repainting stairs and skirting
Discussion
about 5 years ago I had some professional decorators in to fit new skirting in hall and on stairs and paint my ballastrades (if that is spelt right) They used dulux eggshell finish white. The handrails and spindles were dark wood and they were undercoated and painted white. Over time, the kids toys and hoover etc have chipped these in places and I would like to smarten the place up again as the dark wood can be seen in the chips.
Would I be right in assuning that a sanding of the whole area with a light paper, then a priming of the chipped areas follwed by a couple of coats of eggshell would work?
The other point is that the paint work seems to have dulled, yellowed a bit and is not brilliant white. Is this because of the type of paint used and if so will I get this with gloss?
Sorry about all of the questions, its a big job and I want to get it right
Cheers
Steve
Would I be right in assuning that a sanding of the whole area with a light paper, then a priming of the chipped areas follwed by a couple of coats of eggshell would work?
The other point is that the paint work seems to have dulled, yellowed a bit and is not brilliant white. Is this because of the type of paint used and if so will I get this with gloss?
Sorry about all of the questions, its a big job and I want to get it right
Cheers
Steve
Sounds like your proposed process is right. Sand, prime, light sand of primed areas, paint. However, I reckon that your previous professional guy may have used satinwood rather than eggshell. Eggshell offers little protection to wood, and is not really favoured by the pros on wood.
Paint does discolour over time. 5 years will see a major change in colour since first application - especially in dark areas behind furniture. I am also looking for a wood paint that will keep its colour - I have mainly used Dulux and Crown paints, and have found that they are not bad satin finishes. Avoid the quick drying stuff if you can, that does not go on well and seems to yellow quickly on the occasion that I was unfortunate enough to have to use it. It was sanded off and re-covered in regular drying paint inside 6 months.
Paint does discolour over time. 5 years will see a major change in colour since first application - especially in dark areas behind furniture. I am also looking for a wood paint that will keep its colour - I have mainly used Dulux and Crown paints, and have found that they are not bad satin finishes. Avoid the quick drying stuff if you can, that does not go on well and seems to yellow quickly on the occasion that I was unfortunate enough to have to use it. It was sanded off and re-covered in regular drying paint inside 6 months.
Steve H said:
Thanks for the advice, will I be ok just priming the chipped areas and sanding the whole lot or should I prime the whole job again?
I also have to paint along carpet and so 2" masking tape will be the order of the day!
Steve
I just noticed the "B word". Balustrades are a pig to prepare for paint. Personally, I would remove all flaky bits of paint and then sand. Then locally prime the damaged areas and lightly sand again tpo blend the edges of the repair. The option then is whether to undercoat the whole thing, or get on it with a topcoat. This will depend on the flatness of the repair - satin will show any lumps and bumps quite badly. 2 light coats rather than heavy are the order of the day on the balustrades as the profiles tend to generate runs as soon as you look the other way.I also have to paint along carpet and so 2" masking tape will be the order of the day!
Steve
I tend to use a 1/3 sheet random orb sander to take out all of the old brushmarks on the flat areas of skirting / architrave, hand sand difficult profiles such as balustrades (making sure not to destroy the profile and sharp corners). Then build up primer and undercoat on repairs, sanding until completely blended with the rest of the surface. But then again, I can't stand any work marks in painted surfaces.
There are also a lot of products specifically designed to protect carpets on the market today. Tape edge plastic and all sorts of stuff. I can't vouch for any of them though. The thing that I have found is that on a carpet, sticky tape will only protect against light overpaints. Try to keep paint off the tape just as you would keep it off the carpet, as it will bleed under due to the nature of the carpet pile. Personally, I do not use tape - I tend to lift the carpet.
I have also tried the curved rigid(ish) plastic carpet protectors that tuck in the bap between carpet and skirting in the past, but the issue is that they tend to get in the way of the brush at the bottom of the skirting, and you wind up with a horrible finish.
Final thing - make sure that you have a compatible cleaning product and cloth ready for the inevitable drip on the carpet

I do not envy you on this one - balustrades = grim of you want a good finish.
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