With any remodeling job or addition comes the painting of the new trim: door casings, moldings, base board and other wood trim. Doors and windows also
will need to be painted.
Painting with enamel
The term given to the painting wood trim is called “enameling”. Enameling can be done with either latex or oil (alkyd) paint.
Different from wall painting
Trim painting is done differently than the painting of walls. Walls are painted with flat or low sheen paints and applied with a roller. Trim is painted with enamel (latex or oil based) and usually applied with a brush or spray gun. The stipple of a standard fabric roller is the normal finish for walls, but with trim, your work will be judged by the smoothness of the finish.
Priming
All new bare wood trim needs to be primed first before anything else takes place. You can prime with latex, oil or shellac primers. I seldom prime new interior wood trim with oil, as there are no advantages to using oil, only disadvantages: odor, hazardous waste etc.. The two primers I use with new trim are pigmented shellac primer (Zinsser’s BIN) and waterbased primer (Xim’s UMA - Urethane Modified Acrylic).
Pigmented shellac - the best enamel undercoater
Shellac primer is the best all-round enamel primer or undercoater. If I were to recommend only one primer for new trim it would be BIN shellac primer. Shellac is the best sealer, and it will not be re-wetted by either latex or oil based enamel over the top of it. Shellac will dry very fast (1 hour or less), and can be recoated with any latex or oil based enamel. Shellac primer will not raise the grain of the wood either as will waterbased primers. Both latex or oil enamels will level better when applied over shellac primer. Brushes and rollers used to apply shellac primer can be cleaned up with ammonia and water, and rinsed clean under running water.
Waterbased primer
Most waterbased primers are not suitable for new wood interior trim, because they will cause the wood grain to permanently swell. This grain raising, can be very noticeable with enamel paints which are glossy and show imperfections. Nevertheless, I know some people will want to use a waterbased primer regardless. The best waterbased enamel undercoater in my opinion is Xim UMA primer. It sands very well to a smooth surface, seals the wood , and doesn't raise the grain too much. You don't get the same kind of “hold out” and leveling when using a waterbased enamel over a waterbased primer, that you would over shellac primer, because the finish enamel will re-wet the primer causing the enamel to set up quicker. So, if you intend on using a waterbased enamel, you would do better to use a shellac primer like BIN underneath.
Filling the nail holes
After priming you will need to fill the nail holes. There are two compounds used to do this: putty and light spackles. The old oil based putties are not used for nail holes much anymore because the light shrink-free spackles work better. Oil putty was prone to staining through the finish paint, and they didn’t fill the nail holes as well (they left dimples). Lightweight spackling requires a lighter touch when filling the hole. It doesn’t shrink down into a dimpled, under-filled hole like oil putty. The nail holes are filled with the / a finger The filler is applied into the hole and brushed / wiped smooth with a swipe of the finger or thumb. On flat surfaces a putty knife can be employed to press the filler into the hole and wipe smooth the compound.
After the nail holes are filled you need to sand the trim smooth with a fine sanding sponge or 220 grit sandpaper. Remove the dust with a shop vacuum equipped with a fine dust (or HEPA) filter, follow up with a micro fiber tack rag.
Caulking
Caulk gaps in the joints of the trim with latex caulk. Caulk the door casings and othe trim to the wall with the same. To do a good neat job, use only a tiny opening for the caulk tube tip. Don't gob on the caulk. Keep the caulk bead thin, and wipe it smooth with your finger. Allow the caulk to dry, as per the label before proceeding.
Reprime
It take two coats of primer to fully seal the raw wood surface (sanding between coats). The first is applied before the nail holes are filled (pre-primed trim from the factory can omit this first priming), and the second is applied after the nail holes are filled. The second prime coat will seal the nail hole filling compound too.
Once the second coat of primer is dry, sand as you did the first coat and vacuum off the dust etc....
Enameling
You can do a smooth professional looking job with a good enamel and a spray gun or a good brush. You can get a sprayed-on look with the best leveling enamels using just a brush. Your primer (either Xim UMA or BIN shellac primer) should have leveled out nicely and should be sanded smoothly. There should not be any brush or application marks at this point in the painted trim. Now with skillful application of a good leveling enamel, you can get a smooth professional looking job, but the choice of enamel (particularly if you use a waterborne enamel) is important.
Oil based enamel
Most oil based enamels level out well. They have been used for years on wood trim and are time tested. The problem with oil enamel is that all oils yellow over time. Some will yellow very badly, particularly in dark, poorly lit interior rooms. The newer VOC compliant oil enamels may not level as well, and seem to yellow more than non compliant oil based enamels. The best of the oil enamels for leveling is probably the Sherwin Williams ProClassic line of enamels which I use quite often. There are both compliant and a noncompliant oil based version of ProClassic. I use the non-compliant version and know that it levels very well, and does not yellow very much at all, in most rooms that get reasonable sunlight.
The new waterborne enamels
All latex enamels are not alike. Heads and shoulders above the rest of the latex enamels are the new generation waterborne enamels. These enamels level out so well that there really is no reason to use an alkyd enamel on new wood trim. Again, leading the pack it the Sherwin Williams ProClassic waterbased version. There are other notables in the waterborne enamel group. Benjamin Moore’s waterborne Impervo and Muralo’s Ultra are both very good waterbased enamel products. If you use any of these three, you should get a smooth oil based looking , as-if-it-were-sprayed , type of finish.
Application
Brushing
If you are painting in an occupied house, brushing is probably the best way to go. Lay the paint on, lay it off with the tips of the brush, and leave it to level out. Use a synthetic brush (nylon or nylon and polyester mix) for waterborne enamels. Use a natural black china bristle brush for oil enamels. A good universal size trim enamel brush would be a 2" or 2 1/2" sash or angled sash brush. Use the very best brushes for the finest of finishes. A good trim enamel brush will not be the cheapest brush you can buy, but it will be worth the extra price in the quality of finish.
Spraying
New houses can be sprayed without as much fear of overspray problems. For this reason, and the fact that spraying is also much faster than brushing, new residential construction is often sprayed. The best way to spray new trim is to paint the trim first before rolling the walls. The walls don't need to be protected with this method, you simply let the overspray go beyond the trim onto the drywall. Once the trim is done, you will prime over the enamel on the wall to ensure adhesion, and then paint with the flat wall paint. If you are going to paint the walls with a sheen paint, you will be better served by priming all the walls with a universal primer in total, to prevent any flashing where the primer was only "spotted" on the wall.
The reason for priming
Priming seals the wood and holds the finish paint out, preventing it from soaking into the wood. The primer itself will soak into the wood and form an anchor and grip into the wood. The primer grips the wood, and the finish paint (enamel) grips to the primer. Primers are made to sand smoothly and provide a smooth undercoat for the finish paint..
Our "terms of use" governs your use of our website; by using our website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of our "terms of use", do not use our website.
 | ||||
How to Paint New Wood Trim
Search This Site
| ||||
Custom Search
| ||||
The
Concourse eStore
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
SM
Painting Tips and Advice
| ||||
Painting and Decorating Concourse
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
Enameling Trim
step by step:
- Prime
- Spackle nail holes
- Sand, vacuum
- Re-prime
- Sand, vaccum
- Enamel
Wagner Power Painters
NEW!!
With Optimus
Technology
click here
| ||||
Paint Brushes
click here
Purdy, Wooster, Linzer
and more....
The Internet Paint Store
| ||||
