggles, and read the label for additional handling instructions.

Sealing cracks and holes with caulk

Filling cracks and holes in your home’s trim and siding before painting not only makes the paint job look better, but also makes the paint last longer. Cracks and holes in any surface collect water, which eventually causes paint to peel.

Caulk is a substance designed to seal a joint between two surfaces and to fill small holes. Use top-quality caulk outdoors, where it needs to withstand extreme temperature changes and remain flexible for 30 to 50 years. Before caulking joints between dissimilar materials, make sure that the manufacturer recommends the caulk for both materials. If you’re going to paint the area, the caulk must be paintable. If you’re unsure whether a caulk is suitable for a particular application, contact the manufacturer’s customer service department.

The best time to caulk is after you scrape, sand, and prime. Caulk adheres better to primed surfaces, and the gaps, cracks, and holes are more evident.

Scrape away any peeling paint adjacent to the caulked areas. If doing so exposes any bare wood, recaulk all cracks between any two nonmoving materials. Let the caulk cure for a few days before power-washing the exterior.

Don’t caulk the horizontal joints on siding where the siding courses overlap. The cracks between two courses of siding provide ventilation points to let moisture escape from the siding and from inside the wall. In fact, one of the often-recommended cures for a moisture problem involves inserting numerous wedges between siding courses to create a larger gap through which moisture can escape. For the same reason, don’t try to fill the joints between courses with paint.

Patching surface cavities before painting

Fix small holes in siding with an exterior patching compound, available in a premixed form (much like interior spackling compound) and in a dry powder form that you mix with water. Just make sure the package states that the patching compound is for outdoor use.

To patch holes and depressions in siding of any kind, follow these steps:

1. Clean the hole or depression you plan to fill.

Roughen the area you want to patch with 80-grit sandpaper for a better bond.

2. Fill the area with patching compound.

Apply the compound to the hole or depression in one direction and then smooth it in a perpendicular direction so that it’s level with the original surface.

3. Allow the compound to harden and then sand it smooth.

Compound shrinks, so a second coat may be necessary. Be sure to remove the dust from sanding the compound before you apply a second coat.

To repair large cracks and damaged trim, remove any rotten wood with a chisel. Use a two-part polyester-based compound, similar to auto-body filler, to make the repair. Two-part fillers come with a thick paste base and a small tube of hardener. Mix the hardener with the paste according to the manufacturer’s directions. The filler sets up within three to five minutes, so mix only as much as you can use right away, and clean your tools immediately after use.

Use a putty knife to apply the compound to the damaged area and level it with the surface. This filler doesn’t shrink as much as premixed exterior fillers do, but you still may need to apply several coats to fill a large hole. When the filler hardens, it’s suitable for rasping, sanding, or drilling.

When the compound has set firm but isn’t completely dry, you can easily shape or smooth it with a Surform tool or rasp.

Use auto-body fillers or two-part polyester-resin fillers for aluminum siding in a similar way. But before you apply the filler, drill numerous 1/8-inch-diameter holes in the patch area. When you apply the compound, it locks into the holes for a better bond. You can also cover damage with a new piece of siding. Just cut the top flange off so that the patch fits under the course above and embed it in adhesive caulk along the top and sides.

Although you can use the same procedure for repairing vinyl siding, replacing a course of damaged vinyl siding is easy. For more information about these and other siding and stucco repair or replacement procedures, check out Home Improvement For Dummies (Wiley).

Preparing Interior Surfaces

Most interiors will look better if you just slap on a fresh coat of paint. However, you’ll get results that are even more striking, and a longer-lasting paint job to boot, if you take special care in cleaning and preparing the surfaces. Preparation includes making minor repairs to the walls, ceilings, and woodwork and scraping and sanding to remove any loose paint.

Cleaning a room for painting

Unless you know that you’ll be undertaking messy repairs or surface preparation work, start work with a thorough cleaning. The goal is to strip the room of all dirt and cobwebs and to clean the baseboards, windows, and door casings. A vacuum with a crevice tool can catch the cobwebs and dust. While you’re at it, vacuum up dust and dirt around radiators and heating ducts. Open the windows to remove all dirt and debris from inside the sill, and clean any closets.

If walls and woodwork have dirt or grease on them, wash them with a sponge and a phosphate-free household cleaner. Then rinse the surfaces with clear water and let them dry.

Solving kitchen and bath problems

Paint’s number-one enemy in a kitchen is grease, which clings to walls, ceilings, cabinets, and other woodwork. Use your favorite household cleaner to remove grease. Keep in mind that wood cabinets don’t like harsh detergents or water, so work quickly and dry the surface immediately. If you intend to paint cabinets, they need special attention; see the section, “Repairing and preparing to recoat painted wood,” later in this chapter.

In addition to dust and dirt, bathrooms often have mold or mildew stains. These living critters thrive on warm, moist surfaces. Give the bathroom the same general cleaning that you would any other room, but know that if you just wash away mildew stains, they’ll return. To kill mildew, try a solution of 1 part household bleach and 3 parts water. Sponge or spray on the solution and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Repeat the process if necessary until the stains are gone.

Bleach isn’t good for painted surfaces. After it does the deed on the mildew, stop the bleaching action by rinsing the surface well with a neutralizer, such as clean water or a vinegar-water solution. Also, bleach is caustic and splashes easily, especially when you’re working overhead. Wear goggles, rubber gloves, and your spouse’s clothes.

Clearing the way

As you empty a room for painting, the idea is to clear the room as much as possible so that you have free and easy access. Move out as much furniture as you can. You may want to leave that tank of a sleeper sofa or other large pieces that may ding your walls or woodwork when you move items out or, worse, back in after you paint. Just make sure that everything remaining is in the center of the room and out of the way. You need room to move a ladder around and enough floor space for your paint setup — and make sure that you can reach the entire ceiling.

Go through the following checklist to get your room ready for the big makeover:

Take down pictures and other wallhangings. If you plan to return them to the same locations after you paint, leave the picture hooks in place. If it’s time for a change, carefully pull the nails straight out. If you have plaster walls, twist them out with a pair of pliers to avoid chipping out the plaster.

If the room is very large, stack the furniture in two areas with space between them. In a smaller room, pile everything in the center, at least 3 feet away from the walls. Cover all furniture with plastic drop cloths.

Remove any area rugs. Put plastic drop cloths under your paint supply and mixing area, but cover the floor with quality canvas drop cloths, which are less slippery to walk on than plastic ones. Use two layers on carpeting for added protection.

Minimize the amount of tedious work painting around electrical switch plates and receptacle covers. Remove them and place a strip of wide masking tape over the switches and receptacles to protect them. Also remove or lower light fixtures. Keep all the small parts together in a shoebox or similar container.

If you’re painting doors, mask the hardware or remove it. Removing and replacing hardware takes less time than painting around it, and you eliminate unsightly goofs and don’t waste time cleaning paint off hardware later. See the section, “Making final preparations,” later in this chapter to find out the best ways to mask hardware.

Even if you’re painting during the day, you need good electric lighting, and you may need power for tools. Plug an extension cord into a nearby room or hallway to bring power to the room.

Before you remove outlet covers or light fixtures, shut off the power at the circuit breaker. Remember, wall receptacles and lights are usually on different circuits. Double-check that the power is off by using a neon circuit tester or plugging in a lamp or other electrical device that you know is working. Place tape over the breaker as a reminder to others that the power is off.

Smoothing the walls

After you take down all the pictures and remove or cover the furniture, it’s time to repair damage to the walls. The best way to spot all the problems is to shine a bright light across the wall at a sharp angle and to circle areas that need attention with a light pencil mark.

Making minor drywall repairs

You probably have a few minor dings or nail holes to repair. Buy a small container of spackling compound and apply it with a putty knife. When it’s dry, sand the patch smooth with fine sandpaper on a rubber or padded sanding block. Because spackling compound tends to shrink, you may need to add another coat to fill the remaining indentation.

Popped nails are an all-too-common problem with drywall installation. The nails, which were originally set below the surface and concealed with joint compound, pop out enough to make a bump or even break the surface. Use this four-step solution to correct this problem:

1. Secure the drywall tightly to the framing with new nails or, better yet, drywall screws, one on either side of the popped nail, as shown in Figure 2-2.

On walls, studs are vertical, so drive fasteners above and below the popped nail. On a ceiling, you can usually tell which way the framing is running by the line of popped nails or by tapping lightly. A tap sounds hollow between framing and more solid on the framing.

Figure 2-2: Press drywall against the framing as you drive a fastener on either side of the popped nail.

2. Drive the popped nail back where it belongs.

Because the new fasteners are doing all the work, the popped nail should stay put this time. Drive both the new fasteners and the popped nail so that they’re just below the surface but don’t break the paper facing of the drywall.

3. Apply two or three coats of joint compound to conceal the fasteners and dimpled areas around them, as shown in Figure 2-3.

Scoop a glob of compound onto a 5- or 6-inch taping knife. Apply it to the wall with the knife held at about a 45-degree angle to the surface. Then draw a clean knife across the patch in a direction perpendicular to the first pass and with the knife nearly flat against the wall. Allow the compound to dry (anywhere from a few hours to overnight, depending on the humidity) and apply another coat.

4. After the compound dries, sand the area smooth with fine sandpaper on a sanding block.

Figure 2-3: Apply two or three coats of joint compound with two strokes perpen-dicular to each other.

Surface cracks at the joints of corners may be due to the buildup of taping compound or paint. These hairline cracks are in the excessively thick material and don’t extend through the reinforcing tape itself. To repair these cracks, fold a piece of sandpaper over the blade of a 6-inch taping knife or over the corner of a block of wood and carefully sand away the excess material. Stop sanding as soon as you see the reinforcing tape.

Repairing cracks in plaster walls and ceilings

Back in the years B.D. (before drywall), a common way to form walls was to put plaster directly onto wooden slats or a wire mesh, called lath backing . If you have an older home with plaster walls, you can apply spackling compound over small holes with the technique described in the preceding section. For minor cracks, which have the nasty habit of reappearing in a year or two, try the following method, which we picked up from the nation’s leading plaster and drywall manufacturer.

For starters, use paper reinforcing tape and dry joint compound — the kind you mix with water, not the premixed stuff. This combination, the manufacturer says, offers the greatest strength and surface bonding. We tried it on a ceiling that had cracked repeatedly, and to date, no cracks have reappeared. We make no such guarantees for your cracks, but here’s what we did:

1. Scrape out any loose or protruding materials by dragging a can opener or old screwdriver along the crack; then blow out or vacuum the dust and mist the crack with water.

Misting helps prevent the dry plaster from sucking all the moisture out of the patching material and may improve the bond. It may not be necessary, but it’s easy to do . . . and every little bit helps!

2. Mix Durabond 90 or a similar dry joint compound in a large plastic bucket with water according to package instructions.

3. Use a 6-inch taping knife to apply a bed of compound along the crack.

4. Embed perforated paper reinforcing tape into the wet compound and scrape the taping knife along the tape to level the material and squeeze out the excess, as shown in Figure 2-4.

Don’t attempt to scrape out every bit of compound from under the tape or the tape won’t stick. Just make it smooth and level.

Figure 2-4: Apply compound over the crack and embed the paper tape. Apply a second smoothing coat (left); then apply a final smoothing coat (right).

5. When the first application is dry, scrape off any loose bits of dried compound with your taping knife. Then apply another smoothing coat of compound over the tape.

If you have a 10-inch knife, use it; otherwise, use the 6-inch knife to smooth on a thin, 10-inch-wide coat.

6. After the second coat of compound dries, scrape off any loose bits of compound and sand lightly with a pole sander.

Be careful not to sand into the reinforcing tape or you’ll make it fuzzy.

When sanding, put a fan in an open window. Open another window in a nearby room. Set the fan to exhaust, and dust won’t migrate to other parts of the house.

7. Repeat Steps 3 through 6 for a third, and we hope final, coat that’s a few inches wider than the second.

Dry compound dries faster and harder than the ready-mix variety. When you use dry compound, cleaning tools is easier if you wash them off while the material is still wet.

You can’t expect to cover a patched area with a single topcoat of paint. Your best bet is to prime the patched area with the finish paint and, when that’s dry, apply a topcoat over the entire surface.

Repairing and preparing to recoat painted wood

Woodwork is one of those details that make a difference, as designers describe what distinguishes an ordinary room from an extraordinary one. If it doesn’t look good, the whole room can look shabby, even if the walls and ceiling are perfect. In this section, we describe how to make your woodwork look new again.

Patching chipped or gouged wood before painting

If the wood is chipped, gouged, or otherwise damaged, and you plan to paint, you can make an easy, invisible repair by using a two-part polyester resin compound:

1. Clean out any loose material and scrape off any finish so that the patching material will bond better.

2. Mix the hardener (part one) with the filler (part two) as directed and apply it with a putty knife.

Generally, you want to overfill the hole.

3. Use a rasp or Surform tool to shape or level the material as soon as it sets up hard but before it cures (dries) completely.

4. When the material is fully cured, sand the patch to smooth and blend it in with the surrounding area.

5. Apply a primer to the patch and any bare wood before you paint.

Making paint stick to paneling and cabinets

Getting rid of dark paneling is complicated by the fact that when you pull it off, you find the adhesive has ruined the drywall underneath. For this reason, many folks turn to paint instead.

Factory-finished wood cabinets and paneling require special preparation for painting. To ensure that the paint adheres properly to factory-finished panels or to waxed or varnished board paneling, follow these steps:

1. Clean the wood especially well to remove dirt, grease, and wax.

For paneling, use a solution made of equal parts of household ammonia and water. For cabinets and paneling that are beyond cleaning with a mild detergent solution, try a solvent, such as mineral spirits.

2. Take the shine off the surface by sanding lightly or with a chemical deglosser, especially on irregular or molded surfaces.

If you sand the wood, put an exhaust fan in the window of the work area and open a nearby window outside the room. The fan prevents sanding dust from going anywhere but outdoors.

If you use a chemical deglosser, remember to apply paint within a half-hour or the deglosser loses its effectiveness. Apply a thorough coat of deglosser on varnish or polyurethane finishes.

3. Wipe the surface well with a tack cloth, a sticky cheesecloth for removing sanding dust.

The oil in a store-bought tack cloth may interfere with the proper adhesion of latex finishes. If you plan to use latex, just use a cloth dampened with mineral spirits or water.

4. Prime the wood.

Mix a bonding additive with your primer or use an alcohol-based primer-sealer or other special bonding primer tinted to the approximate color of the topcoat. See Chapter 1 for advice on choosing the primer and topcoat.

If you’re painting cabinets, remove the handles and drawer pulls so that you don’t have to paint around them.

Toiling with wooden windows

The amount of work required to prepare windows for painting can vary from a good cleaning to everything short of replacement. This section looks at the most common problems and their solutions.

One problem you may encounter is a sash in a double-hung window that has become stuck. You can solve this problem by using a paint zipper, a serrated tool designed to cut a paint film between the formerly movable sash and its channel.

Improper painting technique contributes to another common window problem — peeling paint where the wood meets the glass. Failure to create a paint seal between the glass and the wood allows condensation and window-cleaning chemicals to seep into the joint. To remove loose paint, follow these steps:

1. Scrape or sand the area to remove loose paint.

Wrapping sandpaper over the edge of a putty knife makes it easier to sand close to the glass without scratching it.

2. Apply a stain-killing primer to water-stained wood before applying a topcoat.

Avoid this problem in the future by using proper window-painting techniques, which we describe in Chapter 3.

When old-fashioned double-hung windows need painting, you should also replace the cords (or replace an old-fashioned rope-and-pulley system with a more modern counterbalance mechanism). To do so, you must remove the sash. This and other window repairs are covered in greater detail in Book II, Chapter 2.

Making final preparations

If you’ve read the other sections in this chapter, you’re probably getting anxious to paint. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that skipping things like priming and sealing, caulking cracks, back-prepping, and masking saves time and work. On the contrary, in the long run, you’re just creating more work for yourself.

Priming and sealing

Spot-priming improves the bond of the topcoat to surfaces such as bare wood and metal. It also seals the surface of unfinished or patched areas so that they absorb topcoats to the same degree that surrounding areas do. If you try to just topcoat, the patch area will have less sheen than the area around it, making the patch more noticeable. This advice applies to patches and repairs to drywall, plaster, and trim. Therefore, spot-prime these areas, being careful to feather the edges of the paint into the surrounding areas.

See Chapters 1 and 3 for feathering and other painting techniques. For information on how to prepare previously wallpapered surfaces for paint or wallpaper, see Chapter 5.

Sealing cracks with caulk

Caulk covers a multitude of sins and prevents many problems from occurring. It has a consistency like thick toothpaste, which makes it easy to spread and fill small holes and narrow cracks. When it dries, it becomes firm but remains flexible and can tolerate movement between materials that expand, contract, or otherwise move in relation to one another. If you’re painting, choose a quality paintable acrylic latex caulk or a siliconized acrylic latex caulk. Buy it in cartridge form to fit a caulking gun.

Cracks show up better after priming, and caulk adheres better to primed wood, so complete any priming before you caulk. For a neat job, caulk all joints. Caulk all the joints between trim and wall surfaces to prevent penetration of moisture vapor into walls.

Cut the tips of two tubes of caulk. Cut a very small opening in one tube and use it for narrow cracks at nearly all joints between the woodwork and walls or between different trim members, such as window stops and frame joints. Cut the tip of the second tube with a larger opening for caulking wider cracks.

Apply caulk by squeezing the trigger as you either push or pull the tip along the joint. Use as little caulk as needed to fill the crack, or the excess will spread out onto the surface and be visible. Use a wet fingertip to fill very small holes and smooth the caulk. Allow adequate curing time (read the label instructions) before you paint.

Masking

Take a little time to mask areas that you don’t want to paint. We especially like these materials:

Painter’s tape: This tape, available in various degrees of tackiness and width, is designed for masking. It seals well but comes off much easier than regular masking tape does. Read the label to choose the correct type for your situation.

Pretaped masking paper or plastic: The self-stick edges adhere to surfaces such as the tops of window and door trim for a straight painting edge. The paper or plastic, which ranges in width from a couple of inches to many feet, drapes the surface. The seal isn’t as reliable as that of painter’s tape.

Don’t use regular masking tape. It has too much adhesive, making it harder to remove; plus, paint bleeds under regular masking tape more easily, creating a rougher edge.

After you apply painter’s tape or other masking systems, keep these tips in mind:

Press the edge with a putty knife, a block of wood, or another hard material to seal it. Doing so prevents paint from bleeding under the tape.

Remove the tape as soon as the paint has dried to the touch. Generally, you should wait three to four hours but not more than 24 hours. It’s especially important not to leave the tape on for longer than 24 hours if the sun might bake the tape on or if the tape might get wet.

When you remove the tape, slowly peel it back at an angle away from the painted surface to avoid peeling off the freshly applied paint.

When you plan to paint walls and ceilings, consider masking the following areas:

The tops of base moldings

The tops of windows and door casings

The tops of chair rail moldings

The tops of baseboard heating trim

Heating or air conditioning grilles that you can’t remove

The base of wall- or ceiling-mounted light fixtures

Pretaped paper or plastic systems are handy when it comes to protecting the area below a chair rail molding if you’re not painting it the same color as the wall above, or for covering the face of baseboard heaters.

When painting or finishing the following areas, follow these recommendations:

When painting baseboards, mask hardwood flooring at the baseboards.

When finishing or painting flooring, mask the baseboards.

When painting doors and windows, mask all hinges and other hardware.

When painting baseboard heating trim, mask the walls.

Sanding stripped or unfinished wood

Sanding is no one’s idea of fun, but you must smooth new wood or wood that has been stripped of its finish before you can apply a stain or finish. Sand out imperfections, such as deep scratches, tooling marks, or an overall rough or fuzzy surface. In addition to removing imperfections and making the wood look and feel smooth, sanding takes off a thin top layer of wood, enabling stains and other finishes to penetrate evenly.

If you need to remove deep scratches, start with 80-grit (medium) or even 60-grit (coarse) sandpaper. Otherwise, start with 120-grit (fine) sandpaper. Work your way up to at least 150-grit, and preferably 220-grit, making sure that all scratches left by the coarser grit sandpaper are removed at each stage. Most do-it-yourselfers switch to the next finer grit paper or stop sanding long before a professional would.

Smoothing by hand or with a power sander

Whenever possible, use a sanding block or pad that conforms to the shape of the surface being sanded: flat for flat surfaces, concave for outwardly curving profiles, and so on. Holding the sandpaper in your hand usually produces uneven results because you exert more pressure in some places than you do in others. Just as foam sanding pads are available that conform to irregular surfaces for hand sanding, accessory pads are available that conform to gently curving surfaces for some finishing sanders. If you have a lot of detail work to do, such as when refinishing the moldings in many rooms, you may want to purchase a profile sander, which has a variety of rubber sanding block attachments to conform to irregular surfaces.

The electric palm sander and its more aggressive cousin, the random orbit sander, are finishing sanders that make wood smooth faster — a lot faster — than sanding by hand. These power sanders are ideal for smoothing flat surfaces such as wide baseboards and tabletops. A palm sander costs $30 or more but is well worth the investment. You not only save time and effort but also do a better job. Somehow, when you’re hand-sanding, you usually decide a lot sooner that the surface is smooth enough.

Exercise extreme caution when sanding veneered furniture or cabinets, especially if you’re power-sanding. Wood veneer is thin, sometimes very thin. You often don’t have a clue that you’re about to sand too far. Suddenly the material under the veneer, such as particleboard, appears. Staining doesn’t help disguise the damage, and sometimes it makes the damage stand out like a sore thumb. Also keep in mind that sometimes what appears to be wood veneer is either a photographed plastic film or a convincing plastic laminate — and neither can be sanded unless you plan to paint them.

Knowing when enough is enough

To make sure you sand with a light hand, try these tips:

Make a series of light pencil marks across the surface and sand the area until the pencil marks are all gone.

Sidelight the surface to make imperfections more evident.

Cover your hand with a sock or a pair of pantyhose and wipe it over the surface. The sock or hose will snag on rough spots.

The rule is to follow the grain of the wood as you sand. This means that you sand along the length of a board rather than across it so that you don’t scratch the surface. However, if you must remove a lot of wood to get out deep scratches, start sanding on a diagonal to the grain until the imperfections are gone. Then sand with the grain until you remove all the diagonal sanding scratches.

Getting furniture-quality results

To achieve a super-smooth surface on a beautiful door, cabinet, or other piece of wood that’s new or has been stripped of its finish, try the following furniture maker’s method for final sanding:

1. Wipe down the surface with water or denatured alcohol to intentionally raise the grain; it will feel peach-fuzzy.

2. Sand the fuzzy surface until it’s smooth.

3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 one or two more times. With most woods, the grain no longer rises after repeated sanding.

Another trick that furniture makers use is to apply a liberal coat of a clear sanding sealer, a liquid product available at hardware stores and paint outlets that you brush or roll on before the final sanding.

Sanding to a super-smooth surface with open-grained woods, such as oak, is especially difficult. You need to fill the wood pores. Woodworking specialty shops and mail-order outlets sell special grain fillers in a variety of wood tones for the purpose. Apply the filler by rubbing it on with a rag across the grain. As it starts to dry, rub off the excess, at first across the grain and then with the grain. Press hard at each stage to force the filler into the open-grained surface. Filling the grain isn’t necessary if you’re planning a wax finish because the wax itself will do the job nicely.

Use sanding sealers and filler only after you apply stain.