painting a wooden ceiling

[mark1111]

hi ya,
i am due to paint a kitchen ceiling this weekend.
it is a wooden panelled ceiling,not sure if its stained or varnished yet. what do i need to do regarding prep work and priming. i plan to emulsion the ceiling. also i would like to have it done this weekend as i am not local to the job. any advice would be appreciated thanks

 

[CheshireDecorators]

Hi, there's a couple of options just depending on what you can get hold of.

If its stained or varnish I would lightly rub to give a key, then you can undercoat (oilbased) but you won't be able to apply your emulsion for a good 16-24hrs.

I would only do that if I couldent find a 'zinnser' stocker, if you can find zinnser buy the 'B.I.N ZINNSER' or 'ZINNSER COVERSTAIN'
Both will do a good job they will stop any knots seeping through the emulsion (undercoat won't) and give a real good seal, with the zinnser products you will only have t wait 1,2hours before you apply your emulsion.

Ps beware of the bin zinnser its hard to apply and youhave to use metholated spirit for clean up, with the zinsser coverstain its oilbased but dry's really fast

 

[misterhelpful]

I would also recommend one of the Zinsser primers (BIN or BullsEye) for this type of job or you could use Dulux Supergrip all of which can be applied directly onto varnished wood without sanding. You can't use the Supergrip if you sand and break through any varnish as it will not stop resin stains from bleeding through whereas the Zinsser products will.
Don't be tempted to apply the emulsion directly to the timber after sanding, as not only is there the likelihood of resins bleeding through, but also the conditions in most kitchens will cause it to fail and peel fairly rapidly.

 

[TheDec]

Firstly I think it's somewhat difficult to offer the correct advice seeing as we dont know what if anything is on the ceiling, so lets say that it is stain/varnish and the op wishes to apply an emulsion paint.

Why would there be a need to apply a specific grip/bonding primer, clear varnish is simply paint without pigment, and coloured stained/varnish contains pigment, and both are natural knotting agents. So providing that the op does not whilst sanding break through the stain/ varnish all that would be needed is the application of a slightly thinned alkyd/oil based undercoat.

Dec

 

[misterhelpful]

Firstly I think it's somewhat difficult to offer the correct advice seeing as we dont know what if anything is on the ceiling, so lets say that it is stain/varnish and the op wishes to apply an emulsion paint.

Why would there be a need to apply a specific grip/bonding primer, clear varnish is simply paint without pigment, and coloured stained/varnish contains pigment, and both are natural knotting agents. So providing that the op does not whilst sanding break through the stain/ varnish all that would be needed is the application of a slightly thinned alkyd/oil based undercoat.

Dec

All very true, but as you say, we don't really know what the OP is dealing with. As he wants to get the job done as quickly as possible, then applying a quick drying primer that doesn't require sanding, thus eliminating the possibility of breaking through any varnish and dramatically cutting working time, would be the better/quicker option in this particular case.

 

[TheDec]

As far as I am aware the op would like to complete the work over the weekend, that equates to two days. Anyway the point of my post was merely to say that there is no need to apply a grip/bonding primer over a varnished surface.

Dec