Painting Over Semi-Gloss House Paint

Cleaning

• The exterior of the house should be cleaned with a power washer to remove grime, dirt and loose paint chips. The house surface should dry before any other preparation for painting is done. Not removing dirt is one of the major causes of paint peeling after a house's exterior has been newly painted. Peeling and flaking paint indicates that the paint job needs to be redone, with careful attention paid to preparing the house's surface prior to painting.

Scraping

• The house's exterior must be scraped, even if you intend to paint over the semi-gloss house paint that is already on the house. Skipping the scraping process is another reason why new house paint jobs start to peel shortly after the painting is finished. Lay out tarps on the ground and staple them to the underside of the last row of siding on the house. The tarp will catch any falling bits of paint and prevent them from getting into the soil around the foundation of the house. Scrape the house's siding with a sharp paint scraper in a horizontal, side-to-side motion. Scrape the undersides of clapboards as well. Remove any paint that comes off easily.

Sanding

• You do not have to sand off every last bit of paint; however sanding will remove any loose paint that the scrapers did not get. It will also prevent the new paint from flaking off. Sanding will give your new paint job a smooth surface even when some of the semi-gloss house paint is left on the house. A circular sander with a coarse grit sandpaper such as 24-grit sandpaper will sand the exterior of the house down to a smooth finish that is ready to be primed. Keep the sander moving with a circular motion so that no sanding marks appear in the house siding.

Priming and Painting

• Semi-gloss paint does not provide the best surface for a new coat of paint to stick to because its surface is rather slippery. A primer base coat that dries in about one day provides a better sticking surface for new paint. Stain killing primer-sealers can cover exterior water or sap stains, preventing them from bleeding through the new paint. Finish paint is the final coat of paint that protects the house's exterior. Put on this final coat of paint during dry weather so that the paint stays put and does not flake or peel.