Painting over stain

[Modstock]

Can you paint over stain.
The original builder of my tear stained the ceiling but its way too dark and I want to lighten it up inside .

[CarlLaFong]

Sand and seal it first with shellac or Kilz

[VijayGupta]

"Clean and dull."

- Wash with water and Dawn. Let dry.
- Scuff sand to rough up the surface
- Shellac is a good barrier/binder coat. Zinsser's BIN is a shellac-based white primer. Be sure to ventilate while you're doing this.
- Paint with a quality acrylic or oil-based paint. Cheap latex paint can "block" - meaning glue to itself and other items.

[MtnDon]

The question is more that of "is the existing finish oil based or water/latex based"? Latex does not work well over oil unless proper preparation is performed.

You can test to see if it's oil or latex by rubbing an area of the old finish with an alcohol soaked cloth. Laquer thinner can be used as well. So can nail polish remover that contains acetone. If the old finish is latex some color will rub off. In the case of paint the latex will soften. If it is an oil based finish nothing happens.

**If the old finish is latex based stain you can paint over with any latex paint. A sealing primer may make the change from a dark to a light color easier.
**If the old finish is oil based stain you can paint directly over with oil paint; primer and then finish coat.
**If the old finish is oil based and you wish to use latex paint, sand to roughen the surface, then apply a latex based primer. Complete with a latex paint of your color choice.