Thread: Painting/Sanding Advice

Have you tried sanding sponges? I bought a pack of 10 from a Haymes paint store (can't remember the brand but it wasn't 3M or anything special) in 'medium' and they work a treat. I've seen them at other paint stores as well. They're a thin sponge so easily mold to the contours of your trim. Bunnings also sells 3M sanding sponges but they are a tad thicker and a fair bit pricier, although they do work quite well.

If you just need to remove the glossiness of the gloss paint, you can use a liquid de glosser like Gloss Off.

Thanks Alkhestic but I need to remove the overspray from the gloss and then the gloss.

I am trying to avoid hand sanding 30m of skirting.

What about an abrasive brush in a drill?
https://www.bunnings.com.au/josco-10...brush_p6328666
https://www.bunnings.com.au/josco-75...brush_p6327571

Interesting option elanjacobs however I wonder how the painted walls would fair!

Ideally there would be a wipe on product that helped the overspray adhere to the floss underneath.

Then I could just go straight to the painting phase.

How well adhered is the overspray to the gloss? I would have thought that the overspray is wall paint and therefore matt acrylic, and not yet fully cured, and that the gloss is old high gloss oil paint. Thus I would expect the adherence is tenuous at best, and the overspray easily removed with a wet sanding sponge. Then degloss the gloss with a chemical deglosser like Flood’s ESP and go ahead and repaint.

Of course you’re going to need to touch up the wall paint no matter what.

The overspray is from about a year ago (been a busy time) so well and truly cured. The gloss is a water based gloss. The overspray takes a fair bit of elbow grease to remove.

Originally Posted by Damienol

The overspray is from about a year ago (been a busy time) so well and truly cured. The gloss is a water based gloss. The overspray takes a fair bit of elbow grease to remove.

Ok, I understand now why that won’t work.

But I still don’t understand why you need to remove the overspray. Why not just paint over the overspray with a sealer or two, then a coat of gloss. The overspray will just function like a dustcoat and all the paints should be compatible. Or is the overspray too gritty or something?

I can scrap the overspray off with my finger nail. So not ideal for skirting boards. There is nothing wring with the condition of the overspray, it just hasn’t bonded to the gloss properly.

Would a sealer help the overspray bond better with the gloss underneath?

Originally Posted by Damienol

Thanks Alkhestic but I need to remove the overspray from the gloss and then the gloss.

I am trying to avoid hand sanding 30m of skirting.

AND the gloss? Personally, I think the easiest and quickest method there is to remove the skirting and clean it up on trestles. Otherwise it's just a b*tch to do properly.

Originally Posted by Damienol

Ideally there would be a wipe on product that helped the overspray adhere to the floss underneath.

Then I could just go straight to the painting phase.

There is. There's a product called ESP (I forget what this stands for) which'll etch gloss surfaces so paint will cohere. I use it when painting glass and recommend it for such.

It claims to be suitable for use on gloss paint but I haven't tried it that way... preferring to sand back and 'do the job properly.'

I'm pretty sure it's available through Bunnings and other mainstream HW stores.

edit: BINGO!

Originally Posted by Damienol

I can scrap the overspray off with my finger nail. So not ideal for skirting boards. There is nothing wring with the condition of the overspray, it just hasn’t bonded to the gloss properly.

Would a sealer help the overspray bond better with the gloss underneath?

Look, we all know they technically correct approach here is to get down on your hands and knees and sand it back.

However, I pretty much refuse to sand anything at length these days - life’s too short - and my joints wouldn’t allow it anyway. So, fwiw, I’ve dealt with the exact same problem myself several times in recent years and I’ve taken the obvious shortcut and it’s always worked out just fine. I think the last few times I put one of the Zinseer primers on. A coat or two or Zinseer, a coat or two of gloss acrylic and it’s lasted no problems. I think the somewhat dodgy adherence of the spray coat worked out to be fairly insignificant once it was well primed and a hard, continuous film of top coat was put down.

For some extra peace of mind, investigate the Flood Company range of paint additives and see if they have something recommended for this purpose. Could be ESP or Penetrol or Flowtrol will help. I think paint additives are the great unsung heroes of DIY - they can make an outstanding difference to the job but most people just never appreciate that. (Ps I have No connection with Flood Co).

Originally Posted by Damienol

I am trying to avoid hand sanding 30m of skirting.

if sanding is your preferred approach ...
this is an option, albeit expensive https://www.festool.com.au/products/...-sander_567770

Ok, this job is back to the top of my priorities and I am still researching an effective way to do this.

I have tried hand sanding with sand paper and steel wool and it is far too much hard work.

I have tried machine sanding with my Festool iron head sander and while it does 80% of the job it does so at the expense of the sanding pad. As a result I am likely to go through hundreds of dollars in pads.

I optimistically tried the Flood ESP product and that was a waste of time. As expected....

The Festool linear sander seems like the only option. A very expensive option.

Ideas please.

Originally Posted by Damienol

The Festool linear sander seems like the only option. A very expensive option.

Ideas please.

Festool holds value, so you could get one for the job and sell it when you're done and probably only be down $200ish. The only problem with that is that the linear sander is quite a niche item so it might take months to sell.

Going back to the abrasive brushes, what about masking the wall with Ramboard or some other heavy cardboard? It'll give you at least a few seconds buffer if you slip off the edge of the skirting.