I tried to repaint “deluxe” particle board pantry shelves. In a couple spots, my latex reacted with whatever the previous owner had used years earlier and blistered badly. Confession time – a few days later, now in catch up mode, I tried to mask my sticky handiwork by laying contact paper over the mess and that stuff also blistered.
I apparently have no reasonable option except to sand the blistered areas bare and then prime and repaint. I don’t recall this blistering ever happening before. The particle boards appeared to be firm, dry, unblemished in any way. Is this just an unusual combination of finishes? What must I know to avoid this in the future?
Thx. Happy NY!
GaKnotHead
novice WWer, accomplished collector of WW stuff
novice WWer, accomplished collector of WW stuff
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Interesting. Oil-based paint over latex can cause the latex to blister, but I've never heard of latex causing anything underneath to blister. My thought is that the original paint job was done so poorly that the added moisture from the fresh paint was enough to break what little adhesion there was between the old paint and whatever was underneath.
You might want to save yourself some effort by using a citrus-based paint remover first, to get rid of the bulk of the mess. Then a light sanding and top coat should put you in good shape.
I would use an oil-based alkyd paint for shelves, as it dries harder (latex-painted shelves tend to remain slightly sticky for decades). It's hard to find alkyd enamel these days, but it does exist. There are supposedly some newer water-based acrylics that have the same hard-drying properties as alkyd, but I don't have any experience with them.
-Steve
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