It appears that the previous owners of our house were overly fond of silicone caulk. They used it around every window interior, and to fill nail holes in the walls (and smeared around the nailholes). When we went to repaint one room, we could not get paint to stick to the spots that had been caulked.
Short of resanding and retexturing (there are alot of siliconed spots) can anything be done?
Replies
Unfortunately the short answer is the best solution would be to remove the caulk and try again with a paintable acrylic latex.
For nail holes in the walls and trim it should be fairly easy to remove the silicone and fill with the holes with either wood filler or spackle then prime and paint. If they used it along the joint between casing and the wall it will be a little more difficult/time consuming to remove.
In my opinion you're much better off spending the time to do the necessary prep work now then having to redo it later.
That said there was a recent discussion about this here and someone said they have had luck sanding the silicone to provide a "tooth" for the paint to hold and then painting it. I do not remember if they suggested oil or latex.
If you try the advanced search option in the upper corner you may be able to locate the discussion, try typing in paint & silicone caulk.
sorry to say..
remove ALL of it and replace with normal suitable products....
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The best answer is most certainly removal, but I am the guy who had some success (not perfect) with sanding and painting (latex). While I haven't gone the removal route (thank God my buddy only made that mistake once), I hear that it's necessary to clean all the silicone residue off meticulously before anything will bond to it.
Here's the thread...
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?start=Start+Reading+%3E%3E
Good luck!
PaulB
For nail holes drill out the caulk with about a 1/8" drill bit. You don't have to drill all the way through, just 1/4" or so deep. A lot easier than trying to dig it out with a utility knife or whatever. Around the hole you'll likely have to scrape/sand off the residue, though. Then fill with spackle.
If you search for "paintable silicone" or some such you'll find a recent thread (last posted to a day or two ago) containing some ideas for how to get paint to stick to the stuff, in situations where removing it is too much of a PITA.