Preparing varnished skirting and architraves

Hi,

I'm in the preparation process of painting the inside of my house. The skirting, architraves and doors are not painted, but look to have a layer of varnish over them. I want to prepare them for painting with a white high gloss enamel paint(or the new acrylics).

I'm getting mixed advice as to how to prepare the surfaces for painting. Some are saying that I can prepare by just painting over the varnish with the new "3 in 1"s, others are saying a light sand then a "3 in 1", whereas others are saying a really good sanding(using a small belt sander etc), then preparing with the 3 in 1.

Has anyone had experience with this? I am worried about the bonding of the paint on the old gloss varnished surface, so i would prefer to sand back to the bare wood with a sander But is this overkill? Should I simply just give it a light hand sand, then the "3 in 1". Any advice would be appreciated?

yes i have used the 3 in 1 from tubamans and highly recommend it.. i gave it a light sand like a really light sand so the paint would stick to the timber. but in saying that there is no rule sayin u have to sand with 3 in1 caz u dont really need to but for better results yes give it a light sand.

id still give it a light sand!

better to be safe than sorry