Skirting Gloss Won't Dry

[loopyloz83]

I painted all my skirting boards/bannister/windowsil of my stairs & landing on Saturday afternoon (3 days ago!) and its still tacky.

I gave the surfaces a light sanding and then wiped down with a microfibre cloth and water (with stardrops in a bowl) to get rid of any dust and finally hoovered any remains before I started with the glossing. All looked fine, left it all to dry over night in a well aired room and it looked fine on Sunday morning.

When I went to start painting the main walls with emulsion the next night (Sunday Night) and I stood on the ledge next to the bannister (which I had glossed the previous day too) to reach above the stairs and my foot print had taken off the paint and smeared it all over. I then noticed the bannister which i had been gripping hold of had also smeared.

I assumed it was because i had not let it dry long enough, but even today (Tuesday) the gloss smears and peels when you touch it. I used B&Q White Gloss - something I won't do again - Crown or Dulux for me from now on.

The problem I have is what do i do with the current tacky gloss that remains?
Do i sand it?
Do i need to paint strip it back to the wood?
Do i just gloss over it with a better quality gloss!! Nightmare!!!

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[xr4x4]

Did you stir the paint, did you read the instructions on the tin?

 

[loopyloz83]

Did you stir the paint, did you read the instructions on the tin?

Yes i stirred it with a stick like it stated on the tin. I think maybe it has been painted on too thick. It is starting to slowly dry out now but still have a few tacky bits....

 

[Damian227]

It sounds like you've painted it on a little too thick lol. Bit surprised you're doing the walls afterwards too? Maybe other people do, but for 13 years I've done what I was taught... woodwork paints last.

 

[loopyloz83]

Thanks, yes i think i did probably put it on too thick.

Re the gloss before the emulsion, i think ths is a grand old debate and pros & cons for both I guess.

Gloss is harder to get off emulsion but emulsion on to dry gloss can just wipe off easily and thats why i always gloss 1st, emulsion last! Its the way my dads done it for years so it all depends on what works best for you I guess?

 

[xr4x4]

what about the speckles of emulsion paint all over the the gloss work when you roller?

 

[Lusi83]

Is it B&Q one coat gloss?

I used the water based B&Q gloss for covering pine cladding (quite a big area)-after 3-4 coats it still needed another ... but I had to move on and left it a bit streaky.
When I needed some gloss for another job I bought B&Q one coat stuff (hogh VOC) thinking it was the water bit that was the problem. I got a big tin - enough to do a little job and planned to do another coat on the streaky cladding.

Big Mistake..on the tin it has a 16 hour re coat time in ideal conditions - but mine was still tacky after a couple of days. And all the time it is drying it stinks....and in this weather you're limited to how long you can fully ventilate an inhabited property for...I was getting headaches and tryng to keep my kids out of the house as much as possible for a week. Putting bowls of vinegar, bicarb about, using an air purifier and burning candles...I put off a little touching up I had to do until I knew we would out most of the next few days....

Thankfully I only used it for the small area - yesterday I bought a tin of water based Crown satin - which I will try on the streaky area...if that doesn't work I'll try some branded high voc stuff but wait till the summer when i can leave the windows and doors open for days...