Proper way to repaint aluminum rails

There are two critical steps in prepping kitchen walls.

Clean and degloss

Cleaning is critical: TSP or TSP substitute.

Deglossing: either light sanding (120 grit) or a chemical deglosser

Once a surface is deglossed, it should be primed, especially if going from one paint type to another.

A deglossed oil undercoat can be primed with a latex primer. Either oil or latex can then be used as a topcoat.

A deglossed oil undercoat can be primed with a oil primer. Either oil or latex can then be used as a topcoat.

It is better to stick within families of paint types, if you can, but going back and forth between types is possible with primers.

At this stage in coating, I'd let everything dry for a week, then sand lightly. If the previous layers are adhering, then proceed with latex primer, latex topcoat.

If,, however, they are sloughing or chipping or you can easily pull a layer off if you leave painters tape on overnight (and then pull it off), then you must sand down to the last well adhered layer and then repaint. Good luck.

If you want the boards to look brand spanking new again, you will want to go with method one. I'd use a heat gun to do it, and not the harsh chemical strippers. Either method takes about as long as the other and the heat gun method is less toxic, and, you either already have a heat gun and don't need to spend money, or you'll buy one and have it for a long time - they come in handy. You'll want a good organic vapor respirator for either method still, and a variety of scraping tools.

Method two sounds more appropriate if perfection is not important. Going this route, you'll want to start with various putty knives and scrapers and knock off any obviously loose and flaky paint, and then use 120 grit sand paper not to remove all the paint, but only to rough up the surface of any remaining paint that is sound and knock down any really high spots. This will leave you with patches of bare wood, and patches of sound, old paint. I don't recommend trying to sand off all of the old paint. If this is your goal, then go with method one. Also - buy expensive sand paper. Cheap sandpaper is a false economy as you'll burn through it so much faster than the good stuff.

Either way, you should use primer whenever painting bare wood, or a combination of bare wood and sound paint. You don't need primer when only painting over sound old paint.