# Repairing and Re-painting drywall over semi-gloss



## Brushjockey (Mar 8, 2011)

De glossing doesn't have to be that severe- just give it a light but thorough sand ( I like to use either a hand sander or sponge sander- med grit. ) 
Not a bad idea to do before patching to help the patch. 
was the semi oil or latex?
After patching and sanding- prime all with a good acrylic BONDING primer.

Don't know if we've had anyone from Japan before- would be interesting to know what products are available to you.


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## barneyrubble (Aug 23, 2010)

Thanks for the quick reply.

The products over here are about 20 or 30 years behind in both quality and technology when compared with those of the US or Germany or other countries, AND nothing is cheap with the imported products being ridiculously expensive. (Quick example: I bought a 1 gallon can of primer (about $50) for my doors that was NOT self-leveling and had a heck of a time re-sanding and repainting. The interesting point is that the guy I bought the paint from, who owns his own painting company, had never heard of self-leveling.)

I used latex because my wife is ultra-sensitive to the fumes of oil-based products.

Another question, based on your reply: I already did one wall, where I tried to sand with paper before applying the texture and there was no noticeable change in the surface (maybe because of the orange peel texture), which is why I imported the liquid sander/deglosser. I ended up using my random orbit sander with 80 grit paper to de-gloss that wall before I re-textured and painted. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyhow, it was a bear of a job to clean up!! 

My question then is: since I have the de-glosser, would it have the same effect and result as hand-sanding? I'm not necessarily looking for the easy way out; I would rather do it once and have it done right than to have to go back to fix my screw up next year.


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## Brushjockey (Mar 8, 2011)

If the walls didn't scratch up- were they kind of rubbery rather than hard?
Old school latex semi isn't the hard stuff that the new trim enamels are- and you might not need to do anything. It also might be enough to put a bonding primer on first rather than sand- easy- fast and cleaner. 
I would not use the power sander or even the deglosser. Overkill.
But I wonder what you have in bonding primers. 15 years ago they were mostly oils here, now we have very many good ones.
Do you have Zinnser products there? They would have something.


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## barneyrubble (Aug 23, 2010)

"If the walls didn't scratch up- were they kind of rubbery rather than hard?"

Actually they are hard, really hard! Not rubbery at all.

As a general rule, painters over here don't use what we consider 'primer' for anything, therefore its hard to find and expensive to buy. I CAN get Benjamin Moore products here, but a gallon of primer is around $90. For the most part I have to find creative (read - affordable) ways to do things. 

The "primer" they use here is some sort of watery substance that stinks to high heaven, but works well on drywall and other such absorbent surfaces. They call it sealer. However, it won't stick to semigloss, it just runs off and makes a mess on my floor, which is why I bought the liquid sander / de-glosser.

Zinnser, as in Rust-oleum? I just checked on-line and to my surprise the products exist over here, though it appears to be only for commercial/industrial applications. I have an email address for one of the sales reps (I assume), so I'll shoot him off an email to see what he can do. Thanks for the idea.


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## Brushjockey (Mar 8, 2011)

It's really hard to advise you, when what you have and what you have access to is so different.. wish i could help more but so many of my solutions are product specific...


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## barneyrubble (Aug 23, 2010)

No worries! I appreciate your advice. G'day


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

I think the message we should take away from this is "America, what a country".


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