How to Apply Latex Paint over Oil-Based Paint

LESLIE: Jennifer in Utah, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?

JENNIFER: Well, I have oil-based paint in my entire kitchen …

TOM: OK.

JENNIFER: … and I hate the color. I just barely moved in. I hate the color. I don’t like the shine. It’s like fully glaring in my kitchen. And I don’t …

LESLIE: (chuckling) But it’s probably easy to clean.

JENNIFER: It is easy to clean but I don’t – I don’t want to sand the whole thing. I’ve heard you have to sand it to paint over oil-base. Is that true?

TOM: Well, you have to certainly clean it. You’ll want to get any type of debris that’s on that surface off. It is a good idea to go lightly over it with sandpaper. But what I would do, as the most important step, Jennifer, is I would apply an oil-based primer on top of that. Applying an oil-based primer is going to give you maximum adhesion to whatever is underneath it and that’s very, very critical. Once you have the oil-based primer over the old surface then you can put latex paint right over that – any color that you wish – and you know it’s going to seal well, it’s going to stick well and it’s going to flow nicely and it’ll be great.

JENNIFER: Nice. OK.

TOM: Alright? So you don’t have to take it off. You just have to rough it up a little bit, abrade it, make sure it’s nice and clean. Go on top of it with the oil-based primer and then you can go use latex paint after that.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and for the kitchen you want to make sure that you do go with some sort of a sheen just because if you go with a matte finish everything is going to stick to it; it’s going to be hard to clean.

JENNIFER: (overlapping voices) And it’s really hard to clean, yeah.

LESLIE: Even if you want to go for something that’s not very shiny, make sure you choose something that’s scrubbable, something that’s made for the kitchen area; you know, good to stand up to the moisture and just the grease that ends up all throughout the space.

JENNIFER: OK, well thank you.

TOM: You’ve very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.