Painting over glossy trim without sanding actually worked for me last weekend

I've got this old 1950s house in Cleveland with like 6 layers of paint on the baseboards. I tried that liquid deglosser stuff from the hardware store for $12. Just wiped it on, waited 15 minutes, then painted. It's been a week and the paint hasn't peeled yet. Has anyone else tried this on really old trim or am I just lucky so far?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant90113d ago

You're just lucky so far, plain and simple. That deglosser stuff is basically fancy rubbing alcohol that does a surface clean but doesn't actually rough up the paint like sandpaper does. Give it a few months and you'll start seeing peeling along the edges where your new paint meets the old glossy layer, especially with all the humidity changes in an old Cleveland house. I tried the exact same shortcut on my 1920s radiators and had paint chips in my lap by Christmas. Sanding is a drag but it's the only way to get a real bond on those old oil based layers, nothing beats mechanical adhesion.

fiona_fox569d ago

Man, that hits close to home. I tried deglosser on a bathroom vanity last year, thought I was being smart. By spring the whole top coat was curling up like a bad sunburn. Definitely learned that lesson the hard way. Now I'm the idiot in my basement with a face mask and sandpaper, breathing in dust while my husband laughs from the couch. Honestly, my radiators still have that old oil paint and I've been dreading them. Might just leave them ugly forever.