Any tips on sanding a surface that has acrylic paint?

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
I have doors that need some sanding before repainting. But when I sand I just end up with balls of paint under the sandpaper. My Sherwin-Williams guy says that this is due to the stretch of acrylics. I was using Klingspor's gold flexible backed paper (I believe).

Is stearated paper better at this? Or mesh paper? (although seems like I tried mesh awhile back with the same result).
Any hints?

Thanks
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
Slowing the sander down will help, hopefully yours is variable speed. Heat is your enemy so be sure the door is not in the sun and best to sand while the surface is cool. Weds morning is forecasted to be low 40
 

Berta

Berta
Corporate Member
Do you need to remove all of the paint? Or just get it smooth. Don’t over think. If it just needs the gloss removed, and smoothed for repaint, Hand sand. I used to be a decorative painter.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Thanks for answers. To clarify, I need to smooth the surface for repainting, not remove the paint.
Hand sanding is what I was doing, with any removed paint balling up on the paper (hence the question).
 

Berta

Berta
Corporate Member
I use fine paper in this situation. It is annoying, change paper often. (I use the cheap stuff for this part. Once it is getting close, use better paper and not so much pressure. Usually using a paper bag instead helps at the last stages
 

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