The Way to Fix a Press Board Vanity From Painting and Peeling
Vanities are vulnerable to excess moisture due to their location beside a shower or tub enclosure. Even water-resistant paint won’t prevent volatile pressboard, or particleboard, from swelling. If the paint onto a vanity starts to peel, then it means that moisture has already penetrated into the pressboard construction. To properly fix the paint onto the dressing table, you will have to seal the pressboard and apply a fresh coat of paint.
Remove the door in the vanity using a Phillips screwdriver. Remove drawers if it has them. Spread a plastic drop cloth on a worktable and put the drawers and door onto the drop cloth. Spread a shed fabric around the base of this dressing table.
Place rubber gloves. Scrub off all the peeling paint in the door, the drawers and the vanity with a steel brush or some detail abrasive brush attachment onto a rotary tool. Apply a coat of compound paint stripper to all the painted surfaces with a brush. Pressboard vanities are designed to be cheap; there will not be any paint on the interior. Allow the stripper sit wood for the required time, according to the manufacturer’s directions on the can.
Scrape off the gelled stripper with a putty knife. Scrape in the top down, letting the gelled paint fall off the bottom onto the shed fabric. Scrape the doors and drawer fronts. Once each the paint is removed, allow the vanity dry for one hour.
Sand all the surfaces with at least 100-grit sandpaper attached to a hand block, a rotary tool with a sanding disk accessory or an oscillating tool armed with a hook and loop pad attachment fitted using 120-grit sandpaper before the timber is smooth. Spray the dressing table generously, including the interior, with one coat of aerosol lacquer sealer. Allow the sealer dry for one hour.
Sand the dressing table indoors and out with 180-grit sandpaper attached to your hand block until smooth or the oscillating tool fitted with a 220-grit sandpaper attachment. Use a paintbrush to apply up to two coats of enamel water-resistant paint to all exposed surfaces in the doorway, drawers and dressing table. Wait 24 hours for the paint to dry, then rehang the door and replace the drawers.