Paint over or Strip back

[howieallstars]

Hi everyone,

A few years ago I painted over my varnished staircase with white gloss paint. however, I didn't use a primer of even key the surface so now the paint scratches off very easily in places.

The question is do I need to strip all the paint or if I use a primer will it give a good enough base to stop the paint scratching off?

I thinking that using a primer would be easier than trying to strip paint from all the spindles.

Thanks,

 

[opps]

A primer wont help as primers are intended for bare surfaces. in your case you have a surface that had been sealed with varnish initially and now has paint on it.

Not a nice job but you need to sand back until you can provide a key on the varnish (therein lies the root problem), in reality you can concentrate on the areas most susceptible to knocks if you can't face doing it "properly".

I don't think that any finishes will help as the problem is the gloss (not) adhering to the varnish

Sorry