When it comes to painting furniture or trim prep work is key. Some of it sucks to do, but looks amazing in the end. Actually, painting doesn't take nearly as long. The reason for this post is I'm gearing up for what I think is a pretty big project and have a couple of days worth of prep work ahead of me. The project consists of 6 door and all of the trim in my hallway, which is all wood and its never been painted.
So, instead of one giant post I'm going to split it into a couple of them. It won't be the most exciting of posts, but it's essential for a long lasting professional look. I really want you to know that this is my opinion and the products I name are the ones that I've used. There might be better product, I just have not used them.
I'll do this in steps in order of the way I do them, just to make it a little easier. So, here is what you'll need if you are prepping wood for painting. I am not including primer in here, because to me priming and painting go together.
Lint Free Cloth or Cloth Diaper
2- Buckets
2- Sponges
TSP- Trisodium Phosphate
Gloves
Wood Filler
Dust Mask
Sanding Sponge
Electric Hand Sander (for larger areas)
Vacuum cleaner or Wet/ dry Vac
Tacky Cloth
Caulk
1. Wipe the wood down with a wet cloth. This is an optional step, but I've started doing this because the TSP water gets dirty fast and I find myself changing the water constantly.
2. Mix your TSP according to directions in one of your buckets. The other fill with water. Put one sponge in each of the buckets. Wear gloves when using TSP, it is a chemical and it will burn your fingers. This stuff is awesome, it helps remove the shine from the wood, so you don't have to sand as much and the paint will adhere to the paint better. Working in small areas, wring out your sponge, just so it's damp- not dripping and wipe it over the surface. Then grab your water sponge and go over the same area in the same motion as the TSP. So, you're putting it on and wiping it off. Change both the water and TSP water frequently, you don't want to be cleaning with dirty water.
3. Wood filler is next. You're going to want to check for holes, dings and nicks and fill them. Don't skip this step, if you don't fill them you will be able to see the indentations under the paint.
The wood filler is really easy to use, you can squeeze it into the hole, or put it on your finger and smooth it over the nicks. Then take anything with a straight edge and wipe off the excess. Don't worry if you miss a little of it, in the next step you will be sanding so that will remove it. Go ahead and let it dry to what the back of the package says.
4. Sanding. You are going to want to wear a dust mask for this step. This is where you are going to remove the rest of the sheen. You are not removing the stain, you're just sanding enough to make the surface look flat. This is also a time you can sand down small scratches. Basically the ones that were too small to fill. This is also where you sand down the wood filler and make it flat. It's a good idea to work on a small area at a time. That way you can run your hand over the area to make sure it's smooth. Remember, you want a smooth, matte surface before you prime.
5. Clean up. Sanding is a dirty, dusty job and it will be everywhere. It's best to clean it up as soon as your done. Take your vacuum and try to get as much of the dust up from the wood as you can, especially in the crevices. After that's done wipe it down with a clean, lint free, damp cloth or diaper. I then use the tacky cloth and wipe it all down again. All this wiping down might be overkill, but I just want it as clean as possible so the paint will adhere.
6. Caulking, I'm just going to put this out there, I really don't like to caulk. It sucks and makes my fingers and back hurt, always. It's not hard, just time consuming and it takes me awhile to recover from it. No matter how much I don't like it, I would never skip this step, just because it makes the trim look brand new and polished. I get the kind of caulk you can paint, the other kind you apply after you paint and it can look obvious. The paintable kind blends in and gives it a seamless look, because you paint right over it. The picture shows me caulking after I had finished my last coat of paint only because I didn't know any better. I did paint over it again. Thank goodness a friend of mine who is a professional painter told me about it! If you use the other kind after you paint it can yellow and I definitely didn't want that next to my snow white trim!
The way I caulk is, I cut the tiniest hole in the tip that I possibly can and will still let the product flow. You really don't need much, just pipe it on taking care to work in small sections.
This sounds like a lot of steps, and for me it is. It takes me twice as long as it would someone else to get this done, even in a small room. After you get through all of these steps the only thing left to do it prime and paint!
I know this post really isn't the most exciting, but these steps are crucial for making my trim look as professional as possible.
If I'm missing anything, please let me know in the comment section. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has taken on a project like this. Did you find it overwhelming?
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