We just purchased a colonial home built in 1947 and are first time homeowners. Most of the interior is in need of painting and is all oil based. When we painted the bedroom (both walls and trim) ourselves a few months ago, we did light sanding, primed with Zinsser 123 and so far it seems to have held well (used Benjamin Moore Ben). However, now we are hiring a contractor to paint the hallway which has a lot of trim (6 doors plus stairs/banister). They are telling us that we really need to use oil based primer in order for the latex paint to work on the trim. We are planning to use Benjamin Moore (probably Aura). I know that oil primer is better, but we are really trying to use only low VOC products. I have read that if you do use latex primer you need to sand a lot, which is also a problem because its possible there is lead paint given the age of the house. So, do we have any non-toxic options here or do we pretty much have to choose between possibly generating lead dust or using oil primers?
Everyone of course has their own level of tolerance for such things, but we can't be the only people with an older home in need of painting who are concerned about exposure to chemicals. Anyone who has dealt with similar issues much appreciated!
Thank you!
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You do have a choice on a water borne primer that will adhear to the oil based trim paint and you should be able to get it a Benjamin Moore store. It is STIX by Inslx and if the surface is clean you don't have to sand and then you can apply the Aura Semi-Gloss which will look great.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
thank you for that suggestion. we will probably give that a try. I think I have seen others mention this product on another post as well.
I would scuff the surface with 300 grit paper and apply a good name brand oil stain block primer.
You can apply latex paint over the oil primer and that should work.
You can apply latex paint over the oil primer and that should work.
Sanding the surface and making sure it is clean are always good ideas.
But I would not use a stain blocking oil based primer as they dry to brittle and you don't need stain blocking unless there are stains that need to be blocked.
The STIX primer will adhear to ceramic tile, so it will work great on painted woodwork. It is waterborne so you don't have the fumes that you get with oil based products.
But I would not use a stain blocking oil based primer as they dry to brittle and you don't need stain blocking unless there are stains that need to be blocked.
The STIX primer will adhear to ceramic tile, so it will work great on painted woodwork. It is waterborne so you don't have the fumes that you get with oil based products.
There is a good organisation in Australia called green painters they have some good DIY tips on how to minimise the environmental impact of your painting. They have some good information on applying low Voc paints, and Zero voc paints. They have some tips for applying low voc paints, I will not paste them onto here, but if you are interested then have a look yourself.
