# Paint over Solid Color Stain?



## MJM (Nov 4, 2006)

I have a customer who coated their house, which is T 1-11 siding, with Cabot O.V.T Solid Color Oil Stain about 10 years ago. Now the customer insist on having his house painted. Would I need to apply an oil primer before coating it with a water-based paint? I believe that the solid color oil stain in a sense acts as primer for paint, but I am not 100% sure so I just wanted to run in by some of you who may have had more experience with this issue.


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## Snow Man (Aug 18, 2008)

Pressure wash 
prep
Water-based primer (tinted to color ) 
2 coats of finish . 

just my own opinion


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## Spice (Aug 20, 2008)

you should use an oil primer because if you don't the water based paint will peal off this is just from what I've seen in the past.


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

MJM said:


> I have a customer who coated their house, which is T 1-11 siding, with Cabot O.V.T Solid Color Oil Stain about 10 years ago. Now the customer insist on having his house painted. Would I need to apply an oil primer before coating it with a water-based paint? I believe that the solid color oil stain in a sense acts as primer for paint, but I am not 100% sure so I just wanted to run in by some of you who may have had more experience with this issue.



I recommend pressure washing, then applying a latex primer.
The wood has indeed been sealed by the oil based stain, so the wood will not require any further sealing.
However the latex top coat will need a proper substrate to bond onto, provided by the primer.

:thumbsup:


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## Snow Man (Aug 18, 2008)

WisePainter said:


> I recommend pressure washing, then applying a latex primer.
> The wood has indeed been sealed by the oil based stain, so the wood will not require any further sealing.
> However the latex top coat will need a proper substrate to bond onto, provided by the primer.
> 
> :thumbsup:


 very wise


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## Any Season (Nov 19, 2007)

It's already been said that the solid stain has sealed the wood there, and its not an issue to go over stain with paint, you just have to keep in mind that there is a sheen ladder (flat->matte->eggshell->satin->semi->gloss->higloss) and stain is flat. You can always go up the ladder but never back down. Ex. flat paint over semi gloss paint.


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## John the estmtr (Oct 7, 2008)

Any Season said:


> It's already been said that the solid stain has sealed the wood there, and its not an issue to go over stain with paint, you just have to keep in mind that there is a sheen ladder (flat->matte->eggshell->satin->semi->gloss->higloss) and stain is flat. You can always go up the ladder but never back down. Ex. flat paint over semi gloss paint.


+1 on what your saying, but I'd be careful here. He said it's an oil solid stain, and that could cause issues. If it was latex solid stain I'd say go for it.... Modern latexes are made to stick to latex.


Wash, sand and prep
Prime (find an ICI, use Gripper... one of the best primers that isn't Kilz or something)
2 coats finish




And if you have your paint store tint the primer, make sure they don't oversaturate it. Unless they're some of the new "deep base" primers, they probably shouldn't have more than 2oz of colorant per gal.


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## MJM (Nov 4, 2006)

Thanks for the input. I've checked with Cabot multiple times and each time they said no primer was needed for a latex paint topcoat. But I've also researched the issue and along with your inputs I am getting conflicting recommendations. To be ultra safe I think I will want to use a oil primer, but I hate working with oil primers on that large of a scale. Has anyone tried Zinnser's H2Oil-Base primer? It looks like a good alternative to traditional oil primers because it is low odor and cleans up with soap and water. If anyone has used this product, please tell me what you think. 

Thanks in advance.


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## harness (Oct 15, 2008)

*cover stain h2o*

i use cover stain all the time i tried the h20 it was ok but i still get better coverage with the oil and as far as low order well maybe outside a little but inside the h20 still stinks bad and i wear a mask i think it smells allmost as bad as oil and dries slower leaving the oder in the air longer


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

John the estmtr said:


> +1 on what your saying, but I'd be careful here. He said it's an oil solid stain, and that could cause issues. If it was latex solid stain I'd say go for it.... Modern latexes are made to stick to latex.
> 
> 
> Wash, sand and prep
> ...


Yes but the stain is 10 years old. 
A special primer shouldn't be necessary now.
With the years of weathering a standard exterior latex primer and latex top coat will bond very well with just a pressure washing to remove the efflourescence (chalking/salt) left on the surface.
I would tint the primer as much as I could to bring it around to the final color but only to insure that 1 top coat will be necessary to disappear the original color.

Thoughts?


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

MJM said:


> Thanks for the input. I've checked with Cabot multiple times and each time they said no primer was needed for a latex paint topcoat. But I've also researched the issue and along with your inputs I am getting conflicting recommendations. To be ultra safe I think I will want to use a oil primer, but I hate working with oil primers on that large of a scale. Has anyone tried Zinnser's H2Oil-Base primer? It looks like a good alternative to traditional oil primers because it is low odor and cleans up with soap and water. If anyone has used this product, please tell me what you think.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


A primer coat covers _your_ butt. 
Maybe not necessary by the manufacturers standards, but they aren't going to go to bat for you if anything happens.
Therefor a latex primer is the best bet.


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## harness (Oct 15, 2008)

i totaly agree with the wise painter wood being seald and any oil that was their is long gone and do think in this case a good latex primer tinted is what i would do


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## Any Season (Nov 19, 2007)

MJM said:


> Thanks for the input. I've checked with Cabot multiple times and each time they said no primer was needed for a latex paint topcoat. But I've also researched the issue and along with your inputs I am getting conflicting recommendations. To be ultra safe I think I will want to use a oil primer, but I hate working with oil primers on that large of a scale. Has anyone tried Zinnser's H2Oil-Base primer? It looks like a good alternative to traditional oil primers because it is low odor and cleans up with soap and water. If anyone has used this product, please tell me what you think.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Cabot prescribes no primer for their stain bc Cabot Pro V.T is self priming. I also agree with Wise with regards to the oil stain weathering enough to accept latex stain with normal prep.


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