You will typically find it in a white powdered or crystallized form and it is normally mixed with water to create an alkaline cleaning solution.
Cleaning kitchen cabinets with tsp before painting.
Tsp stands for trisodium phosphate.
Use high quality latex primer or an oil based primer on unstained wood.
According to wikipedia tsp is.
Prepping cabinets for painting is important.
The best primer for kitchen cabinets depends on the wood.
To clean grease off kitchen cabinets before you paint them we like to spray down all surfaces with krud kutter then scrub them really well.
After stripping and before refinishing or painting patch any conspicuous holes scratches and nicks with wood filler.
Before painting sand lightly and prime.
The cleaning formula was specially made to be used on washable surfaces in and around the home.
The surface may not need sanding and stripping but it must be clean.
Depending on the condition of the cabinets we usually stick to the medium and coarse bristles.
Tsp was commonly used prior to the 1970 s to clean walls prior to painting them.
These brushes have soft medium and coarse bristles.
Using a powerful degreaser like tsp trisodium phosphate to clean and etch the surface is strongly recommended.
Trisodium phosphate tsp e339 is a cleaning agent lubricant food additive stain remover and degreaser it is a white granular or crystalline solid highly soluble in water producing an alkaline solution.
The quality of a paint job depends on a perfectly clean surface.
The first thing you are going to do is in your quart bucket measure 4oz or a 1 2 cup of tsp.
If you have an oil based paint on your wood then i d clean them with tsp if you intend to repaint that wood.
Cleaning cabinets with vinegar before painting or using a mix with rubbing alcohol can ensure you get a deep clean.
Then fill your larger bucket with 2 gallons of warm water.
When dry sand lightly to smooth out the patch.
If you want to take the easy way out with tsp and not have to mix the powder yourself you can buy it in a spray bottle like i did.
For those who are interested in its chemistry tsp is made by neutralizing phosphoric acid with sodium hydroxide and its chemical formula is na 3 po 4.
The reason for cleaning with tsp was because it etched the gloss of oil based paint making it rougher so that the next coat of paint would stick better.
So strong that it will peel old paint from a surface along with the stains tsp is often used for cleaning surfaces in the course of preparation for painting.
Generally tsp is used to clean decks siding and outdoor areas before painting.
It easily and quickly removes grime layers of blackened soot chalked paint caked dirt and puddles of grease.
Remove your cabinet doors from the cabinet boxes.
If not done the paint can peel or bubble over time making all that hard work giving the cabinets new life a pointless endeavor.