Paint Product Options for Trim: Part 2

I want to paint the interior trim on the inside of my home. There are so many paint products to choose from.  The next big question I have is who should I buy the paint from. I go into Home Depot, and Lowes has so many products, then there is Sherwin Williams, PPG and Benjamin Moore. I saw your ASK THE EXPERTS page on your website and thought I would reach out to you for advice. Please help.

This is the second part of the original blog of painting trim.  If you tested your trim and no paint came off onto the rag here are your options.

Now let’s talk about paint options if you are painting over Oil-based or a Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd paint, which dries like oil-based paint.

So do your remember when you wiped the surface with the rag with Denatured Alcohol and you felt no drag on the rag and there is no paint color on the rag that means that the surface was last painted with an oil-based paint (Alkyd) or a Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd paint. Now your choices for paint are limited.

First, I will tell you what you cannot use. Any of the latex (Waterborne) products you cannot use when painting over oil-based or Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd paint. The paint will go on over the surface and will dry. However, it will peel off very easily and the only way to fix this is to completely replace all your wood trim. This is why it is extremely important to test the surface with Denatured Alcohol and use the correct paint over the existing painted surface.

What I have found over the many years of painting, when I test the surface with Denatured Alcohol and no paint comes off onto the rag that automatically tells me it was last painted with an oil-based paint. I have found that even it was last painted with an Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd paint, which I have no way of knowing I treat the surface as a previously painted with oil-based paint.

When you paint over oil-based paint, the best way to prepare the surface is to lightly sand the surface, just enough to scuff the surface, wipe off the dust then apply the oil-based paint. Brushes must be cleaned up with paint thinner.

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