Painting - Emulsion painted over silk/satin doors

MrBrindle

Thought I'd post this here to see if I could get some help.

Me and the wife recently bought a new house, got quite a bit of work needing doing on it.

She decided a few days ago to tackle the skirting and upstairs doors. Unfortunately she has painted a few doors, which were previously either a silk or a satin finish (mid sheen) with white emulsion. I was pretty horrified when I got home and saw this! The doors are just flat with no panelling.

She also painted gloss over one door, didn't like it, then covered with emulsion again!

I started to wash down one door that had emulsion on it earlier, with sugar soap, scourer and scraper. It was coming off, albeit slowly - took me a good 45 mins to do one side.

Has anyone any tips on how to remove the emulsion from the remainder of the doors? And how should I prep the doors for new paint? The new paint will be white satinwood.

Also, would it really hurt to just apply satinwood over the already painted emulsion? I know it's probably a bad idea, but just need extra advice.

Right now I'm toying whether to buy new doors, as this is another time consuming job that we could do without.

Cheers all.

getmore4less

We are doing our living rooms woodwork with matt emulsion
Looks better than gloss.

For hall and stairs going gloss to improve light.


You can probably overpaint the emulsion if you stick to water based paints.

For flat panel doors might be cheaper to just get new depending how you value your time.

Hoploz

Yes replacement doors cost very little in DIY shops, but if you need someone to fit them it bumps the price up!

You can paint on to the emulsion but if it's over a shiny base it might not last long.

To paint over satin, silk or gloss you just need to rub down slightly with some sand paper, not loads, just enough to rough up the surface a little to give the new paint something to cling to.

Personally I would not finish woodwork in matt emulsion as it is not hard wearing when knocked, and you can't wipe it down eg finger marks on doors. You can get eggshell paint which has a more durable but less shiny finish if that's what you prefer.

Silver-Surfer_2

getmore4less wrote: »

We are doing our living rooms woodwork with matt emulsion
Looks better than gloss.

For hall and stairs going gloss to improve light.


You can probably overpaint the emulsion if you stick to water based paints.

For flat panel doors might be cheaper to just get new depending how you value your time.

Glad you think so, do post back as it starts to show dirt and chips off.

spadoosh

getmore4less wrote: »

We are doing our living rooms woodwork with matt emulsion
Looks better than gloss.

For hall and stairs going gloss to improve light.


You can probably overpaint the emulsion if you stick to water based paints.

For flat panel doors might be cheaper to just get new depending how you value your time.

When your repainting in a few months time go over it with eggshell. Gives a matt finish whilst being a bit more hard wearing so you can wipe it down.

@ OP. Feel for you, just sand the hell out of everything and recoat. You can normally get a sander for about £20 on amazon if you need one.

Silver-Surfer_2

£13.49

http://www.screwfix.com/p/energer-enb623sdr-1-3-sheet-sander-230-240v/3348g

MrBrindle

Thanks for all the replies and help.

I did try and take an orbital sander to it last night with very coarse aluminium oxide sandpaper, but the emulsion just clogged the paper in a matter of minutes and didn't seem to be doing much? I think it's 80 grit, quite coarse anyway.

Should I just carry on, and change the paper as needed or am I doing something wrong? Would a lighter grit be better? Seems very tedious if this is the only way of getting the emulsion off!

Thanks

TheCyclingProgrammer

getmore4less wrote: »

We are doing our living rooms woodwork with matt emulsion
Looks better than gloss.

For hall and stairs going gloss to improve light.


You can probably overpaint the emulsion if you stick to water based paints.

For flat panel doors might be cheaper to just get new depending how you value your time.

Painting woodwork with matt emulsion is a terrible idea. It won't last and won't clean easily. It's designed for walls.

If you want a low sheen finish try a good acrylic or oil based eggshell.

OP - best advice I can give you is keep your wife away from paint brushes! :rotfl:

Seriously, I'd just give them prep them normally. A good rub down with some 120 grit, 2 coats of acrylic primer/undercoat (one might be enough) and two coats of your finish.

spadoosh

MrBrindle wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies and help.

I did try and take an orbital sander to it last night with very coarse aluminium oxide sandpaper, but the emulsion just clogged the paper in a matter of minutes and didn't seem to be doing much? I think it's 80 grit, quite coarse anyway.

Should I just carry on, and change the paper as needed or am I doing something wrong? Would a lighter grit be better? Seems very tedious if this is the only way of getting the emulsion off!

Thanks

Jeez how much did she put on?!

Might still be a bit wet? which can make it more cloggy.

A rougher grit will get rid of material quicker but leave you with a more rough surface, 80 should be ok but might need a bit of a finishing rub of a 120+.

Unfortunately emulsion is supposed to stick to stuff. Itd be more annoying if it started peeling after a short while than those instances when the boss grabs a brush.

As a waffle, met my fiancee working for a diy shed. Shes a manager now. When we bought our house we was about to start glossing and realised only had one brush. Told her to crack on whilst i nipped to the hardware store a few hundred metres away. Got back 5 minutes later and she beaming at me telling me shes finished..... the whole house. Cant complain about her too much though its the other way round wallpapering, just dont have the patience for it.