Is it necessary to remove flaking paint before repainting wicker?

[Maui Girl]

I have a old wicker chair that needs to be repainted. I am keeping it's original white color, but the current paint is flaking. Lots of little flakes pretty much all over the chair. Do I need to sand the entire chair before repainting, or would I get the same result with just using a stiff bristled brush it get rid of the flakes? Or do I need to sand it or do something else? Also, can I use spray paint to repaint it?

[mab5096]

I've used spray paint on wicker furniture that I have on my front porch. I never removed any flaking, but there wasn't much on it to begin with. I would just clean it really well with a stiff brush to gets off as much as possible, then spray it. It takes a lot of spray paint though, for all those nooks and crannies! Mine was dark green and I was painting it white, so you won't have the same problems I had...which was cans and cans of spray paint! You may want to paint it with a brush first, then spray...might be faster! Where are you using the chair?
Where are you putting the chair?

[Dianna]

Cain chairs can be real problem to paint., especially when there is flaking paint involved.

If it is bad , the new paint will bond the to old paint , but if the old paint isn't bonded to the cain , it will still flake off.

I would recommend using a stiff wire , perhaps brass wire brush and scub the nooks and crannies of that chair.

Wash thoroughly with detergent and water to remove any grease , allow it to dry thoroughly and then use a quality primer , and then top coat it with the color of your choice.

Its not hard , but it is some work to do it well.

[Karen L]

If you paint over flaking paint, the new paint will stick to the old flaking paint rather than to the chair and the old and new paint will come off together, and you'll be back where you started, with a chair with flaking paint. You need to remove the flaking paint, a stiff brush sounds fine, scrub hard.Spray paint is excellent for wicker, you might see if you can get a spray primer too, it could stick better than regular paint