Peeling paint inside barn

[Alice]

When my barn was new to me it came with peeling paint. I went to a paint store, described my situation and left with $$ primer and paint.

I sanded everything before priming, painted 2 coats. After one winter (insulated barn) the new paint and primer started peeling off the original, sanded and painted wood. I spent sooo much time sanding the first time, any suggestions about what I can do this time?

Sand down to bare wood (gulp), or maybe I need a different kind of primer? The original paint is obviously oil based, which I can’t buy here…

[endlessclimb]

Any pictures? How bad is it?

[Alice]

Uploading: PXL_20250630_183414018.jpg…

That’s 2 doors, the one I’ve almost sanded down quite a bit, the other one is more representative of what I’m facing. My primer and paint is peeling off the shiny, original white paint.

Thanks!

[endlessclimb]

Not sure of others, but I can’t view the pics.

[Alice]

Trying again to upload

[Bluey]

We had a problem with peeling paint and mold in our old barn office.
We used Kilz, a white primer, after barely cleaning the old paint from mold and flaking areas.
It looked so well didn’t use any other paint and that primer was still fine 20+ years later!

Have you used Kilz primer yet?

[mmeqcenter]

To put a latex paint on top of an oil-based paint, you have to use a bonding primer, not just any basic primer.
And even then, it’s tough to get paint to stick to IME.

If you can, strip down to wood. You can use a stripper, you don’t have to just sand it. Or you can rent a sand-blaster.

[Alice]

That sounds amazing! Haven’t tried that but will look into it. Appreciate it.

[Alice]

Yeah I used a primer that was supposed to work between the 2 types but it didn’t really work at all.

[4horses]

The first time I painted my barn, I used polyurethane. It worked great for about 10 years and then peeled off. I repainted with a semigloss latex which looked great for about 1 year and immediately lost its shine. The paint is holding up just fine but the shine is gone.

I think they sell oil based deck paint. That might work.

[Foxglove]

My peeling paint woe is on metal gates. I paid my Amish neighbor kids to sand, prime, and paint 8 metal gates --I used the Acetone to etch because I didn’t think the kiddos should handle it. Complete failure. One year and they are peeling. Like you I went to the paint store and bought all the correct items for primer --specific to metal, and paint --same. We primed and painted on cool days --not in the sun or heat.

My DH said the only way to permanently paint those gates is take them to an auto body shop and have them sandblasted, painted, and baked.

Sigh.

Not doing that. Too labor intensive and expensive.

One word of caution --I did look into sandblasting --one can rent the devise for sandblasting --however, one also needs to wear protective clothing and it isn’t just a mask --apparently the sand can cause health issues. Too told for that.

[Annie10]

I second the sand blasting but it is a huge pain.
What if you sanded it all again, and then did something like Thompson water seal?
You could rent a big sander to do it and then use a paint sprayer for the water seal

[alfonsina]

Stains don’t peel. I would scrape off the loose paint and then put a solid body stain on the wood.

[Pico_Banana]

I put a solid stain over polyurethane. Still looks great 4 years later. I guess there’s one spot starting to peel but I think the wood there was a bit rotted and I just painted over it.