Get a silky smooth finish on your woodwork.
Pro Tips for Painting Interior Woodwork
Having trouble getting your paint to look smooth? Welcome to the club. It’s challenging to paint woodwork and give it a flawless, glossy sheen. For great painted woodwork, residential remodeling expert Jimmy Harris underlines the importance of good surface preparation and brushing technique.
Oil-based paints dry slowly and allow brush marks to flatten out, but because of off-gassing, painters tend to avoid them for interior woodwork. Luckily, you can achieve similar results with high quality latex paint. Today’s formulations cover and brush out well, don’t have strong odors and offer the advantage of fast drying and easy soap-and-water cleanup.
I’m an experienced painter, and in this post, Harris and I will show you some techniques and tricks pros use to paint woodwork that guarantee top-notch results.
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Clean and Scrap Before You Paint Woodwork
Start by cleaning
A coat of paint won’t fill or hide cracks, chips and other surface defects in the wood, and it won’t smooth an existing rough surface. Wood prep is 95 percent of a good painting job, and the first task, says Harris, is to clean any dirt or debris off the wood. Wash with a TSP solution (or TSP substitute) to remove grease and grime, then rinse with clear water.
Scrape loose and cracked paint off the wood
Next, examine the surface for loose and cracked paint that needs scraping. Many scraper types are available, but a 2-in. stiff putty knife works well for small areas.
When you’re done scraping, you’ll be left with a rougher surface and a few more scratches and gouges than when you started. Don’t worry — you’ll fix these areas next.
Don’t Forget to Fill, Sand and Caulk
Fill wood defects
“Patch any imperfections in the wood with a wood filler and allow the wood filler to dry,” says Harris. A two-part polyester resin is best for dents and chips deeper than about 1/8-in. You can use a two-part wood filler, such as Minwax Wood Filler, but an auto body filler also works in a pinch.
For finer scratches and chips, use a spackling compound, but avoid lightweight vinyl-based products. They don’t stick to painted wood very well. I’ve found that good old drywall joint compound works better as a light-duty filler.
Keep in mind stiff putty knives work better for scraping; flexible putty knives work better for filling.
CAUTION: Paint dust and chips from lead paint are hazardous. If your home was built before 1977, the year lead paint was banned, call your local public health department and ask about paint testing details and safe scraping, sanding and cleaning techniques.
Sand the filler and spot-prime
“If your wood is rough or has been previously stained or painted, you will need to sand it,” says Harris. “The rougher the wood, the lower grit sandpaper you should start with. Progress to a final sanding using 150 to 220 grit sandpaper.” You can use a sanding sponge, but I’ve done my share of painting, and I find a folded up piece of sandpaper works just as well.
Spot-prime the filler after it dries and you’ve sanded it. While you’re at it, take the time to spot-prime other areas of bare wood. If the wood has knots, Harris recommends sealing them with polyurethane, shellac, or primer specifically made to hide knots.
Check the details
You want a top-notch job when you paint woodwork, right? If so, hold a bright light (work light or flashlight) close to the woodwork to highlight every small bump. Circle the defects with a pencil, then go back to the filler and sanding steps. Spot-prime and finish-sand these reworked areas.
Finish up by lightly sanding all areas that haven’t been scraped and spot-primed, using 150-grit paper or a fine sanding sponge. This de-glosses the surface and helps the new coat of paint to stick. Finally, wipe down the whole surface with a damp cloth to remove all the dust.
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Caulk the gaps
After you’re done filling, sanding and priming, it’s time to caulk cracks and gaps you weren’t able to patch with wood filler. Caulk isn’t sandable, so you have to wait until all the sanding is done before applying it. Use paintable acrylic latex caulk; it adheres well, remains flexible and cleans up with water.
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Choose the Right Paint
Don’t waste all the time and effort you’ve put into the prep work by using cheap paint. Harris recommends using latex paint. “It’s water-based, so it is easier to clean, has less odor and is easier to work with and is less expensive than oil-based paint.” But it does have one weakness. It dries quickly, and the longer paint remains wet, the more time it has to flow, flatten and leave a smooth surface free of brush marks. The solution is to use an additive that slows the drying process and helps the paint flow out. Many painters use Floetrol for this. Read the directions for the amount to add.
“Determine what paint sheen you need,” advises Harris. “Semi-gloss or gloss paint holds up better and is easier to clean than satin or flat paint. On the other hand, flat or satin paint will hide imperfections better than semi-gloss or gloss paint.”
Prepare the paint
For best results from brushing, don’t dip directly from the can. Pour a quart of the paint into a four- or five-quart pail. This is your working paint that will move around with you. Add the measured amount of additive and mix well.
Choose the Right Brush
When you choose quality paint to paint woodwork, you need quality brushes to spread it. My favorites for trim are a 2-1/2-in. straight brush and a 1-1/2-in. angle brush for detail work and cutting-in. Because the paint is water-based, you need a synthetic bristle brush that won’t go all floppy when it gets wet.
Dip the brush bristles one to two inches into the paint to load the brush. Lightly tap the tip of the brush against the sides of the pail to shake off excess paint.
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Use Pro Wood Brushing Techniques
The sequence: Quickly coat an area with several brush loads of paint, and then blend and smooth it out by lightly running the unloaded brush tip over it (called “tipping”). Try to coat a whole board or section, but don’t let the paint sit more than a minute before tipping.
Paint woodwork from the top down
The more paint the brush carries, the faster you’ll coat the woodwork. But you want to avoid dripping. So after dipping, tap the tip of the brush against the pail, like the clapper of a bell. For a drier brush, try dragging one side over the edge of the pail.
Hold the brush at about a 45-degree angle, set the tip down where you want to start and pull it gently over the surface with a little downward pressure. Start at the top of the board with the loaded brush and stroke down toward the middle. When the brush begins to drag, stop and reload.
Hold the paint brush perpendicular to the wood
Tip the wet paint by lightly setting the tip of the brush against the wet paint at the top of the board and lightly stroking down the whole length of the board. Hold the brush almost perpendicular to the surface for this stroke.
Here’s where the good brush pays off. The paint will flow smoothly onto the wood surface with little effort on your part. A common mistake is forcing paint out of the brush after it becomes too dry. The goal is a uniform thickness, but not so thick as to run or sag. With practice, you’ll quickly find the ideal thickness.
If the new color doesn’t hide the old, it’s better to apply a second coat than to apply one thicker layer. Continue the next brush load from where the last stroke left off, or work backward, say from an inside corner back into the wet paint.
Don’t worry about the fine brush strokes
When “tipping,” avoid dabbing small areas; this leaves marks in the paint. Make long strokes. The brush will leave a slight track of parallel ridges, but they’ll lie down before the paint begins to skin over.
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Use These Masking and Cutting-In Techniques
Often the wood boards you’re painting butt against a different paint color or a wall. There are a couple of techniques you can use to leave sharp, crisp lines.
Tape off finished areas
Masking off with tape is one method. Lay painter’s tape tight to the line where your new coat of paint will end. Push the tape tight against the surface with a stiff putty knife to prevent the wet paint from bleeding (running) underneath the tape. Brush the woodwork, letting the paint go partially onto the tape, then tip. Remove the tape when the paint is dry.
Cut-in along the wall
The pros usually skip the masking tape and just cut-in with a brush. It’s faster. With some practice and a steady hand, even an amateur can get really sharp lines. Practice with a smaller brush (1-1/2-in.) and graduate to a wider brush as you gain control. Dip the brush and scrape one side on the pail.
Hold the dry side of the brush toward the line and slowly draw the brush along. You may want to support your arm to steady it and keep the stroke moving, but I seldom find this necessary. Use gentle downward pressure; you want the bristles to splay out slightly as you stroke. You’ll find you can control the paint line by varying the pressure you apply to the brush.
When the brush dries, reload and start where the previous stroke ended. Sometimes, you’ll have to go back over a section where the paint is shy of the line. Complete cutting-in and then coat the rest of the piece.
Whether one coat will suffice depends on the paint used and the color. If the first coat looks streaky or transparent, you need a second coat. Let the previous coat dry overnight, then lightly sand with 180- or 220-grit paper or a fine sanding sponge. Wash the dust off the surface with a damp cloth, let dry and brush on another coat.
About the Expert
- Jimmy Harris of Georgia-based We Buy Houses has over twenty years’ of experience buying dilapidated houses and renovating them.
