How to Buff Out Acrylic Paint Brush Marks

Hand sanders are ideal for buffing out brush marks.

It happens to novices and professional decorators alike: the unwelcome outbreak of brush marks on a newly painted wall. Cheap paint or brushes or a poor application technique might have caused the problem, which you can remedy the next time around. At the moment, however, you must buff out the acrylic paint brush marks so you can start with a fresh, smooth slate. For this job, you will achieve better results with a hand sander, which will give you greater control over the sanding movements than either a power sander or simply holding a piece of sandpaper in your hand.

Things You'll Need

• Dropcloth
• Bright work light
• Hand sander
• Medium-grit sandpaper (80- to 120-grit)
• Cotton rags

Instructions

1. Cover the floor area with a dropcloth.

2. Set up and plug in a bright work light on the wall and direct it squarely on your work area. Move the light around so that it always shines on the area you are sanding.

3. 

   Invest in quality paint supplies; they go a long way in preventing unwelcome brush marks.

   Insert a piece of medium-grit sandpaper into the hand sander. Do not use fine-grit – which may quickly clog and disintegrate under pressure – or coarse-grit – which can create gouges in the wall.

4. Begin sanding the wall with a light touch, applying even pressure and a slight push and pull movement. Sand the wall in small circular motions, not up-and-down motions that may scrape the wall.

5. Wipe the wall with an old cotton rag and inspect your work. If the paint and brush marks are gone, move on to the next step. If not, continue sanding.

6. Buff out tricky areas – such as around electrical and cable outlets – with a piece of hand-held sandpaper. Work very gently around these areas, and move the sandpaper in small, circular motions until the brush marks are gone.

7. 

   Properly loading a roller will help prevent imperfections.

   Wipe the wall again with a rag to remove large deposits of dust.

Tips & Warnings

• You face a choice in how to finish the job: you can thoroughly wipe the wall with a wet rag and leave it to dry before you paint again. Or, as many decorators are now doing, you can leave the fine layer of dust on the wall that will exist without wiping it down and proceed to paint. The thought here is that a fine layer of dust – invisible to the naked eye – will fall into any remaining brush or sand strokes to create a primer, of sorts, for the layer of paint. Experiment with both methods to see which works best on your wall.

References

• Paint Recipes; Liz Wagstaff; 1996
• Annie Sloan’s Complete Book of Decorative Paint Finishes; Annie Sloan; 2004

Resources

• Decorative Paint Finishes; Creative Homeowner Press; 1994
• Step-by-Step Decorative Painting; Peter and Paula Knott; 1996