Expert: Eileen Cronk - 8/16/2008

Question
Friends have bought a home with blistered finish on the woodwork.  What do they do with it?  This  home was built in the early 1900's so not sure what the finish is.  It is very dark.  What will this treatment do to freshly painted walls or should it be done before painting.

Answer
Hi Karen
Nice to hear from you.
All work on the woodwork should be done before the fresh painting.
Sounds to me like this dark finish is varnish.
The only solution is to sand the bad areas and apply a fresh coat of varnish.
On the off chance this is shellac, get a bottle of denatured alcohol and try a test.
Dip a rag in the alcohol and rub the blistered area.
If its shellac, it should soften and hopefully remove the blistering.
Then apply a fresh coat
If its varnish, the alcohol will have no effect.
The only thing that will remove varnish is paint and varnish stripper and thats a job you want to avoid ..trust me LOL.
Hope this has helped
Kind Regards
Eileen