The wife and I just bought a house that was built in the 80's and it has a lot of dated trim and fixtures. She wants me to paint the doors and trim white, and after a lot of research I tried a few, but I haven't had much luck. Hopefully I can explain what I did and someone can tell me what I'm missing.
Here's an idea of what I'm up against...
I didn't want a finish with a bunch of brush strokes on the louvers, so I decided to spray. I have a bunch of different guns, but I decided to go with my conversion HVLP.
- I started by sanding them with 220 grit sandpaper
- I shot them with kilz original oil based primer
- I noticed that my gun shot a few "clumps" so I hit them with 320grit before moving on to the top coat.
- Everyone has a lot of ideas about top coats, but here in south Florida I thought the elasticity of a latex might old up better in those cases after a hurricane where AC is off for a week and the humidity is off the charts. I used a semi-gloss latex from a big box. (eek I know, but that's what we bought) She also like the "silky" look of the semi-gloss latex, and I love the easy cleanup.
- I've been using flotrol to thin the latex (minimally) and used my pressurized HVLP latex spay gun with right sized needle.
Here are the problems:
- I get a lot of clumping with the latex
- The finish appears to be glossy in some areas but "sandy" or textured in others.
- I can't seem to get good filling where the louvers meet the door frame.
Given the results I've seen with the primer, should I just abandon the latex top coat and go with an oil-based product?
I've only started with the doors, but what is the best way to attack the baseboards and trim? Should I take them off go to the garage and spay, or suck it up and paint with a good ol' brush?
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On a separate note... The wife wants me to also pain the oak kitchen cabinets white until we can replace them. I saw some threads on using grain filler, but where can I get them? Are there any tricks I should consider to have a nice smooth finish on them?