ᐅ Painting a wooden ceiling – Is sanding and priming necessary?

Hi experts. We are interested in buying a house. Of course, some work still needs to be done. For example, we want to paint or varnish the entire wooden ceiling and all the walls white. It is a timber frame house with beams and wooden panels. The wooden panels are untreated, while the beams are painted dark. What do you think? Does everything need to be sanded and primed before painting or varnishing? I have seen some YouTubers who applied paint that supposedly seals, primes, and colors all in one, and they did two to three coats directly. Is that possible? Attached are some photos of the wood to be varnished. Thanks for your opinions…

PATPATPAT schrieb:

The wooden panels are untreated,

They are not untreated. They have been treated with what was commonly used in the 70s and 80s (or depending on the building’s construction year). My old childhood room also has this wood panelling.

PATPATPAT schrieb:

Does everything need to be sanded and primed before painting or varnishing?

I don’t think sanding is necessary because the wood is porous and dried out. But for . .

PATPATPAT schrieb:

two to three coats.

. . you won’t avoid that. A primer is usually a diluted version of the paint that will be applied later. However, moisture can cause the wood to bleed through and show beneath light colors. I would paint everything with chalk paint. Painting the Past or Mrs Pompadour are my recommendations here. They both also provide complete instructions. I’m not sure which one is better – I’m no longer deeply involved in this topic. But if you can paint a staircase with it, you can also use it on a ceiling like this.

But really think twice, or even three or four times, about whether you want to completely paint over that beautiful, truly beautiful wood in white and thus ruin it in every way... I find it a very sad trend that everything made of wood nowadays has to be painted and covered up as if it were plastic or metal...

Painting tongue and groove boards is not that easy; spraying would be better. However, since wood expands and contracts between summer and winter, you will probably always be able to see the substrate. I would screw a Fermacell board on, apply a paintable plaster, and degrease the beams beforehand.

In this case, to be honest, I would prefer to look for a house where the roof structure is not visible...

I agree with you that this wood is really beautiful. However, the house is my partner’s parents’ home. She said that we need to make quite a few significant changes so that she doesn’t feel like she’s moving back into her “old childhood room”... which I completely understand, and I’m fully on board with painting everything white. It should look something like this later on.

We will be installing a solid wood floor, and if we do the painting ourselves, we’ll try to use an airless sprayer... I’m currently looking for a painter in Düren and the surrounding area to get a quote. I contacted ten via the “Hammer” website with pictures and a description — but received no replies. Strange. On the other hand, all ten window manufacturers responded. I’ll try the old-fashioned way and call them on the phone.