| Q: I sanded a piece of furniture that was stained and had a lacquer finish. I then placed a gray primer over the piece that dried and looked smooth. Then I put on a thin coat of black enamel paint with a brush. My daughter was trying to help and while I was gone took a regular roller for a textured wall and put on a thick coat of paint. That was three weeks ago and the paint is still tacky. The furniture piece was sitting in her garage and a painter told me that it was too humid and it needed to be moved. He also thinks there might be something wrong with the paint. I have tried to re-sand the piece because the finish looks like an orange peel in most places but I am afraid that I might need to re-sand completely or even use a stripper on it. The painter also said I should only use latex paint and not enamel. Can you please give me any suggestions? We live in Indiana and it is very humid at this time. I have moved the piece to my garage which is air-conditioned.
A: While it is odd for paint to be tacky after three weeks, it is certainly possible with the combination of humidity and overly thick application you described. The good news is that put in the right environment, warm and dry, it will eventually cure, though it may take quite a while. If you don’t want to wait, or if you can’t live with the texture, strip it with paint remover and start over. Incidentally, the painter’s advice about only using latex is way off the mark. There is nothing wrong with using enamel; in fact most enamels are far more durable than most latex paints. Had you continued to apply thin coats the way you started, you would now have a wonderful and very durable piece. It certainly sounds to me that you were doing everything right up until the time you got ‘help’ from your daughter.
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