painting on varnish

I need to repaint some woodwork that's been previously painted in a kind of varnish woodstain thing - the stuff that gives the impression that it's been painted brown and then varnished, but it's actually all been done in one.

I've tried painting over this with gloss but it just peels off when dry. Trouble is that there's a lot of wood to paint and some is very inaccessible. Removing it or sanding it off will take a very long time - it will make a weekend job take the best part of one/two weeks.

Does anybody know of any paint which can bond to this kind of thing? I ought to point out that it's not flaking off - it's in good condition. I just want to paint over it.

Reply to
brixton mcfarlane
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Had exactly the same problem. Most of the paintwork in my house was stained mahogany and varnished by the previous owner. I acquired a small "mouse" type sander and sanded it pretty ruthlessly - including all the stairs and bannisers - what a pain! - and put on a couple of coats of undercoat followed by indoor gloss. You don't have to remove the varnish completely, just break up the surface so the paint has something to "key" to.

I do still find I have to touch it up where it gets knocked, but its better than all that awful brown stuff!

Sorry, no words of comfort.

Barb

Reply to
Barb

brixton mcfarlane wrote

You really only have two choices...

Abrade the surface without breaking through the coating to provide a key for your finish coats to bond to. Wet abrade using a medium grade wet and dry abrasive paper, or even better use the decorators favourite 'abrasive foam pads':

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use a modern adhesion promoting primer such as Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 over the varnish/woodstain, allow to dry then overcoat with your chosen finish.

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Reply to
Max Bone

Oh Barb you are going to hate this:

Paint it with pva and then overpaint it. Varish is the devil to sand down as it clogs the abrasive immediately. The pva will be dry in an hour or so. The trouble is getting it on without streaks. Just go slowly and brush it all out as it dries.

So sorry my dear.

Reply to
Michael McNeil

exorbitant prices charged by your firm.

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Reply to
jerrybuilt

And FIX YOUR NEWS READER!!!

Reply to
Grunff

So what? Should the rules be selectively applied? I don't think so.

In the article to which I referred:

Message-ID:

there were two pointers in the text to products from Bone's firm. In:

Message-ID:

he does it again.

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Reply to
jerrybuilt

jerrybuilt wrote: >

I really can't be bothered to follow your bizzare unthreaded posts, sorry.

*plonk*
Reply to
Grunff

I don't want to get involved in this tete-a-tete, but could I just offer advice that you may think that your newsreader is okay, but it really isn't.

I have noticed that any responses you make to a message in a thread do not attach to the message you are responding to - instead they appear to attach to the ORIGINAL top-level message in the thread, as a new response to that original message. That isn't at all intuitive.

This is highly confusing for anyone trying to read your responses, so could I kindly ask you consider looking into this problem with a view to fixing it, rather than simply close your eyes and ears to the suggestion that everything is fine - it really isn't.

If that's the way that Netscape Communicator works then I'd seriously consider the option of getting a new newsreader. Forte Agent is free (you can buy a superior version if you wish, and available from

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highly recommended.

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at

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Reply to
Andrew McKay

Please will you re-read my message - I'm not trying to upset you, or anyone else, including whatsisface (who has just bottled out, I see).

My news reader is *fine*. I see threads as you do. Should I use it to *post*, it would be fine. However, I am posting via a mail-to-news gateway at the MIT. This misses out the "References: " header (I think) causing threading issues. I cannot do anything about that. I cannot change their software!

It isn't! I'm using a free e-mail account to send messages to a m2n gateway which propogates it to Usenet.

________________________________________________________________ Sent via the PAXemail system at paxemail.com

Reply to
jerrybuilt

Okay, understood. That's a shame because it doesn't present your answers in the logical order one would hope for.

I think I just found a very good reason never to use an m2n gateway :)

Your reply to me found itself to be yet another direct reply to the top-level original message of the thread BTW. You appear to be starting a new sub-thread every single time you post a response.

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our web site at

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Reply to
Andrew McKay

This site is handy for me as it has many links to outlets and etc. No-one can quarrel with alt.groups postings either, as they are set up for the anything goes fraternity.

This group is the opposite of a moderated one so learn to live with it. While I am here I would like to make the point that I do not have shares in Sandvik. My only contact with them is that I prefer to use them as they are such brilliant, splendid, useful, better than the rest, tools.

I never had a new one that wasn't sharp and didn't cut straight. They are not that much more expensive than other topish quality saws but in my opinion they leave the field standing. They are comfortable to use and widely available.

Get yours today!

Another thing; if you walk into a diditall type shed and find Sandvik don't have pride of place. Go elsewhere. Quality control is not high on their agenda.

There you go; saw, compound mitre cutter and barometer. SANDVIK. Remember the name.

Reply to
Michael McNeil

A "mouse" sander won't manage anything "ruthlessly" - they're rubbish.

Varnish is transparent. Paint is opaque. The difference is that paint is loaded with mineral fillers (often titanium oxide) to make it so. This also means that dried varnish is almost pure resins, whereas paint has some inert pigment and there and a load of filler. Although few varnishes these days are really heat-meltable (this is an issue for antique restoration), they will soften and clog when power sanded.

The trick is to use a coarse, sharp abrasive, and to use a fast cut with it. Plenty of pressure (but make sure it's still cutting) to shift material, a fast action to keep new belt appearing, and don't let a gummed belt carry on, or it will get worse. A belt sander (lots of spare abrasive) will work much better than a small pad sander.

Don't let it clog - clean the belt frequently (crepe rubber block)

Then give up on the whole job and use a scraper. The edge of broken cheap glass (not good stuff) works well.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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