Farrow & Ball external primer/undercoat bleed through

[londonman]

I'm using a dark grey primer/undercoat and it's going over an existing coat of white 'proper' primer from Zinsser. Trouble is Farrow & Ball might as well have made their primer from coloured water, the amount of bleed through from the white. F & B say there is nothing wrong with the batch so guess it's down to lousy paint (I use the term loosely) in the first place.

Even applying a second coat still shows bleed through in some areas.

And don't get me started on their Full Gloss. Well, Full Gloss in the areas that the paint decided to be Gloss. Otherwise it's a streaky kind of matt.

Last time I ever use their lousy paints.

Any recommendations for a proper paint manufacturer?

 

[emilybronte]

Little Greene paints are comparable in price to F & B but infinitely superior.

What kind of exterior surface exactly are you trying to cover?

 

[londonman]

Wooden front door. I'll look into Little Greene paints.

 

[emilybronte]

Wooden front door. I'll look into Little Greene paints.

Do! Apart from anything else, LG still make traditional oil paints which are really durable. F & B only make water-based these days, which are OK for inside (although still not as good as LG). I think for front doors you are best with a proper oil based primer-preserver (if onto bare wood), then oil based undercoat (of appropraite shade) and two top coats of oilbased eggshell or gloss.

Plus the LG colours are better!

If cost is an issue, I find Leyland oil based gloss very good for exterior woodwork, too.

 

[londonman]

Do you know if you have to sand down the LG after the first gloss coat? F&B say you do. Then you discover just how thin/poorly pigmented their paints are as, even with a very light stroke of fine sandpaper, you go right back down to the Zinsser!

 

[ic1927]

I've had problems putting grey over Zinsser 123 primer when using Witham paint, it took three coats of grey to totally obliterate it. It may be the Zinsser that's causing you grief and not the f+b.

 

[emilybronte]

It's advisable to abrade any trim coat lightly in between coats.

Why was Zinsser primer used in the first place and was it oil based or water based?

 

[londonman]

I used Zinsser because I have a lot more faith in their paints than F&B. I used Cover Plus and the solids in it are amazing. It is oil based and obliterates any existing colour in one coat.

 

[emilybronte]

I used Zinsser because I have a lot more faith in their paints than F&B. I used Cover Plus and the solids in it are amazing. It is oil based and obliterates any existing colour in one coat.

I agree. In that case, you will get a better result by using oilbased over it anyway, rather than the F & B waterbased stuff. LG o/b undercoat is great - really thick and smooth, covers well and dries in about 4 hours.

 

[londonman]

Thanks everyone for the advice.