Hello there,
I have a three season porch that has a wainscotting ceiling, approximately 10′ wide by 30′ long. The wainscotting is 3.5″ stuff from when the house was built, around 1920. I wood probably has some type of coating on it, but feels smooth to the touch. There is no rippling or rough parts.
I am considering painting it, first with Bin primer and then with blue top coat. Do you think I need to sand the boards at all or can I go ahead with the primer? The thought of sanding that much area makes my shoulders hurt……
What do you think?
Joe Joyce, Boston, MA
Replies
Joe
From that time-not painted-good chance it's got a coating. I'm no historian-a painter from your area (that's old) would be better to figure out the potential original coating. Whatever good bonding primer over that would be the recommendation.
Even with Bins, scratching the surface never hurt the bonding power of paint. You don't necessarily need to get all the finish off. Follow the local old guys advice if its sound.
Be warned-that porch ceiling will move with the seasons and humidity-so painted now might look different later and vice-versa.
By "wainscotting" I assume
By "wainscotting" I assume you mean tongue-and-groove beaded plank paneling. This was, at least in the south, the usual porch ceiling seen prior to about 1960. It likely would have been pine or some other relatively soft wood, primed and painted like any other wood. Depending on the era, and the care that went into it, the "paint" could be anything, including the dreaded "milk paint". It's pretty much certain that there are several coats, from different eras.
As Calvin suggests, if at all possible you want to paint when humidity is low, so that shrinking wood won't expose unpainted joints.
Scuff it
I'd scuff sand it.
How about at least trying it using sanding screens or even a good grit paper on a drywall pole sander? Easy on the shoulders and fairly fast...do just enough to get a bit of tooth on the existing finish.
Or consider a liquid deglosser. Again, you just want to get the surface to where it has a bit of tooth.
I'd probably use some sort of "liquid sandpaper" product on it, to clean it and give the paint "tooth".
Hi,
Great advice, sounds like it will save me a lot of sanding. Luckily there is no loose stuff at all.. I will definitely hunt down that primer.
Thanks again for saving my shoulders and arms!
Joe