Painting over stained wood

[electrospark]

Hi all, I have a decorator currently painting my house and I’m concerned he’s cutting corners.
He’s painting old banisters that were dark stained wood which are to be finished white.
If this was me doing it I’d be sanding the initial shine off the wood to give it a key, 1 primer, 2 undercoat and a top coat as a minimum. Also a light sand after each coat.

He’s painted the wood so far with 1 oil based primer and 1 undercoat, I’m pretty sure not sanded in between coats other than the filler nor the original wood.
I can scratch it with my finger nail and make a line through to the original brown wood. It’s obviously only been on 2 days so still very soft but this surely isn’t right??

I’m pretty decent at painting myself and have an eye for detail or am I being completely wrong? TIA

 

[sparkwright]

If the stain was shiny he should have sanded it first.

He should have sanded it shiny or not, if only to ensure the new paint will stick properly.

The finger nail test perhaps isn't conclusive at this stage, and nor would be using bits of tape.

Paint on stain that hasn't been rubbed down could chip very easily, and worse still peel.

I would say peeling is more common with paint applied onto oil-based gloss that hasn't been rubbed down.

Bannisters can get very greasy too, as they get handled a lot - this grease if not removed will not be a good key for new paint.

If the new paint eventually comes off or wears off, and the stain below looks immaculate, you know he hasn't done the prep work.

Some painters don't seem to have the time for things like that.

How shiny was your original stain?

 

[electrospark]

Thanks!
It wasn’t too shiny on the original but defiantly shiny rather than a matt finish.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t peer off then. ‍

 

[Chivas69]

What primer was it? Was it a stain blocking primer?

 

[opps]

I don't want to comment directly on the fellow doing your work but I would never paint a surface without sanding it first.

A couple of years ago I was painting new MDF furniture in a house where the decorators didn't bother sanding anything (other than filler). They were using Zinsser BIN as the base coat. Zinsser in part are to blame by telling people that it BIn doesn't need priming, but in most case it does. Within days there were chips on all of the door frames.