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?

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grant90116h 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.