Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
OT - Sanding Walls
Paul Brandley
>I'm redoing the living room and when I've done other rooms, I've sanded the walls between coats of latex paint. I've been using the 120 grit plaster sanding screens. These tend to build up blobs of the paint which seem to melt right into the screen mesh and have to be picked out. Is there a better product for this purpose? Thanks for any help. Paul
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Sandor in Boyds, MD
>Is there a better product? Yes. The second coat of paint.
Seriously though, because the rolled finish isn't smooth (think furniture),IMHO you only need to get rid of the dust and lint nibs and I've had good luck with a card scraper for this. Don't use a heavy hand or you'll pull the not-yet-hardened paint off, use just enough to cut the nib. It'll perhaps cut through and make a white spot, but the second coat of paint will cover.
Lets make this a poll. Who among us sands paint on walls between coats?
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Bob Nelson
>Sandor asks for a poll of who sands walls between coats of paint. For me, that's only done with oil enamel paint - never latex. But DO sand and then wash religiously before putting the first coat on. Bob
no sanding between coats of paint for me
Bruce, a MN galoot
>
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Paul Brandley
>OK, I do that, also. What do you use at that time? Paul
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Jack from Maine
>I never sand between coats of wall paint,but I'm always happy with slight imperfections as long as they're not obvious. I would think that if you want to sand between coats you'd have to wait until the paint has dried longer.Sanding semidried paint is messy.---Jack
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Bob Nelson
>Not sure which of my "do thats" Paul asked about. I used about a 100/120 paper on a wall before painting it and then washed it down good with TSP. I used about a 220 paper between coats of oil enamel and would also wipe (not too hard) the dust of that off with a TSP solution; but actually, the TSP alone does a pretty good job of killing the surface gloss of the first coat enough for good adhesion of the second. I've switched to past tense because I moved into a retirement community a couple years ago and don't do any such painting any more. Bob
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Paul Brandley
>My thanks to everyone who replied. Part of my problem is that I sometimes leave ridges where the edge of the roller passed. Maybe I'm trying to roll it out to much or maybe not enough. I hate painting, so that is probably 50% of the problem.
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL
>I have never heard of sanding between coats of latex wall paint.
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Dirk Wright
>If you are leaving ridges of paint from the roller, you aren't rolling it out enough and you've got too much paint on the roller. Keep rolling until the roller is more dry before going back to the tray for more pain. If you are painting with flat latex paint, then you absolutely do not have to sand between coats. My order of work for painting interior drywall using latex flat paint is: 1)fill, let dry and sand dents, dings and cracks using lightweight joint compound, 1.5)thoroughly vacuum everything, 2)prime with Kilz or equivalent 100% acrylic primer, 3)apply two top coats. Apply the second and final topcoat within the manufacturer's specified time period from the application of the first coat. Painting is not that simple and is actually very time consuming if done right. The "magic" of flat paint is that it hides imperfections in the wall.
I still prefer three coat plaster to drywall however....
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>Dirk gave you some good advice. Here is another observation of mine. The edges of rollers always leave these ridges. However, what I do after I have loaded the roller is roll each edge against the paint tray. Two things happen then. The amount of paint at the edge of the roller is reduced and a (very) slight ridge develops about a half inch from the edge. This reduces the problem you have seen but does not entirely eliminate it.
By the way, I H A T E painting and want to spend as little time as possible in what remains of my so called life doing any more of it :-) but I do know how to do it efficiently.
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Bart Leetch Jack of all trades Master of none.
>Just roll your roller out dryer before you reload it. Roll up & down in a w pattern.
I've been in apartment management & maintenance for 10 years & painting is what I do the most of. In 10 years I've probably rolled somewhere between 200 & 400 gallons of Latex paint & never had the problem you are having.
Paint roller quality...
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>I forgot to mention one other observation. The quality of the roller in use will greatly affect the ease of use. However, I have found that even the best rollers will tend to develop "dags" (Australian sheep shearers term for bits of fluff that hang off...) at the edge of the roller.
I have found the technique I described negates this problem. An alternative is to clip the edges of the roller, but I've never bothered.
I haven't quite put up as much paint as you, but I wouldn't be far off having painted ships :-) I'm an ex-Navy guy.
Re: OT - Sanding Walls
Paul Brandley
>OK, I'll put this new information to work as soon as I finish sanding and patching the old paint. Thanks very much for the tips, I appreciate the help. Paul