Can You Paint Over Old Oil Paint With Acrylic Paint?

There may be times when you might not be happy with an old paint job and wish to refresh it with a new color. However, you may decide you no longer want to use the same type of paint as the original coat. If you’re going to paint over oil paint, you might wonder if you can use acrylic for your project. 

Acrylic paint can’t be used to paint over oil-based paints. The two substances don’t blend well together and can cause immediate or eventual problems in your paint job. You can only paint over oil-based paintings with acrylic if you’ve scrubbed the oil paint off first.

In this article, I’ll explain in detail what can happen if you try to paint over oil paint with acrylic, what to do if you still wish to use acrylic for your project, and the circumstances within which oil paint can be used over acrylics. Can You Paint Over Old Oil Paint With Acrylic Paint? No.

What Happens When You Paint Acrylic Over Oil Paint?

It’s easy to say that you can’t use an acrylic paint over an oil one. That’s because the bases of these two paints are very different, with oil paint being oil-based and acrylic being water-based. 

However, you might not realize what could happen if you paint one over the other.

If you paint acrylic over oil paint, the acrylic might peel because it won’t stick to the oil paint. A longer-term problem that might arise is that acrylic paint will eventually crack because it will suffocate the oil paint. 

Let’s look at these problems in more detail. 

Your Paint Will Bubble and Crack

The most common thing that will happen if you use acrylic over oil paint is a cracking paint job.

Acrylic paint might be water-based, but it functions similarly to a latex plastic coating. That means that, though this type of paint is quite durable, it doesn’t breathe well. 

This isn’t usually a problem when painting most surfaces. However, if acrylic is used over a surface that needs to breathe, it can cause a problem. 

Oil paint needs to breathe because it will release gasses over time. These gasses won’t disappear just because they’re painted over. Instead, the paint will suffocate and continue to release them until a crack forms to allow the build-up of gasses to escape. 

Since plastic, and by default acrylic, doesn’t breathe, this means the only way for these oil paint gasses to escape is by creating air bubbles that will eventually turn into cracks in the paint. 

Your Paint Will Peel

While paint cracks are the most common result, you may only notice this after some time, since it might take a while for this to become a problem. 

However, you might encounter a short-term problem if you use paints in this order as well, and that’s peeling paint. Oil and water don’t mix well in their natural forms, and the same applies to substances that use these two liquids as their bases as well. 

Water-based paint won’t adhere to oil-based paint because the oil will create too slick of a surface. This is even more so the case when glossy oil paint is being painted over. 

This effect is most commonly seen when only one coat of acrylic paint is used, as using multiple coats can mask this issue. If you only use one coat of paint, then the peeling will be noticeable immediately as the acrylic dries. 

However, if you use more than one coat, it might take time before the peeling gets to the point where you’ll notice it. At that point, the peeling will contribute to cracking and bubbling paint. 

What To Do Before Painting Acrylic Paint Over Oil Paint

While it might seem impossible to use acrylic, or any water-based paint, over a surface that’s been painted with oil-based paint, that’s not the case. If you want to use acrylic over oil, there are some steps you can take to make your project a successful one. 

Make Sure Your Oil Paint Coat Is Old and Cured

Before you paint over oil paint with an acrylic, the first thing you need to make sure of is that the original paint is old enough to give the oil time to cure. 

After close to two years, oil paint will start to settle completely. At that point, the oil base can be considered “cured,” meaning the amount of gas released will decrease. This paint will be more likely to react well to an acrylic paint coat. 

If you have to paint over oil with acrylic paint, waiting until the original paint is fully cured will help preserve the integrity of your new paint. 

Scrub and Remove the Old Paint

In most cases, the best thing to do when you want to use acrylic over oil paint is to remove the oil paint. 

This might seem like a difficult process, but it’s not as challenging as it might appear. You simply have to scrape the old paint with a paint scraper, or if you’re worried about scratching the surface you’re painting, you can scrub the oil paint off with soap and water. 

You may not be able to remove all the paint residue from whatever you’re painting, but you’ll be able to remove the gloss and most of the other components of oil paints that will cause problems with your acrylic coat. 

Use Multiple Coats of Paint

The last thing you need to do to help ensure your acrylic paint will last if you paint over a surface that initially had an oil-based coat is use more than one coat of paint. 

Depending on the surface you’re painting, this may or may not seem like a standard piece of advice, since using more than one coat of paint is common in some projects but not others. 

Using multiple coats of paint will help ensure that any gasses released by cured oil paints or any leftover residue from removed paint won’t cause cracking or peeling down the line. 

Can You Paint Over Acrylic Paint With Oil Paint?

Since it’s not recommended to paint acrylic over oil paint without preparing your painting surface first, you might wonder if the same is true in the reverse order. 

You can use oil over acrylic paint because this won’t cause the oil paint to suffocate. You can also apply oil-based paint over water-based paint, and acrylic will sit quite happily on any water-based paintings.

Remembering these steps is essential to the success of your painting projects, so make sure you plan ahead before doing something you might regret.

Final Words

Both oil and acrylic paints are very common mediums to work with, so it’s possible that you might need to paint one over the other at some point during a painting project. However, while you can paint oil over acrylic without a problem, you need to prepare your surface properly if you want to paint acrylic over oil pain. This will ensure the color lasts and the integrity of your painting is protected.

Sources

• Arts & Crafts Stack Exchange: Is there any way to paint with acrylics over oil?
• Sustain the Art: Can you apply acrylic paint over oil paint?
• Bob Vila: Solved! The Rules for Painting Over Oil-Based Paint
• Art Is Fun!: Using oils and acrylics in the same painting