Visible Brush Strokes

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TxHomeowner

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Very visible brush strokes on water based cabinet and trim paint. I'm hoping to find a way to lessen these eyesores without completely repainting.

Two solutions come to mind. The first is to sand with 220, 320 or higher grit then buff the area or apply a water based clear coat. The second solution is to use automotive compound then wax the area. Your opinion on my ideas plus what you recommend as the real solution.

Thank you.
 
Both ideas seem harder than to recoat with paint. Why not just add a second coat with a good roller or brush?
It will have to be sanded. Another coat is a good idea yet it will still show the terrible brush strokes. Btw, the painter was let go.
 
Flo-trol to the paint is an excellent idea I have also had great luck with adding clear water based poly to latex paints. Try at your own risk. The key to painting my dad taught me as a kid. Always brush into a wet edge never out of a wet edge, and always keep a wet edge. There are also rolling spray and pads that could help.
 
If you are using a brush, guess what? you will have brush strokes:hide:
 
Water-based paints are self-leveling and don't like to be over-worked. I'd sand and repaint. Give it a full coat, not spreading it excessively or letting it build thickly, finishing the back-stroke with only the tips of the bristles. It will self-level and most of the brush strokes will disappear all by themselves.

I've brushed oil-based alkyd enamels to a near mirror finish with almost no brush marks visible unless you looked really hard. You see just a little waviness which spraying doesn't give. Penetrol, just enough thinner to add working time, work fast, and lay off back into the wet at about a 30 degree angle of brush-to-surface keeping the brush flat, but pulling away gently. It's the laying-off (some call it "tipping") that makes all the difference and I've not yet found a water-based paint which would equal this.

One mistake means re-doing the entire area, Going too slowly and letting the paint 'tack' means the same. And a couple days wait before you can re-do it as oil paints fully cure more slowly than latex does. Your cost is 2.5X a brushed latex job plus materials. My cost is stress: it's the most demanding work I've ever done requiring your full concentration and no slowing of speed. After half a day of this it's time to go home; you're shot mentally and physically. Many skills of painting have been lost since latex paints took over. Brushing oil-based paints is an entirely different game and most painters don't want to touch the stuff but it is perhaps the most durable good looking gloss job there is, and it's de~rigeur for restoration work because that was how it was originally done.

Phil
 
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