How to Paint Over Glossy Paint for Professional-Grade Adhesion

Proper preparation can make or break your paint job, particularly when you’re covering high-gloss paint. Any interior or exterior paint finish can lose adhesion because of surface contaminants, multiple layers of paint, and poor substrate conditions. Gloss finishes are made to be durable and dry to a shiny finish, which can resist stains but also resists new coats of paint.

Understanding how to paint over glossy paint will help you achieve your desired result the first time. Professionals often use mechanical dulling techniques to de-gloss paint. They also check primer compatibility to find formulas that stick to treated glossy paint.

To achieve their shiny finish, glossy paints have a higher binder and resin to pigment ratio than matte finishes or duller paints. They aren’t as porous as other paints, which makes it difficult for new paint to stick.

Paint bonds to a textured wall or older layers of paint by flowing into porous material. It also bonds chemically to primer on a molecular level. Most paints have low surface tension to spread evenly without beading or bubbling. Because high-gloss paints are so smooth, they don’t have as many small crevices for the new paint to flow into.

Part of how to paint over a glossy finish successfully involves de-glossing the old paint to create these needed crevices.

Follow these steps from professional painters to cover glossy paint.

Step 1: Clean and Inspect the Surface

High-gloss paint on its own is hard to cover. It’s even more so when the surface is dirty. Paint doesn’t stick well to dust, oil, grease, and other contaminants. Before starting surface preparation, clean and inspect the area.

Use a degreaser to remove any dirt and grime. Strip away any wallpaper or leftover adhesives using an abrasive sponge, such as the Drywall Sanding Sponge.

Once your surface is clean, look for any small cracks, holes, and other damage you can easily repair. Use a small knife to fill the damaged area with joint compound or spackling and let it dry completely.

Step 2: Dull the Gloss for Adhesion

Successfully painting over a glossy surface calls for sanding to dull the shine. You can reduce the amount of sanding required by using a bonding primer, but you can’t cover glossy paint without some sanding.

Load a radial sander or a hand sander with 180-220 grit sandpaper and sand the paint down to an even surface. Scuff the surface until it’s no longer shiny. You don’t have to sand all the way to the primer to create a grippy surface for your new paint.

If you’ve made any repairs, sand the joint compound until the surface is level with the rest of the area. You can stick with the 180-220 grit for this job, but you might want to go over it multiple times if the joint compound is thicker.

When you’re done sanding, clean the dust. Make this step easier by using Hyde Tools’ dust-free sanders to clean as you go.

Step 3: Apply the Right Primer

Using primer over a sanded surface will improve your new paint’s adhesion by creating chemical bonds, along with the mechanical bonds from the sanding. The right primer makes for professional, even coats, helping build up a more durable finish that resists scratches and daily wear.

Choose a primer made for glossy surfaces. If you’re working in an older space, consider using a stain-blocking primer to keep old spots from bleeding through the new paint. Otherwise, a bonding or adhesive primer made for glossy surfaces will give you a better result.

Apply an even coat of primer and let it dry completely before going in with your new paint. You can sand the primer for an even smoother finish.

Step 4: Apply the Topcoat for a Durable Finish

Once your surface is properly prepared, it’s time to add your topcoat. It’s best not to use a paint and primer all-in-one on glossy surfaces, because you need the right type of primer to help your topcoat adhere.

Use high-quality paint brushes, rollers, and other paint applicators for even coats. Start with one coat and let it dry completely. If you’re happy with your finish after a single coat, you’re done. Otherwise, add more thin coats until you achieve your desired result. Let each coat dry before adding more paint.

High-gloss surfaces aren’t limited to paint. Painting baseboards, cabinets, trim, and other wood surfaces is a quick, inexpensive way to refresh any interior, but woods are often coated in high-gloss finishes to make them more durable.

Understanding how to paint over glossy wood is useful even if the rest of your room has a satin or matte finish. These tips also apply to wood furniture:

1. Thoroughly clean your surface: Because cabinets are often in kitchens or bathrooms and are touched frequently, they may be covered in oil or grease. Use dish soap or a degreasing cleanser to clean the cabinet, trim, or baseboard before painting it. Scrub in the same direction as the wood grain.
2. Fix any damage: Baseboards and trim may show minor damage from foot traffic, weather, vacuum cleaners, and other daily habits. Fix any damage using wood filler.
3. Prep the wood for paint:  Once you’ve cleaned and fixed up the wood, sand it using 180-220 grit sandpaper. Paint adheres best to natural wood, and this step removes any old stains or varnishes. Sand in the direction of the wood grain.
4. Prime the wood: Use a bonding primer to prime your wood surfaces.
5. Apply the topcoat: After your primer is dry, paint the wood in thin, even coats. Let each one dry completely before adding a new coat.

With the right tools, painting over glossy walls doesn’t have to be labor-intensive. Hyde Tools’ selection of sanding sponges and fine-grit blocks will help you dull old glossy paint evenly for a better result. Our dust-free systems clean as you sand, so you’re not spending tons of time dealing with dust before you prime.

Check out our collection of professional tools for everything you need to refinish glossy surfaces.