Ken Collier: Primers are one of one of the secret weapons of pro painters; they can help you get great results when you're painting in your home.

My name is Ken Collier and I'm the Editor-in-Chief of The Family Handyman, the leading brand for do-it-yourself home owners.

In this video we're going to look at painting over glossy surfaces. The most common situation is glossy trim, but you would use the same approach for painting glossy metal or even tile, you can use a premium acrylic primer or any primer that's labeled as bonding, because the problem with glossy surfaces is adhesion.

Typically for a glossy surface, you're going to want to wash it thoroughly, let it dry. Instead of sanding, many painters use a de-glosser which is kind of like a very mild stripper, which will go over the existing paint and remove the gloss give it a nice little tooth for the primer do it here, it works best on latex paints. Another important thing you should know is that if there is old paint on your trim, any paint that is before 1978, you should not sand it, this is because there is chance that the older paint had lead in that and by sanding it you released the lead dust which tends to accumulate in your home.

So if you have older paint, as we do here on our demonstration set, you should just wash it very thoroughly let it dry and prime. While you're brushing on the primer, you can use a nylon or polyester brush the same kind you would use for latex paint and clean up with warm water and soap. So that's how you would prime and paint a glossy or non porous surface.