How Can Old Wood Be Prepared Before Painting?
Old wood might have layers of paint or varnish you will need to remove before you can paint. Should you leave these layers independently and simply paint them over, you will get uneven surfaces. Appropriate preparation before painting old wood makes it possible to achieve professional results from a do-it-yourself project.
Scraping
Old wood might have areas where the paint has peeled off the surface. To prevent the loose paint from inducing new paint to flake, you need to use a hook scraper, putty knife or sanding instrument to remove the loose paint. When the old wood surface is coated with several layers of varnish and paint and you’d rather remove all of them, you can scrape the layers down to bare wood.
Patching
The old wood may have holes, gaps or deep scratches from the many years of use. You can hide these imperfections so they don’t show once you complete painting. Wood epoxy fills any depressions in exterior and interior timber to raise them to the degree of the rest of the surface. Employ as much timber epoxy as necessary to increase the depressions slightly higher than the remainder of the surface to permit for sanding.
Sanding and Cleaning
Sanding supplies a surface that is even enough to look great after painting and rough enough for new paint to adhere to it. Sand the old wood until the end seems dull. Sanding creates dust, which might make it hard for new paint to stick. Therefore, you should wash out the old wood surface with a mixture of 1 cup bleach, 1 cup trisodium phosphate (TSP) and two gallons water. Allow the wood air-dry until you apply primer. Cleaning kills any mould and mildew in the old wood. Avoid using a power washer to minimize damage to the timber.
Primer
Before painting, apply primer into the old wood surface, while it is indoors or outside. Primer helps paint stick and enhances the coverage, which means that you can dramatically alter the color of the old wood if you would like to. Using alkyd primer also helps the wood last longer since it contains preservative resins. You need to permit the primer to dry thoroughly before applying paint to your old timber surface.