Bare Wood Painting
When we are faced with painting wood that is bare it is crucial that the adequate preparation work is carried out before painting wooden surfaces. A good painter and decorator will tell you that they spend more time preparing wooden surfaces than painting them. If the wood that requires painting is hardwood then you will most likely use less coats of paint than if the surface is softwood because hardwood is less absorbent than softwood. Surfaces then must be sanded with a fine sand paper and wiped clean.
Knotting:
Knotting is a crucial part of wood preparation for bare wood surfaces and it involves treatment of all knots with knotting solution and is applied in 2 coats using a brush or cloth.
All paint shops will sell knotting solution and it is easy to apply.
Priming:
Bare wood needs to be primed before painting and is first done over the knots only then the entire surface for the second coat. Primer must be compatible with the paint that is to be used afterwards, oil based or water based paint and it is applied by brush and roller.
Undercoating:
Depending on the choice of your top coat paint, your undercoat must be chosen carefully on order to be compatible with the top coat /finish paint. Undercoating is done for 2 important reasons: adhesion and depth of colour. The adhesion is essential for a long lasting painting job and if not undercoated, surfaces will peel off after a while. If painting with a colour than it is advised to use coloured undercoat for colour depth. Usually when using oil based paint one coat of undercoat is sufficient but if water based paint is used 2-3coats of undercoat may be required as water based paint fails to coved as well as oil based paint. Undercoat is applied by brush and roller normally but spray application is also practiced in certain conditions.
Painting:
If the oil based paint is used and the undercoat is coloured than one coat of oil based paint is usually enough for the top coat although 2 coats are sometimes required to achieve the best result. Water based paint will always be necessary to be applied twice because of the lower coverage of water based paints for wood. It is recommended to lightly sand the surface between coats with fine sand paper. Application by brush roller or spray gun.