Blending undercoat with eggshell

Hi, I have a decorator working on my flat at the moment. The agreement was that I would buy the paints. I had bought some Dulux Brilliant white from Homebase before we approached him to do the job, but he said he didn’t work with anything other than trade quality paint. I have the following.

For most of the flat I chose:
* Topcoat - Walls/ceilings: Layland Trade Vinyl Matt Brilliant White
* Topcoat - Woodwork: Dulux Trade Eggshell Brilliant White
* Undercoat - Woodwork: Dulux Trade Undercoat White (oil based)
* Undercoat - Walls/ceilings: Layland Contract Matt White (mist coat for fresh plaster)

For the bedroom I chose:
* Walls: Sanderson Spectrum Matt Emulsion, Greige Lt.
* Woodwork: Sanderson Spectrum oil based Eggshell, Greige Lt.

* Inside the hall cupboards I have chosen an eggshell from Dulux trade which is a dark grey (can’t remember the colour code), which I would like on the shelves, walls etc.
* I did have primer for the fresh wood, although I haven’t got reference to the brand right now.

The plastering and mist coat was done by another set of builders. The new decorators have sanded down the woodwork and walls very well, so the surfaces were then smooth for painting.

What I am concerned about is that the woodwork is now very shiny. The decorator said that so far there was one coat of paint on it. They blended together the undercoat and eggshell, because of this the finish is shiny and patchy. He said that it would be shiny because they blended the paints. He’s still to do one more coat of eggshell. He says that the final finish will be slightly shiny as he mixed the paints, and the shine may come through.
Obviously I chose eggshell as I wanted to have a more matt finish on the woodwork! Otherwise I would have gone for satin or gloss.

I spoke to the man on the paint counter at the Builders Depot (New Southgate, London), and he says that mixing undercoat with eggshell is unheard of, and the only reason why my decorator may have done this is to save on doing 2 coats of undiluted eggshell.

Does anyone else do this? Is this acceptable?

Also they have used the sanderson emulsion as an undercoat for the inside of the hall cupboards, which means that there is not enough paint to finish the bedroom. His reply was that he needed this as a basecoat as the topcoat would be dark. The sanderson is a very very pale grey and the topcoat is very very dark grey, so not sure how this works! I did ask him if I should get a dark undercoat for the cupboard interior, but he said no.

Why is it when I just ask questions they tell me to back off, get out of my flat and don’t interfere.

Because they are either *****'s or foreigners?

He really shouldn't be mixing these two paints together sounds as if he cutting corners.

Dec

Although eggshell is self undercoating they would have been better applying an undercoat and then an eggshell top coat. Like the fact that they only use trade paints and the prep work is good, however i wouldn't employ them based on their attitude and if a decorator mentioned to me in casual conversation that he blended paints like that i'd make a mental note to myself not to employ him

ChickPea71 said:

Why is it when I just ask questions they tell me to back off, get out of my flat and don’t interfere.

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Probably because they can't give you a reasonable answer.

As others have said, they shouldn't be mixing those two paints even if they are putting another coat of only eggshell on top. If they intend using the mixture as a finish coat it will look awful and won't hold up at all well.

It is understandable them using a the light grey as an undercoat for the dark as it will cover better than white but they should be using the proper paint for the job and not the paint you have bought specifically for the walls somewhere else.

More than likely that they dont want to offer a reasonable answer because they are cutting corners and that is what gives the trade a bad name.

Dec

TheDec said:

More than likely that they dont want to offer a reasonable answer because they are cutting corners and that is what gives the trade a bad name.

Dec

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Don't get this. How'a it cutting corners?
What corners?

Well I don't think that whilst working in a customers home it is very professional to either mix these two paints together or use an emulsion as an undercoat, surely that is cutting corners.

Dec

TheDec said:

He really shouldn't be mixing these two paints together sounds as if he cutting corners.

Dec

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This is what I mean Dec. How is this cutting corners?

Well by doing what they have it seems to me that they are speeding up the job in order to both finish and get paid sooner, I really don't know what else to call it I certainly wouldn't call this using the tricks of the trade.

Dec

Don't get it. Can't see any reason for doing it as there's no gain.
They didn't even buy the paint so it's not like they're trying it on with cheaper stuff, so what's the drama over it as long as it's finished in the eggshell and not the mix. Job's not finished.

Fair enough I see your point. perhaps I read it a little differently, yet it isn't something that I care for Decorators to do.

Dec

ChickPea71 said:

I spoke to the man on the paint counter at the Builders Depot (New Southgate, London), and he says that mixing undercoat with eggshell is unheard of, and the only reason why my decorator may have done this is to save on doing 2 coats of undiluted eggshell.

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He might have done it because there was/is more undercoat than eggshell so he mixed it so's not to be short on eggshell.
Shouldn't make the slightest difference to the top coat.

acrylic egshell /oil undercoat

This guy managed to over stain the parquet floor, and splattered the walls at the same time, and now with top later of pale grey eggshell starting to chip off already after 3 days to expose the white coat underneath, I decided to ask him to leave.

Can you tell me, i I give it another layer of eggshell, undiluted, will it be stronger?

He had left some paints behind, and I have noticed also that he appeared to dilute the eggshell till it was very liquid, mixed with white spirit I presume. I can understand that it may need diluting but it was now pretty runny. He also had been leaving the paint pot lids off with the small roller in the liquid.

All seams pretty shoddy to me. And he tells me he hasnt had complaints before. Although the fact that he was so defensive to start with kind of suggests that he has had compaints!!!