Do I have to strip or can I paint over?

13 years ago

As best I remember, about 25 years ago we used a liquid deglosser on some windows to avoid sanding them. Then we painted them with an inexpensive latex paint.

Twenty-five years later, we are ready to paint again, and the latex can be scraped off using some thumbnail pressure. What do we need to do to prep these windows? Do we have to strip them to get good paint adherence? What do you suggest?

Here are a couple of pictures. In the first, you can see where someone clever scratched the word "hi." The top layer (cream) is partially sanded off. Under that is a brown layer. Below that is a robin's egg blue. The brown and blue seem well-adhered. Many thanks for any help.

Comments (4)

paintguy22
13 years ago
Remove all paint to where it is sound...you don't have to strip paint that is adhered fully.
mamaartemis
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks paintguy. So hand sanding is how I should remove the paint to where it is sound? I sure wish sanding went faster. I bet a pro would have to charge a lot to cover the labor on windows like these. Either that or they are a heck of a lot faster than I am (and I know that's a given!). Plus they know some work savers and the all-important when to stop prepping and start priming.

If anyone has any further advice about getting the unsound paint off that might help, I'd welcome it!
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paintguy22
13 years ago
Scrape loose and flaking paint away with a scraper or putty knife and then sand. The idea is to sand the edges of the peeling paint so that where it has peeled doesn't show up as much when you paint. There really aren't too many time savers when it comes to prepping peeling and flaking wood....it's a tedious job, even for the pros. You can use an orbital or electric sander to sand down to raw wood to speed things along, but this will only work on the flat pieces.
brede
13 years ago
We have a problem similar to this in our home, where the previous owners painted over oil-based trim with latex without properly prepping and priming.

In some areas the paint is solid, and in others it is peeling/flaking. What I'm doing is almost exactly what paintguy suggests: scrape with a putty knife until I reach a solid spot, then sand a bit with a sanding sponge. No major sanding, just to kind of smooth the edges. Then I'm painting on a coat of Zinsser BIN primer before two coats of my trim paint (Sherwin-Williams Pro-Classic).

I think the BIN primer is awesome, would definitely recommend it.