Painting dark paneling

[Bevis]

My brother n law/ sister just bought a place with a detached garage. The PO hung some dark paneling up, and they are wanting to prime and paint the paneling. So they asked me what to use...Anyone have a good answer on what to use??

 

[WolverineCoatings]

Sure... I would suggest sanding it first... Then... it's Zinnser 1-2-3... may take a couple of coats... or not...

Anyway... DON'T waste money on Kilz! That's for people who don't know any better...

After the primer... it all depends on what you want. If you want something non-toxic I'd recommend Mythic Paint. Mobile Paints has some presence in FL and their Smooth Cote is pretty good and a great value.

The LAST place I'd go is an SW store...

 

[xtremes]

When I painted my paneling I just sanded it with a scotch bright pad. Then primed and painted it.

 

[Kevin54]

Yep...don't paint without roughing it up first. I'd use a little TSP in water and scotchbrite pads. Rough it and clean it at the same time. And I second what Wolverine says about Kilz. I just primed an old fireplace mantle to paint and one spot on it keeps insisting on bleeding through. Kilz is supposed to remedy that, but don't. I've used Xinnser and like it. But I happend to have Kilz on hand at the time....welll you know how that goes? I saved 10 minutes by not running over to the paint store and traded it for another extra hour of work.

 

[hotrod66paul]

STRANGE - Have a rental that a heavy smoker was in and Kilz did a great job on the ceiling and also used it in a bathroom at the same house to cover the dark paneling and change to off white. Didn't seem to have a problem with the product.I guess I just don't know any better.

 

[Bevis]

thanks for the tips...

 

[sharpshooter]

I have zero complaints on Kilz. Alot depends on preparation. And unlike wolverines post, There are millions of ppl that use kilz (professionally aswell) and they are not having issues with it . Kilz will do just fine in most instances. You can spend a little and it look great, or you can spend alot and it look great. The lady at lowes always tries to sell me that 25 a gallon **** and I say nope everytime. The 9 a gallon Olympic does me just fine. Actually better if the truth be known ....

 

[tolken4]

I used a good oil based primer without sanding and have had 0 problems. Should not have to sand if you use oil based primer. Also, just an fyi, you could prime it then lay down a skim coat if you wanted to get rid of the panel look.

Also, it should be mentioned that depending where this stuff is, you should really check to see if it has drywall behind it.

1. If it does, you can rip it off and paint.
2. if it doesn't, I would really think about codes and fire hazards.

my 2 cents.

 

[sharpshooter]

You can always sheetrock over the stuff.

 

[flesburg]

We had a very dark paneled entry way at our old factory, probably done in the 60s or 70s.

Our maint guys primed it with oil based KILZ one coat, and then we topcoated with an off white semi gloss oil based paint. It covered with one coat and is washable.

I thought the Kilz worked great. Had never heard of it. Since have used it on dark woodwork that we wanted to paint white, and one coat of KILZ and one top coat have covered nicely.

Maybe it doesn't always work, but we have had good luck with it.

PS, you have to wash the walls first to get up to 20 years of air-born "****" off of it and to get off any wax etc, before you prime old wood.

 

[nissan_crawler]

My mom sells both Kilz and zinsser. She has used both, said Zinsser is much harder to get no brush marks, and doesn't adhere as well. Considering she's cheap to the point of tearing paper towels to the exact size needed rather than using a full sheet, and uses the more expensive Kilz, I trust there's a reason.