Painting and Decorating Concourse
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Painting Over Faux Stripes
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You've had the stripes on the wall for years, they were perfect then but now it's time for a change and you want to repaint. How do you go about it?
Most likely you will have some surface preparation. Depending on the "depth" of the striping, you will have some sanding to remove any ridges from the stripes.
There are two methods you may use to smooth out the stripe ridges. The first is simply sanding. You may want to use this method if your house was built after Jan 1, 1978 (lead paint was banned for residential use in 1978). If your house was built prior to Jan 1, 1978 do not use this method.
First Method - Sanding
You can make fairly quick work of this task using 150 grit sandpaper and an electric random orbital sander. I attach my sander to a shop vacuum with a HEPA filter and fine dust collection bag for dust minimization. Depending on your sander, you can really minimize the sanding dust using a good shop vacuum, properly filtered for this.
150 grit sandpaper works well for sanding down stripe ridges and edges. You can do the whole job with just this one grit. The key to a smoother, faster job is to change the sandpaper often. Don't keep sanding with dull paper, when it is ready to be changed - change it.
With a good methodical approach and frequent sandpaper changes you can do most walls in an hour or two (per wall) - so figure on a half day to a whole day for prepping the walls.
Second Method - Skim Coating
You may find it easier to skim the walls. You may only need to do one skim coat depending on the depth of the previous stripes. See Skim Coating article. Generally, you will prime first with a flat oil primer to provide a good base for the drywall compound. If the stripes were painted in flat latex paint you should be able to skim directly over the stripes without priming.
If your house was built before 1978, you don’t want to disturb the underlying paint as it may contain lead. It is recommended that you have a professional, certified to deal with pre-1978 homes and painted surfaces, handle this situation. The certified professional is trained in lead safe procedures and will use HEPA vacuum sanding equipment, containment and other methods to avoid creating a lead safety hazard.
Please read lead paint warning if your house was built before 1978,
You don't have to sand the entire wall, just the ridges. If you used good ridge minimization techniques (one coat only, foam roller, glaze with the paint for faux stripes etc...) you may not have too much sanding to do. In any case, concentrate on the ridges on the edge of the stripe until it is smoothed out.
I work from the top of the wall to the middle, then on my knees, I do the bottom half of the wall up to the middle.
