Latex on furniture

[Karen Pinkerton]

I'm a real novice at this so please bear with me. I'm making a set of bunk beds for the g-kids (twin over double). I originally planned to use alkaloid paint but was worried about the yellowing. I bought Behr Premium Plus Hi-Gloss Enamel and have already painted the head and foot boards.

After reading several threads about latex paints this morning I’m now really worried about it drying hard enough to withstand a beating from a 7 and 5 yr old. :eek:

Is there any way to salvage this without sanding down to the bare wood? It has many slats and painting was bad enough without having to sand and paint again.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Sam Murdoch]

I can't comment on the specifics of Behr paint but generally speaking, quality latex paint that has been applied over a well prepared and primed wood surface and allowed to dry properly before being placed into hard service (which depending on humidity could be at least 72 hours to 7 days) is a good durable finish. Yes there are definitely harder finishes but the great aspect of latex is how easy it is to repair. You may need to touch up rails and headboards after in the future but you should never need to sand and repaint slats. Then again with a 7 and a 5 year old you probably should have built the bed with galvanized iron pipe :rolleyes:.

[Karen Pinkerton]

Thanks Sam! That makes me feel better. I did prime and prepare the wood properly. I also just realized the paint is 100% acrylic which should help. I plan to let it dry for at least 2 weeks.

Karen

[Casey Gooding]

If you have spray equipment, you can always spray a few coats of lacquer over the paint once it has dried. I have done this quite a few times and have had good luck with it.

[John TenEyck]

You will be fine. That paint, as you said, is 100% acrylic enamel, and should cure pretty hard in a few days. My opinion only, but there's no benefit to putting a clearcoat on top.

[Karen Pinkerton]

Thanks guys. After 2 weeks I'm going to find an inconspicuous place and give it beating to see how it holds up.

[Derek Stockley]

I built a train table for my nephew 3 or 4 years ago out of mdf and finished it with latex paint. He's 6 now and he has two younger siblings. The three of them have literally kicked, hammered, smashed, spilled, climbed and walked all over this thing and it's still holding up reasonably well. The MDF blistered a little in a couple of spots where they managed to get through the finish. I used 1 coat of white primer, 2 thin coats of average quality latex for colour, then 2 coats of varathane diamond water-based finish once the latex had dried for a week. I'm pretty sure this would have worked even better on solid wood. The varathane diamond is very often used on floors, and is very clear when dry. It didn't change the colour much if at all.

[Jim Becker]

If you have spray equipment, you can always spray a few coats of lacquer over the paint once it has dried. I have done this quite a few times and have had good luck with it.
Laquer (solvent based) will eat up most other finishes. A water borne finish would work for this, but you'd be putting a hard finish over a soft finish and that's not necessarily going to increase the durability...