A customer has asked me to spray w/ lacquer her guest bathroom vanity, drawer fronts and doors which have been painted w/ latex paint.
Can this be done w/o removing the latex?
Does anyone know if maybe a water-based lacquer can be applied over latex?
Any info will be much appreciated and thanks in advance.
dlb
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Replies
Do I KNOW, . . . no. But I'll bet you a nickle that the solvents will destroy the latex right quick. While I'm really curious why she wants that done, I have heard of people using WB Polycrylic over some latex products (the suede paints come to mind - durability issue) but I'd sure want to test that before I tried it on a customers stuff.
After that you have adhesion to wonder about. That I suspect wouldnt be much of an issue unless the latex happens to be gloss (which on a vanity, maybe that is an issue). Most WB lacquers I've used tend to hug tenaciously to everything. Like fingernails. Errant tools. Glasses.
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
The customer may be looking for more durability/washability for the latex. I've used waterborne poly over latex on some specialty paint jobs. You could use waterborne lacquer also. Acrylics and oils don't need anything over them but a flat latex could use some help in a bath vanity.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Yes but you have to use the right primer. Shellac makes a great primer for lacquer and will not damage the latex. Check with your supplier to make sure about the correct primer. I like to use Sherman Williams because they carry every type of finish (including latex and roof emulsions) so they have a lot of experience with mixing finishes.
Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
In addition to the solvent issues, putting a hard, relatively brittle finish over a relatively soft latex finish doesn't seem like a very good idea.
I spoke w/ a rep from M.L. Campbell today who stated that over time the lacquer would crack if applied over latex. Best solution: completely strip the latex.
Thanks,
dlb
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The undisciplined life is not worth examining.
I definitely would not put lacquer directly over latex. As others have said, the solvents would be a serious problem. Using a shellac primer would negate that problem, but I suspect dlb is correct about the lacquer cracking over time in that scenario.
Short of stripping the latex off..., which is probably the right way to do it if the owner is deadset on having a lacquer finish... if it were me I'd clean up the latex, do any patching that's necessary with something designed to work with latex paint and then I would use an acrylic latex primer and top that with a water-borne paint. But if I were going to go that route it seems to me that it'd be a lot less trouble to just use a latex enamel paint after cleaning the existing paint and doing any patching necessary.
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