Painting over sealant or need primer

14 years ago

Professional painter sprayed sealant over brand new white garage door. He was not suppose to touch it whatsoever. So I now have to paint the garage door white myself to cover the sealant. I bought good semi gloss white exterior paint, but am now wondering if I should instead get Behr (home depot brand) exterior paint that has a primer added to it? Or am I safe to simply paint semi gloss exterior over the sealant? Any thoughts please?

Dee

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Comments (6)

paintguy22
14 years ago
What do you mean by sealant? Do you know the exact product that was used?

You probably don't want to use Behr for exterior. The 'primer in the can' is just a marketing gimmick, which means that it should only be used for when you do not need a primer, like for interior wall painting. When you do need a primer, you should use one. Normally, you can just paint right over the fiberglass garage doors with a high quality acrylic paint, but now that this sealant is on there, you may need to sand and/or prime.
deealex
Original Author
14 years ago
This is what happened. Painter sprayed sealant over before painting house but got it on garage door. Also damaged other things and did a terrible job, so I fired him. His insurance co. came out and settled. So I have no idea what kind of sealant but I do know the base and trim of the house was painted with Ben. Moore exterior latex over the sealant that he applied and seems to be fine. I did purchase a can of Valspar (from Lowe's) semi gloss acrylic latex and the guy at the store said it would probably be ok to paint over the garage door. The garage door is a new steel door with white color on it.

I do have some Kills primer I could apply before the semi gloss. What do you think, please and thank you.

Dee
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paintguy22
14 years ago
It sounds like you are saying sealant and this is really a primer that he sprayed? I'm just not used to hearing the word 'sealant' used in the way you are using it. I wondered at first if he was sealing the bricks or something and got that on the garage door. I would first test to see if you can get some of the sealant off. You want to see how well it has adhered itself to the garage door before you paint over it. You can do the masking tape test where you put the tape on and press it on really well and then pull it off or you can just use your fingernail and see if you can peel it off. If it is loose at all, or comes off easily, then you should remove it of course...painting over anything that is not adhered well will just help to pull it off more. If it was a primer that he got on the garage door, and it is stuck well, then you should be fine to just paint over it with an acrylic topcoat. I would perhaps lightly sand if the door is rough first.
deealex
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm in FL and down here they put what they call a "sealant" before painting if, when you rub your hand on the old painted surface and a powder rubs off onto your hand. If not, and you just paint over it; or prime and paint over it (an old painted surface), supposedly the paint job won't last but a year or so and will begin to peel. That's why they call it a "sealant".

The sealant he put on is firmly and permanently on there without using really harsh chemicals (I did try acetone ... fingernail polish remover as suggested by the paint store) in a small spot and it took it off a bit but damaged the finish on the garage door (small spot).

I think you are right and I will just paint over with the acrylic paint I got.

Thank you so much for all your help.

Dee
paintguy22
14 years ago
I don't live in Florida, but I'm not buying it. If the house is powdery, that just means it needs to be cleaned. Perhaps this guy just didn't want to clean it.
PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
14 years ago
Like paintguy said, the word "sealant" does not mean anything to us, you need to be more specific.Being in Fla make no difference, we need to know what it was that was applied

Painting over sealant or need primer

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Painting over sealant or need primer

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