Often times I’ll hear from homeowners who want to change maple or oak (previously stained and sealed) to an enameled finish. The correct process can produce fantastic, durable results that last for a very long time. Every once and awhile I’ll see a site where a previous paint or homeowner tried to use a product that claimed to be “pro primer/pro prep.” Those products are fine so certain scenarios (extremely rare) but painting previously stained woodwork is not one of them. The correct process for achieving a completely quality finish is to 1. Sand all woodwork to create a profile. 2. Vacuum and De-Gloss the coating with a solvent (the correct solvent is important because if the previous coating was an oil you need to use the correct de-glosser like wil-bond but if the previous coating was water-based then you need to use something else) 3. Use the correct adhesion primer for the first coat. 4. Use the correct putty and caulk for all seems. Believe it or not the top coat you use after this is over-rated. Of course if you take the time to do it correctly then you won’t want to use the worst top coat and you’ll want to use an oil enamel or a alkyd hybrid enamel (I don’t love water-based enamel but the hybrid products are pretty good)
Attached are pictures of a job in Minneapolis where they went from Stained Maple to Enamel. The results were great.
