Issues with primer on kitchen cabinets

blinkandimgone · 08-14-2010, 09:15 PM

Hi

Hoping someone can offer some advice on how to fix my kitchen cabinet nightmare.

I painted the cabinets 5 years ago when I bought the house (30+ years old). At the time, the primer seemed to stay sticky no matter how long I waited to paint so I ended up throwing on a couple coats of paint just to get it done. There's been quite a bit of peeling, especially around the handles, almost seems like the paint is just rubbing off so I'm repainting again.

I stripped off all the paint, sanded down to the bare wood, TSP'd and applied what the guy at Home Depot told me was DEFINATELY the primer I weanted to use: Behr's Premium Plus Interior Enamel Undercoater Primer & Sealer no. 75.

I washed, sanded and TSP'd the cabinets themselves, primed and top coated without any issues, it looks great. As soon as I started to apply the primer to the cabinet doors it started to yellow up. I spot primed a place I'd bumped one of the already primed doors and it yellowed up right away as well. It's been a few days and I'm finding the same issue again with the drying, it seems to stay sticky even though it really should be dry by now.

I did some reading here and it seems perhaps I should be using a shellac based primer instead, is that correct?

Should I apply a second coat of primer and hope it comes out better?

If I go with a shellac based primer, what brand would you reccommend?

To use the shellac based primer, do I have to strip off the primer I've just applied to the first few doors?

Thanks in advance

chrisn · 08-15-2010, 05:39 AM

I stripped off all the paint, sanded down to the bare wood, TSP'd and applied what the guy at Home Depot told me was DEFINATELY the primer I weanted to use: Behr's Premium Plus Interior Enamel Undercoater Primer & Sealer no. 75.

You were soooo good until you made the biggest mistake of the project, going to talk to an orange apron @ HD.What is he supposed to tell you? "You really should go to a real paint store and get good advise because I don't have a clue and we are all supossed to sell you the #1 rated paint( behr)"

Behr paint just sucks( primer also) which you have found out.
I would strip iy all back to bare wood and prime with a real oil primer and then paint with 2 coats of 100% acrylic paint.

blinkandimgone · 08-15-2010, 09:47 AM

Thanks for the advice. My choices for 'paint stores' are Canadian Tire, Home Depot or Home Hardware. Clearly the consensus is Home Depot sucks, I don't believe either of the other two carry Benjamin Moore, any other suggestions to look for also?

As the cabinets themselves are already done with the paint that I got from Home Depot, won't switching to an oil paint for the doors make them look different?

Thanks again.

Matthewt1970 · 08-15-2010, 09:16 PM

See if your home depot carries Zinsser Cover Stain Oil. Most do.

blinkandimgone · 08-17-2010, 12:48 PM

Thanks Matthew! I tried exactly that and it worked perfectly. Now I'm back on track and on my way to having a fresh 'new' kitchen. Thanks abunch!