Anyone know about repainting over kitchen and bathroom paint?

[hisgirlfriday]

Hi,

I am about to re-paint our kitchen which was last done in kitchen/bathroom paint about 4 years ago and is now covered in a nice layer of grease and fluff as well as the usual marks and scuffs.

Does anyone know what preparation it needs? It will need washing down first - do I need t do this with sugar soap solution to get rid of the grease? I read somewhere that you couldnt paint a new layer of K/B paint directly over an old layer because it peels off, but getting confliting advice on the internet.

I've just re-read that and it makes my kitchen sound disgusting, but its really not that bad. Just a bit greasy/fluffy if you peer too closely!

I've painted over kitchen / bathroom paint before with no issues - I think the important thing is to get the walls really clean first with sugar soap and then dry them off before starting painting

If you give the walls a really good clean with sugar soap and then give them a light sanding with a fine paper (i.e. remove the sheen), this will provide a good surface for the new K&B paint to adhere to and it should cover perfectly.

There are a few reasons paint could peel - a lot of people use sugar soap but don't realise you need to rinse the walls off really well afterwards, so the grease and SS residue just dries to a film and then they paint over it. Or they could have tried to paint a matt finish paint over the K&B paint without sanding the walls first to provide a key (matt finish doesn't stick to sheen very well), or they might have sanded the walls but forgot to wipe them down afterwards to remove the fine layer of dust. None of it is actually related to the type of paint though - just poor preparation!

HTH