INSIDE & OUT : Prepare Wood for Paint With Liquid Sandpaper
Q. I have some dining room chairs that are stained a pecan color, and I’d like to paint them green. Is there a product that can be applied onto stained, varnished wood without sanding it that will prepare it for painting?
P.H. Laguna Hills A. There’s really a two-step process you’ll have to take, says Joe Ragsdale of Color Center in La Mirada. Using rags and Liquid Sandpaper, rub away the finish and wax buildup that you’ll probably find on your chairs. Afterward, you should probably use an oil-based primer on the chairs, which will give you more penetration than a water-based primer. After giving them at least 24 hours to dry, apply the paint finish you want. The key to doing a good job is removing the gloss and wax from the chairs when you start. That gives the paint good adhesion.
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Q. I’ve been told that the worst thing I can do to my plumbing is to flush dental floss down the toilet. Is there any truth to that?
E.C. Brea A. There may be worse things to do to your plumbing, but flushing your floss can cause problems, says Ted Blanke of Central Plumbing & Heating in La Habra. Your sewage system is not designed to handle inorganic material. Over time, the floss can collect and cause flow problems. This is especially true if you have any root in-growth into your system, which creates more opportunities for hang-ups. Even if it gets through your system, it becomes a community problem since sewage treatment plants have to filter out the garbage people throw out in their toilets.
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Q. I replaced the old beige electrical outlets and switches in two of my bedrooms recently, but something is wrong. Before, the switches operated the top receptacle in each outlet, and now all receptacles work regardless of whether the switch is up or down. Did I get the wrong kind of outlets or switches?
S.S. Tustin A. You probably got the right equipment, but it may not have been prepared properly before you installed it, says Mike McCoy of Current Supply in Westminster. There’s a thin copper tab on each side of your outlets that joins the top and bottom receptacle. With a pair of needle-nose pliers, you can pop the tabs, then you put the hot wire and switch wire in the top receptacle, the bottom receptacle is usually controlled by a hot wire from another circuit and is on all the time.
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Q. We put light oak plank flooring down in our den, but it’s made our old walnut-finished wet bar that sits in the corner look run down. We’d like to refinish the wet bar to match the flooring. What’s involved in the job?
G.K. Seal Beach A. How you approach the job is going to depend on what the bar is made of, says Jim Craig of Decratrend Paints in Anaheim. If it’s wood, it will have to be stripped down to its natural color, which may mean stripping it down with solvents, then bleaching it. If it’s wood veneer, you may have to cover the bar with some type of primer and paint or antique over it to complement the floor. Make sure you do a good masking job on the new flooring to prevent damaging it during the refinishing process.
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Q. I’d like to remove some wood paneling from one room and use it again in another. Are there any tricks to getting the panels out intact?
B.K. Orange A. First, remove any molding that may be holding it in place, says contractor Manny Alvarez of Anaheim. With a good, stiff putty knife, get the edge underneath the paneling and slowly pry it up. Once you get it pulled up a bit, push it back and you should be able to get a grip on the paneling nail heads that have been pulled out. Once you get the first panel out, the others should come up easier since you’ll have more of an area to work with.
