Shoutout to my friend who called my paint prep lazy

Honestly, I was painting my kitchen cabinets in my apartment and just wiped them down with a wet cloth. My friend came over, ran a finger over one and said 'You're gonna have peeling paint in a year, you didn't degrease them.' She was right, I totally skipped that step. I stopped, went to the hardware store for a bottle of TSP substitute, and scrubbed everything down. It added a whole extra hour to the job, but the primer stuck way better. Anyone have a different cleaner they swear by for greasy kitchen surfaces?

4 comments

4 Comments

williams.jenny1mo ago

Ugh I feel this so hard. I did the exact same thing with my bathroom vanity last year and had to redo the whole thing after six months. That invisible grease film is no joke. Your friend did you a solid even if it stung a bit. I use the TSP substitute too, it's cheap and just works. That extra hour sucks but it beats watching all your work bubble up later.

hayden_nelson851mo ago

That "invisible grease film" is way overhyped. A good scrub with soapy water gets it off just fine, people just love to make simple jobs harder. All that extra cleaning is a waste of time for most DIY paint.

susanm561mo ago

You might be right about it being overhyped. I've painted plenty of rooms with just a good wash and had no issues. Sometimes the extra steps feel like solving a problem that isn't really there.

morgan8981mo ago

My old landlord in Phoenix used to skip the primer step on every turnover. After three years, every single apartment had paint peeling near the kitchen and bathroom doors. It's the same with car washes that skip the pre-rinse, you just end up grinding the dirt into the clear coat.