Emulsion painted over silk/satin doors - help!

[MrBrindle]

Good evening,

Me and the wife recently bought a new house, got quite a bit of work needing doing on it.

She decided a few days ago to tackle the skirting and upstairs doors. Unfortunately she has painted a few doors, which were previously either a silk or a satin finish (mid sheen) with white emulsion. I was pretty horrified when I got home and saw this! The doors are just flat with no panelling.

She also painted gloss over one door, didn't like it, then covered with emulsion again!

I started to wash down one door that had emulsion on it earlier, with sugar soap, scourer and scraper. It was coming off, albeit slowly - took me a good 45 mins to do one side.

Has anyone any tips on how to remove the emulsion from the remainder of the doors? And how should I prep the doors for new paint? The new paint will be white satinwood.

Also, would it really hurt to just apply satinwood over the already painted emulsion? I know it's probably a bad idea, but just need extra advice.

Right now I'm toying whether to buy new doors, as this is another time consuming job that we could do without.

Cheers all.

 

[opps]

You can paint over the emulsion but the finish will probably be pretty rough.

You mention that you are going to use satinwood, for what it is worth, eggshell is a lower sheen finish and as such will show fewer flaws.

Personally, I would sand the paint back, it may well clog the sandpaper but if it is only one coat of emulsion, it shouldn't be too bad.

New doors, don't forget to factor in the cost of new hinges, locks etc.

 

[MrBrindle]

Thanks for the reply.

There's no real danger of the paint cracking? As it's emulsion over a sheen?

Also while I'm here, she also painted the hardware (hinges) in gloss which have resulted in the doors closing a bit tightly. What's the best method of removing the paint? The gloss is still a tad tacky being only a few days old. Scrape it?

 

[opps]

Cracking is unlikely but it might not be very chip/scratch proof. I guess you can try your fingernail on the emulsion. If it is sound then subsequent finishes should be fine.

Is the gloss oil or waterbased. Cellulose will remove either but might remove the laquer. You could try to scrape it off using "sharp" bits of wood or plastic (less likely to scratch the original finish than metal scrapers).