Not what you want to see

Water-based vs. Oil-based Paint

Watching paint dry or watching grass grow is fairly harmless albeit incredibly boring. A more dramatic – or alarming - way to pass the time is watching paint peel in large pieces should you discover that you have painted over oil-based paint with water-based paint. It’s not so far-fetched to buy a gallon of paint and put on a coat or two with the hopes of selling your home faster for the fresh look, until the fresh look takes on the bubble gum look - blistering, stretching out and peeling off. Ooops.

While it may seem that picking a color of paint is the primary task, actually choosing the right paint precedes that. Knowing what kind of paint is already on a wall, trim, table or whatever it is you are planning to paint narrows your choice quickly. Durability plays into paint choice, as walls do not need a durability factor as high and reliable as trim, which gets touched much more often. Oil-based paints are frequently selected for trim because they have a hard, non-porous coating when dry. Walls are usually painted with water-based paints. You can paint oil-based paint over water-based paints, but not the other way around. At least not without sanding and scuffing and/or applying a proper bonding agent first.

Our experience with paints, bonding agents, oil-based products, primers, water-based paints, sealers and more is available to you for the asking. While we can certainly fix bubble gummy errors like in these photos, we strongly suggest you call in our experts before taking matters into your own hands. The Paintworks professional painters get the job done right every time, with the right paint, equipment, brushes and rollers. There are particular kinds of brushes and rollers to use with different paint products, along with various methods of cleaning them. When you want the job done quickly and correctly the first time, well, call on us. You can watch the paint dry, and we assure you that the fresh look will be just that, a fresh look of smooth paint in the color(s) of your choice.

Fixing trim/doors after wrong paint was used on top of oil based paint

Grand piano parlor, aka living room, with newly repaired and painted walls and ceiling

Freshly plastered and painted after mega scraping and prepping

New plaster, skim coat and paint - no more unsightly peeling, flaking, cracking walls and ceiling

Lower East Side Scraping and Plastering 

What do sneakers, paint, heat pumps, teddy bears, plaster and wood fences have in common? They all experience significant wear and tear across 25 years. Some need replacing. Some can be fixed. And in the case of paint and plaster, all can be made like new! This apartment in Manhattan was ready for the “make-it-new” outcome. Protecting furniture, fixtures and floors is imperative in our line work, and here we had a grand piano in the mix.

Once things were wrapped and covered, we scraped and scraped and scraped some more. Ceilings are always a challenge, but our arms are strong, our eyes are keen, and our experience is vast. The whole place, walls included, needed work, and when working with plaster, using the correct plaster weld product ensures that new plaster will bond well and hold a long time – ideally another 25 years. We skim coated ceilings and walls before applying final coats of paint. The client was thrilled with the results. We were thrilled with the whole project, especially not to have gotten a flake or spot of anything on the grand piano.

Flaking paint on your pillow, anyone? We fixed this ceiling like new.

Not exactly what you want to come home to, right? Right. We made it all new again.