Painting interior woodwork

Pammieh

Hi I hope someone can help me please 
Had a man come in to paint walls and skirting boards. I hate water-based paint on the woodwork as I don't think it's as durable or wipeable and I should have been more firm but... So he used water-based paint over my existing oil based gloss.
I've now researched further and realise he didn't prep the paintwork properly as I can damage this paintwork if I catch it with my nails!
My husband says it's no good painting oil-based over as it is now (which is daunting itself) but I'll need to prep otherwise the fresh paint will just flake off...
So what would I have to do now? Unfortunately I had the entire place carpeted once the painting was 'finished'

rob7475

Water based paints are much better than they used to be. For woodwork, I've started using Dulux Trade diamond satinwood. I've found it to be nice to apply and gives a good strong finish.

If I was going over old gloss, I'd have given it a light sand before priming with Zinsser bulseye 123. Bullseye sticks to anything and gives a good base for your top coats.

What gloss did your decorator use - I've found some of the "quick dry" satins / gloss aren't very durable and are easily chipped (unfortunately I only found this out after painting a load of wall panelling with Crown quick dry satinwood which chipped straight back off as the carpet fitter fitted the new carpet!)

twopenny

I use Johnsons waterbased with an undercoat or two and having sanded the wood and found it's pretty tough.

Yes, going over oil based, which I've also done, it needs good sanding and two undercoats left to go hard. Not just dry and then the top coat.

You could try sanding it down with something not too abrasive like a washing up sponge/scourer and see if it comes off, where and by how much.

Use masking tape on the carpet, up to the skirting and a tad more. Then use a blunt tea knife or rounded nail file to press the extra over the edge pile of the carpet.

Wait for paint to dry, next day, and slice with said tea knife by pressing down between carpet and skirting. Slow and careful. Then the maskign tape will come away without pulling at the paint. Careful not to dump it on the carpet, remove or have a bin with you and some wipes in case paint gets on your fingers.

I've done yards and yards of skirting this way keeping the carpet spotless.

FreeBear

twopenny said: Yes, going over oil based, which I've also done, it needs good sanding and two undercoats left to go hard. Not just dry and then the top coat.

It can take several weeks to fully harden.

If you want something that goes rock hard in days or hours, you'd need to use a two pack paint.

Albermarle

What gloss did your decorator use - I've found some of the "quick dry" satins / gloss aren't very durable and are easily chipped (unfortunately I only found this out after painting a load of wall panelling with Crown quick dry satinwood which chipped straight back off as the carpet fitter fitted the new carpet!)

I had the same problem. I used some old water based paint over gloss on a skirting board. It seemed to go on OK, but quite a few chips when we had new carpet fitted. 
Luckily I was doing one bedroom at a time, and next time used a Trade quick dry satinwood and this time no issues ( a Wickes trade paint so not so expensive).
Being lazy I did not bother with undercoat and just put two coats on and seemed to be no problem. The doors, which had yellowed a lot needed three coats.
Another advantage of using a better quality trade paint is that you have more time to spread it/go over it again without leaving brush marks, which can be a problem with quick dry paint,

Grenage

Lack of sanding with water-based will normally result in poor stability.  Either way, water based is not as durable as oil based. 

On the flip side it doesn't take weeks or months to fully cure, doesn't yellow as much, and isn't as carcinogenic.

Pammieh

Thank you so much everyone!
So I don't know what he used on the woodwork...we discussed the walls and they are 'timeless' (the magnolia of the 2020s?)
But I did see a big tub going around which could have been crown...also as the carpet was booked - and he took way longer - I kept asking him 'when are you getting to the woodwork because the carpet...' and he kept saying 'it'll be fine - this dries very quickly!' so that's not good then!
Tbf he took longer because when he took off the wood chip along the landing he found that the original builders had papered directly onto the plasterboard! So he had to plaster that wall...

I so appreciate the step by step to protecting the carpet twopenny...that is amazing!

So my plan now should be 1. use something quite soft-ish to 'rub down' the water-based top layer then 2. Use some sanding paper to prep the old gloss (what am I aiming for on the level of sanding - could I do it enough by hand? - because this has been painted over multiple times...3. Use the bullseye 4. Redo multiple layers of a waterbased (definitely?) letting it fully harden between each coat.
And if I do all that will the resulting paint be 'wipeable'?

Looking at it this paint isn't what I'd call hardened even now - weeks later - so perhaps it was rubbish paint too...
Thank you all again

stuart45

Water based paint can take up to 4 weeks to fully harden, oil based about a week.

Pammieh

Thank you...sorry for some reason I've had to make a new account? It has been on more than 4 weeks already but maybe - if he put on 2 coats - it's taking longer to harden?
Anyway it sounds like this might be 'work in progress' until Easter
Thank you again everyone - Pammieh 

Lorian

It does take longer to dry this time of year. I've painted the whole of two houses going from yellowed gloss to water based satin paint. I've used several brands of paint in doing this and they vary how long they cure but I wouldn't be test scratching any of them for at least 4 weeks, especially if there was not much time left between the two top coats.

I wouldn't use oil based gloss now especially this time of year as it stinks and ultimately it yellows and needs recoating more often.

Albermarle

Lorian said:

It does take longer to dry this time of year. I've painted the whole of two houses going from yellowed gloss to water based satin paint. I've used several brands of paint in doing this and they vary how long they cure but I wouldn't be test scratching any of them for at least 4 weeks, especially if there was not much time left between the two top coats.

I wouldn't use oil based gloss now especially this time of year as it stinks and ultimately it yellows and needs recoating more often.

I never realised that you were best to leave the paint to harden for quite a while, even though it dries very quickly.
I guess it matters more in areas where the paint might get chipped, and less so if it is not in that kind of area.