Shiny Chipboard - can it be painted?

[Pedge]

I've just had my kitchen installed where there were some left over bits of shiny faced chipboard used as off cuts.

With this oak coloured shiny chipboard the carpenter cut some of it so that I can box in some pipes. One of them had said that I can rough the surface a bit with sandpaper and then paint it.

I'm currently doing this with coarse sand paper but how rough does it have to be? Do I have to seal it with PVA, use a wood primer/undercoat first and then use the kitchen emulsion paint that I am wanting to use?

All in all is this a good idea or is best not to use this type of material if I want it painted?

TIA

P

[BigWallop]

Two coats of under-coat, any cheap emulsion will do this, and one top coat of gloss, should be enough to make it look pretty. As long as the surface is slightly broken, it will take paint. So you don't have to make it to rough.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Just make sure it's grease free by cleaning with sugar soap etc then use any oil based paint direct.

I used an off cut of white faced contiboard for skirting - with a moulding on top - as a temporary measure, as I'd no real wood of the correct size. So simply painted it with top coat. Many years later the paint has survived fine - and it's in a place where it gets bashed by the hoover, etc.

[Christian McArdle]

Not very. Just get the shine off it.

I would use an acrylic undercoat, like Glidden Primecoat Acrylic Wood Primer/Undercoat. Then almost any paint at all on top of that, including the kitchen emulsion.

Christian.

[nemo]

If the chipboard is Melamine coated, there is a special primer. It's best to use this otherwise the paint film can delaminate or bubble.

Nemo.

[Andy Dingley]

Not very. If it's melamine, then I do it with 0 wire wool, not even sandpaper.

You need a primer on melamine, and really this needs to be a melamine primer, especially in steamy kitchens or bathrooms.. ESP make the best one, which looks like water but works very well. International also make one that's like thin white paint and an absolute swine to use - I've never known paint like it for getting runs that needed to be sanded out afterwards.