One of the most frustrating things about painting furniture is when you find stains bleeding through the paint.
This is not fun and annoying, but you must always be ready for this possibility. Learning to fix it is best before it happens and ruins your mood.
How to Fix Paint Bleed Through
One of the quickest ways of fixing stains bleeding through is by painting your wood black or another very dark color. Stains won’t bleed through dark colors, so you will not deal with this issue.
However, if you don’t want it to be dark, you need to apply stain-blocking primer before painting and finish the furniture with an oil-based sealer to prevent bleed-through.
This technique could help provide a nice painting result.
If you notice bleed-through when painting your wood and haven’t sealed it, apply stain-block primer to the spotted area. After the primer is applied, repaint the areas before sealing with an oil-based sealer as the final touch.
How to Remove Paint Bleed from Wood
Bleeding paint is a condition when you find dome streaks of orange, brown, or yellow on your painted wood. It is usually surprising because you thought you did well until the minute later those strokes came out.
There are some ways you can do it, depending on your situation. For example, if you find the bleed-through after applying water-based polyurethane, you must scuff sand lightly and clean all the dust.
Once you finish scuffing, you can apply your favorite stain-blocking primer. After the primer is applied, paint the wood at least two coats before sealing.
If you notice bleed-through before sealing your wood, you can just repaint the wood with at least two coats of it and seal it. So depending on your condition, you can use the most suitable solution.
Using Shellac to Prevent Bleed Through
Using shellac is a popular solution for fixing and preventing bleed-through since it is easy and, most of the time, effective.
Shellac can be used not only for fixing bleed-through, but it is also great for grain showing and tannins bleeding.
To use shellac for fixing bleed-through, you can’t just apply it on the splattered areas, but you need to apply it all over your wood surface. So, don’t fix only the bleed-through areas because it doesn’t work that way.
Use a cotton rag to apply shellac and give two coats to your wood before painting. If necessary, you can add one more shellac over your paint.
Brown Stain Coming Through Primer
Tannins from the wood are the main cause of brown stain coming through primer. Stains become more noticeable when you paint your wood a lighter color because the wood contains tannins.
If a brown stain comes through after applying the fisrt coat of primer, you can add another layer. Another solution is to apply top coat paint to reduce stains.
Test it first on a small wood area to see how it works in covering stains. If it works nicely, then just cover the overall area.
Stain Blocking Primer
Using a primer is one of the easiest solutions to fix stains bleeding through. To do this, you need more than just a regular primer, which traditionally works to prepare an area before being painted.
You have to go with a stain-blocking primer since it is designed to block stains bleeding through.
When using stain-blocking primer, you must wait at least 24 hours after application to let the primer dry completely and check whether it works in covering the stain.
This is because stains bleeding can take some time to show through, especially in old-growth wood.
Yellow Bleeding Through White Paint
You may notice yellow bleeding through white paint if you paint your wood furniture. Wood tannins lead to the yellow spots bleeding through, and it ruins the whole aesthetic of your newly painted furniture.
You can fix this issue by applying stain-blocking primer followed by oil-based white paint. Using water-based paint still triggers the show-through of the yellow stains.
Choose the right stain-blocking primer that works well with your white paint and the surface you are painting to ensure you will end up with perfectly painted furniture.
Oak Cabinets Bleeding Through Paint
Painting oak cabinets, especially if you are using a light color, is challenging. Wood grain or stains coming through is the most common issue you have to deal with.
Oak, along with mahogany, walnut, and cherry, are some types of wood that are high in tannin levels.
Tannin is a chemical compound contained in wood that usually reacts to water or other liquid. When tannins from wood are released, some spots or streaks might bleed through the paint.
Using a shellac-based primer is always helpful to prevent splotches from coming through. However, if you don’t like the stinks of the shellac, then you can go with a water-based stain-blocking primer.
Use any kind of high-quality stain-blocking product to ensure you have aesthetic painted oak cabinets.
What if you find the splotches after you complete your cabinet painting project? You can use shellac primer to the splotches and repaint the cabinets once the spray has dried.
How to Stop Wood Stain from Bleeding
Painting older cabinets have a high risk of getting stains bleeding through. It happens in all types of wood, but some other types might have a higher risk than others.
Covering paint with a sealer is a great solution since it usually stops the stains from coming through. You can use wax, polyurethane, or spray shellac as a sealer.
When you use primer for the stains, always apply two coats of it since a single layer usually doesn’t work. Even if it looks works well at first, the stains will start coming through over time.
Applying two coats of primer provides the best protection for your newly painted furniture.