Prep and painting of skirting boards and architrave

Emmalou

Builders now finished - now over to us for the decoration.
I really want to do a good job (in contrast to my previous decorating efforts!) and would appreciate some advice.

How much sanding do you have to do to bare wooden skirting boards and architrave before painting? I have filled, sanded down the filled bits and have now primed - BUT, I am wondering whether I should have spent more time sanding the wood - not just the filled bits, as the wood does feel a bit rough?

Do you think I should sand and then prime again?

Advice gratefully received!

nickj_2

give them a light sand down , treat any knots with a knotting solution unless you want them to bleed thru - undercoat and then gloss , you can give the u/c another light sand with fine s/paper if you want a really good finish

lemongrass_2

I wipe down after sanding to remove any dust caused by sanding using a cloth dampened with white spirit. I prefer to use a satin finish paint to gloss paint.

That reminds me, I need to get my paint brush out soon.

ukwoody

Prepping is the absolute key to good paint finish. The more you prep ie, clean, fill and sand, the better the finish by far. If you are not happy then go back over it again until it is smooth and you are happy. if you want a really smooth finish and you have gone back to bear wood, paint an Acrylic(water based, quick dry type) primer over everything first. Then 1 coat of a good quality Oil based undercoat (thats the tradtional wash out in white spirit type), then 1 coat of gloss. The finish should then come out lovely.
When I had the pleasure of runner a team of painters for a while, they often spent longer on the prepping then the actual painting - but the difference is staggering.

Woody

andrew-b

Make sure you rub your woodwork down between every coat of paint. You can get "Between Coats" sandpaper which is a very fine grade. Use sandpaper sheets wrapped around a sanding block (make your own from offcut of wood) rather than the foam blocks which tend to disintegrate.

Shortly before you paint, clean the surface first with a wet cloth then with a tacky /sticky cloth which will pick up any dust. Make sure you reseal the tacky cloth in an airtight bag/container to prevent it drying out. I found resealable maltesers bags (or similar - but eat contents first obviously!!) are handy for this.

As already said, the secret to a good finish is in the prep.

Andy