How much prep does painted paneling need?

August 24, 2009 5:31 PM

Repainting already painted wood paneling - can I just slap on a new coat?

My spare room has not-at-all fabulous seventies wood paneling which may have been in a trailer at one point. The previous owners painted it baby-puke yellow, which is gross. Can I just clean, lightly sand, and tack this old paint before repainting?

The paneling is only halfway up the wall, presumably to give the look of wainscoting, so it's massively lazy of me not to want to properly prepare the surface. And yet, here we are. Will new paint stick to old paint on wood if the old paint is clean and dry before I paint? Has anyone done this and regretted their method? Had success?

No idea what prep they may (or may not) have done and the paint appears to be rubbery cheap latex.

posted by Lesser Shrew to home & garden (9 answers total)

Yeah, you should be fine. Make sure it's clean. Unless the old paint is glossy, don't bother sanding. Follow the directions on the can.
posted by jon1270 at 5:40 PM on August 24, 2009

Wood paneling can look really cool painted. However it's a little bit of a pain - buy a sponge brush and plan to go through all the grooves with it.
posted by radioamy at 5:58 PM on August 24, 2009

As long as the paint isn't already peeling and isn't glossy then you should have no problem painting over with a water based latex paint.
posted by JJ86 at 6:02 PM on August 24, 2009

If its rubbery it's probably oil based house paint, and probably applied in one coat too thick. You will get better results if you apply two thin coats of paint and allow each layer to dry completely. Wash the original layer with some trisodium phosphate or killz (a primer) if you want to get rid of the tone of the underlayer.

I second Radioamy's suggestion to sponge paint it---nice thin coats and the yellow should drop back depending on the top coat.
posted by effluvia at 6:58 PM on August 24, 2009

Thanks for the reassurance - and the tip about the grooves. Hadn't even thought about those little booby traps.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 7:10 PM on August 24, 2009

Is the original paint possibly oil-based? If so, you should put down a layer of Kilz first. It's not a bad idea anyhow, as the primer can make the new color more vivid.
posted by adamrice at 8:20 PM on August 24, 2009

There are kits you can get to determine what sort of paint the previous layer is - latex over oil paint will eventually peel off
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 8:50 PM on August 24, 2009

Jumping on the Kilz bandwagon. A quick coat of Kilz can do wonders.
posted by The Deej at 9:19 PM on August 24, 2009

I suspect it of being cheap latex because I once worked for the facilities dept. of a small college and rolled out gallons of cheap latex on wood, gypsum board, brick, metal, and god knows what else. This stuff looks just like it.

Do plan to use Kilz because that's how I was raised but thanks, everyone, for mentioning it. And I have a box of TSP in the shed. Was just concerned that not sanding/stripping the old paint down to almost bare wood would be criminal and the DIY police would come and put me in bad homeowner jail.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 7:55 PM on August 25, 2009