Vent: I spent 2 years painting trim the wrong way with no primer

Last weekend I was touching up some white baseboards in my hallway. I always just slapped on two coats of semigloss directly over the old paint. Then my neighbor Bill came over to borrow a ladder and saw me doing it. He asked why I wasn't using a bonding primer first. I told him I never bothered. He pointed out all the peeling spots near the floor and said that's why. Turns out the old paint was oil based and I was putting latex right over it. Now I gotta strip and redo the whole downstairs. Has anyone else dealt with paint adhesion fails like this?

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2 Comments

zarab243mo ago

Bill caught me painting over oil with latex once, now I buy primer by the gallon.

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michaelchen3mo ago

Bill caught me painting over oil with latex once" - that's more of a user error than a paint problem. Latex sticks fine over oil if you rough up the surface first and clean it good. I've done it plenty of times without any issues. A simple scuff sand and a wash is way easier than priming everything.

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