I am working on my Eagle Project for Boy Scouts and part of my project is re-painting the boys locker room in my school. It currently has oil-based paint on the walls. I would like to use Latex paint for the ease of use and clean up but am unsure of the process for painting over oil based paint. I would most likely like to use a Latex semi gloss. The walls are cinder-block walls and are painted with a semi-gloss now.

What type of primer and paint should I use. Do I need to use a special primer for cement? What about the paint, does it need to be a special cement paint?

Any help is appreciated!

Hello, Eagle Project!

The general rule of thumb is that you don't put oil over latex paints because the latex will be flexible as a surface area expands and contracts and might crack the rather inflexible oil paint that would be put on it. But, you can put the latex over the oil paint.

If the walls are already a semi-gloss, then I would recommend either sanding them lightly or using a chemical deglosser and then priming them. Modern, latex primers would work just fine.

I like to use Sherwin-Williams products. Dutch Boy paint, which would be less expensive, is also made by Sherwin-Williams.