Decorating quite hard these days.

[Turbo]

First tip I will give you is to go to a proper decorating shop and buy either crown or dulux 'trade' paint if you can. I know for a fact that the big buckets of emulsion you buy in homebase & b&q is not the same quality as the stuff you get in a decent hardware shop. It is like dishwater in comparison and the 'white' is a grey colour!

Doesn't matter that it's a decent brand like crown, when homebase order a batch of paint from crown paints they want it for a certain price. To be able to supply it at that price crown make a cheaper batch of poorer quality than normal.

Most of the oil based paints yellow now since they reformulated them. Last time we decorated we were recommended to used oil based dulux satinwood and it seems to be staying white. The water based stuff stays white longer but is has poor coverage, not as nice to apply and nowhere near as durable.

 

[Windy Miller]

On doors I have used Dulux Satinwood applied with a small roller. As soon as it's covered evenly, I lay it off with a nice soft long haired brush. It gets the job done in no time, and it looks great. Can't go wrong!

When I was in the building trade I had to build a cupboard to hide the electric and gas meters in the back room of our local chip shop. Again I used the roller to apply the paint, but didn't bother laying it off with a brush - it ended up with a very pleasant stippled/orange peel effect. Rollers are great on gloss paint!

 

[norlander]

have to agree with Turbo ^^, use pro stuff to get a pro finish,plus, the folks at the decorating trade shop tend to know the products.
I pretty much always shopped at the trade outlets for my stuff.

 

[Gavin_d]

Thanks for all the input guys. Now I just have to pick one of your many recommendations.

 

[the snooper]

I did a thread a few months ago on a similar line. I went with Johnstone's Aqua Gloss in the end and it was really good and looks exactly the same as the day I put it on now. It's the closest to a oil based floss finish I have seen from a water base.

Now if I remember Snooper hadn't had much luck with it though? Correct me if I am wrong on that Snooper.

No I didn't like it but that said it was years ago and a different brand I might be converted if I saw some but unti then I'll stick with oil paints

 

[brightspark]

oil based primer undercoat and topcoat outside. woodwork inside acrylic primer undercoat and oil based gloss every time

 

[the snooper]

Maybe should use 2k everywhere roller it on, plenty of shine it's tough and stays white

 

[Gavin_d]

So we have permaglaze and johnstones Aqua so faw.

So permaglaze is oil based the other is kind of a mix of both?

Doubt I could get testers.

 

[Shedendman]

its your choice i know mine
think of the finish you want and how long you want it to last

 

[Gavin_d]

I've had a little Google and only found good things about it. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[marlinspike]

One to avoid, in my opinion, is Dulux Real Life paint for wood. I am usually a fan of Dulux but did our stairs in this and really don't like it. It dries hard but with an almost plastic look and feel. The idea is that it is easy to clean but it chips really easily and looked scruffy very quickly. Needs re-doing and will probably go back to Crown Solo satin paint.

 

[Gavin_d]

Thank you all. It's really hard this is. I am getting recommended all sorts. I spoke to a professional painter and decorator today (friends dad) he said use a water based primer then an oil based good quality gloss like crown or dulux from the trade centre. When I asked about yellowing he just said no oil based should yellow. Well I supose he is right in a way.

Still not sure whether to use a gloss or satin wood.

@mrfuzzy ive read a lot of good things about that johnstones on the net. Especially a thread on piston heads that's been going for about 4 years.

 

[Gavin_d]

Exactly what you said @brightspark

I really want to use oil based but scared of the yellowing. It happend to me once and I wasn't very happy. Especially after spending a fortune.

 

[Rocketman]

Oil based white gloss in low light will yellow like mad there is no getting around it with the restrictions they have to work with now in the formulation - doesn't matter what make you use. They need to come up with something totally new in the formulation to get past the problem or it's not going to change.

I can't honestly see that happening, I would guess most of the R&D goes into improving water based.

 

[Cobbler]

I've had the yellowing problem over the last few years, particularly with white satin finish. When I decorated my hall (there are 7 doors off it) I used Dulux satin water based from the Dulux trade centre. It went on easily, didn't cover quite as well as the oil based, but looked great. The only thing was, I was warned to make sure it was rubbed down well, as it can flake off if not keyed properly. 18 months on, it still looks the same as when I did it. I used water based gloss many years ago when it first came out & it was awful, looked like I'd put it on with a stick, but products move on. I'm sold on it, don't intend to use oil based again for wood work.

Someone I know took the doors off & sprayed them with water based paint, that worked well, they looked really good

 

[Gavin_d]

Anyone ever used this stuff?

http://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/floetrol/

 

[Turbo]

I've used floetrol on oil paint before when the paint has been too 'sticky' to apply with a brush properly. This can happen with paint that has been sitting for long time and lost some of its additives. You don't normally need it for a new tin of paint. You must follow the instructions properly and add a very small amount. If you use too much of it the paint might never dry!