Sticky paint

[reptileink]

So I painted my cab recently and used some gloss arcrlyic paint. I painted right over the laminate, and everything went pretty smooth. However, 5 days later it's still kind of tacky. Not like it comes off when you touch it, but it's not fully cured. Could this be due to heat/humidity? It's outside in the garage. Paint did peel off almost like plastic when I took the back door off.

Should I seal it??

If so, is there a roll-on sealer that would work ok?? 

[RayB]

Did you use a coat of primer first?

[reptileink]

Did you use a coat of primer first?

 

no, I didn't.....

[DrFrag]

I had that happen on a project after rushing the second coat.

Someone told me a few years earlier that if the first coat isn't fully dry, the second coat will be tacky and never dry properly.

Never's a long time, so I sanded it back and started again. 

Wouldn't hurt to experiment with a sealer or whatever.

[Encryptor]

It could very well be the humidity that is affecting the dry time.

Encryptor

[reptileink]

I had that happen on a project after rushing the second coat.

Someone told me a few years earlier that if the first coat isn't fully dry, the second coat will be tacky and never dry properly.

Never's a long time, so I sanded it back and started again. 

Wouldn't hurt to experiment with a sealer or whatever.

As in fully sanded down, or just sanded the top coat??? I'd really hate to have to strip all this paint off. Maybe after my cookout I will attempt it. It's not really bad, and I don't expect everyone to be touching the sides and whatnot. But you could defiantly pull of some paint if you rubbed it hard enough.

[gryhnd]

Having grown up with a paint chemist (my dad), I can tell you that he pretty much would say this: if you didn't rough up (sand) the surface and then prime it, your paint is not going to be provided a proper base for adhesion. Roughing up is assuming this is going on your typical smooth surface laminate.

I just tried calling him to confirm, but he's in a restaurant or bar somewhere right now 

[Grasshopper]

You have my sympathy. I learnt the hard way that some cheap paints never dry properly. I painted the sides of my control panel with some crappy black paint (described as enamel) that I bought from a DIY store and now, several years later, I could still easily mark it with a fingernail if I wanted to.

The moral of this story is don't buy cheap paint as you'll regret it in the long run. Also, make sure that whatever paint you buy, you test it first on a scrap piece of wood.

[YoGaBaR]

I have had a sticky problem before. I had a super pacman I restored. sanded and primed. I had it set in a garage for almost 3 weeks with an air conditioner running the whole time. had a dehumidifyer. took it to a bodyshop and had them bake it in their oven.

Turned out that the stupid retarded mixologist at SW put too much pigment in the paint (very dark blue color) and it never dried. They said since it was a dark color and they put so much pigment in that they said it would never dry. Although I had stripped and repainted the cab 3 times and wasted over 2 months that was the problem. So I finally got some special paint from a place that said not to tell anyone kinda thing and mixed some dark blue that would dry on my cab.

[gryhnd]

Addendum: I think you have two issues going on. Obviously one of adhesion. The other is either a bad batch of paint, poor drying conditions, or potentially some incompatibility between components in the paint and the laminate or something applied previously to the laminate.

[surface tension]

Primer is absolutely essential, I can't stress this enough. Just bite the bullet and sand it all off. You're not going to be happy otherwise.

I had this issue with Plastikote once. Primed first, then a single coat which never dried... awful, awful paint. Never again.

[reptileink]

Well, to clarify, it was a $30 gallon of paint, not something I describe as cheap. I have painted many walls in our house, and always put the second coat on when the first is still sort of tacky, and never had a problem. Obviously that's different than painting laminate.

I should have known better, but I only had one day to paint this, and I started out with a rattle can.....that ended quickly, and I ran to the store to buy some "real" paint. There was no mixing as this came already black.

What about a matte sealer, would that work?? I really have no energy to strip this thing back down........sigh

[Grasshopper]

I had this issue with Plastikote once. Primed first, then a single coat which never dried... awful, awful paint. Never again.

That's the paint I used! And yes you're right, it's bloody awful. If anyone from the UK is reading this thread then I must warn you to never ever buy Plastikote paint (or anything else from B&Q for that matter).