How To Clean Paneling Walls Before Painting

Here are the steps on how to easily paint wood paneling.

How to clean paneling walls before painting.

Once the target surface is already clean and dry it s time to make minor repairs when necessary. Allow the primer to dry a full 24 hours before painting over it. Clean the painted paneling by wiping it with the damp rag. Do this only with water and little liquid soap.

Paint on two coats of a high quality oil based primer letting each coat dry once applied. Any dust dirt or oily fingerprints can prevent the paint from sticking well to the wood paneling so start by thoroughly washing the wood. If you take a look at the walls in our back toy room this is how i painted those as well. Dampen a sponge or clean rag.

It may seem like cleaning sanding and priming are unnecessary but paneling requires extra attention if you want the wall to look its best. Do not allow the walls to become wet when cleaning as this can damage the paneling or leave a film. At this point the sponge should be dampened only with water. Once the second coat of primer is dry coat walls with one coat of high quality latex paint and let dry.

Apply a thin coat of primer with a roller. Use a brush to fill in any grooves. If you have already tried cleaning painted paneling with only water and were unsuccessful visit a hardware store and look for a chemical product which will clean painted paneling. Before painting paneling use painter s tape to mask off your mouldings windows doors and ceiling.

When painting for wood paneling choose either a stain blocking latex primer or an oil based primer. Clean the wall paneling with diluted tsp. Cleaning the wall before applying a new coat of paint always means more than just a simple washing down with warm water if you really want to make sure the job is done right. If the paneling has old paint that was likely applied before 1980 do not sand the paneling unless you have the paint tested to confirm that it does not contain lead.