LESLIE: Now we’re going to welcome Gustavo from Florida who’s doing some remodeling.
Gustavo, tell us about your project.
GUSTAVO: Well, I have an older house and I ripped out all the baseboards and the molding around the doors. And I have all this stuff just kind of sitting in my living room. I bought finger joint wood because we’re thinking about painting it all, of course. And I’m just wondering if I should paint them first or use like – prefinish them somehow before I put them up because I think that would be a pretty tedious job; just getting on my hands and knees and painting the whole thing from scratch. So I’m just trying to figure it out. What do you guys think?
LESLIE: I think you can definitely prime them in advance. I don’t know if you want to go with your finished effect because, number one, you’re going to have to cover up any nail holes or however you’re adhering it. Even if you’re using some sort of adhesive on the back, you’re still going to want to put a nail or a brad in from the front, so you’re going to have to fill those holes. And then also, in just working around and trimming to make things fit, you’re going to dent up and take away some of the paint just even on your cut edges.
So if you can get a primer coat on there, at least you’re not so worried about the final finish and then that’s something you can do and it saves you a step in advance.
TOM: Yeah, and then when you fill those nail holes, you can basically lightly sand over the top of them and you won’t have to worry about gunking up the sandpaper. If there’s paint on there it won’t sand well but you can just lightly sand over it. Then you can hit them with the finish coat. And probably, Gustavo, you’re only going to need like one finish coat if you prime it well.
GUSTAVO: OK. And what kind of paint? Because I know there’s like latex and then there’s oil-based paints. What would give it like a real high-gloss, real thick finish?
TOM: That’s going to depend on the finish that you choose but I think that latex paint works great for wood molding. The only time I recommend oil-based paint is when it’s on a floor because it has better abrasion resistance. But you could choose a latex paint; use a primer – use a good-quality primer like KILZ, for example; and then a nice topcoat color and you’ll be good to go.
GUSTAVO: Alright, well thank you so much, guys. I appreciate your help.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks again for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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