Gloss paint that isn’t ‘tacky’

I’ve spent hours painting our hallway stairs and landing, together with all doors, using Dulux gloss white. My problem is now it’s been almost a month (of warm dry weather with windows open) and the paint still has a ‘tacky’ feel to it. All the right preparation had been done, and paint applied by brush.

I wrote to Dulux who sent a disappointing reply along the lines of “.....modern ‘trim paints’ (what is that.) have a ‘residual tackiness’.....”, which I find astonishing. They go on to say that modern paints have certain advantages over traditional ‘hard drying’ paints - although they do not point out what these are!

The irritation for me is two fold (three fold if you count the probability that I’ll have to re-paint everywhere)., one, every time you open a door there is a distinct ‘stick’ noise and two, sliding your hand down the stair handrail is now no longer an option, it doesn’t smoothly glide.

Is there such a thing as a non-tacky paint?

We found water based gloss dries quickly - so quickly that the top of a door has started to set by the time you reach the bottom. Perhaps the finish isn't quite as good as the professionals can achieve with the traditional stuff but we find it perfectly good enough, and with the added bonus of the cats not sticking to it for weeks.

Which paint did you use? Waterbased or oil-based. Dulux or Dulux Trade?

I seldom use gloss other than on exterior windows/doors. When I do work with oil based gloss I add Terebene, it is an oxidising agent that speeds up the curing process.

I wonder if you in fact used waterbased gloss. Although we have had a lot of warm weather it has been pretty humid. Waterbased paints cure by coalescence as the water molecules evaporate. High levels of humidity will slow that process but I would have expected it to have cured by now.

I have seen people recommend using talcum powder, and even car polishing wax, but I can't confirm if they actually work. Plumbing silicone grease might help but it will cause a whole world of pain when you decide to repaint.

As opps says, water based finishes could be the reason. Had a job where the staircase handrails had not fully dried, they had used dulux water based gloss. The reason it was still sticky after three weeks was that they had second coated before the first coat had fully cured. A coat of Zinsser BIN followed by a coat of gloss sorted it out.

Since posting this, a friend of mine had already (on my behalf) emailed Dulux for their response, this is the reply from one of their customer service advisors:

Some modern trim paints retain a slight residual tackiness after they have dried. Whilst modern trim products with alternative driers to cobalt do indeed take longer to hard cure and may retain a residual tack if held for a few moments, this would not normally cause any issues and is considered normal. Modern trim paints will not harden quite as tough as traditional solvent products used to prior to 2012.

Compared to older style paints which cure harder after a week, more modern formulations may feel like they have a slight tack to them when handled. We call this residual tackiness and in itself should not affect the performance of the coating. You should not experience any 'blocking' from the paint sticking to another similarly coated adjacent surface, and no wet paint will come off on hands. (the surface may feel tacky but does not transfer). This is normal for water based trim products and also for some of the newer solvent based products.....

Make of that what you will, and what on earth is a ‘trim paint’? I certainly have never heard of it, nor did I mention such paint to them!

Trim paint is a term commonly used in the USA to refer to paints used for wooden trims (as opposed to emulsion etc).

"2012"- I don't understand- VOC compliance took place on the first of January 2010- that was when paint maufacterers had to reduce the solvent levels in their oil based pants.

Were you dealing with Dulux retail or Dulux Trade? I had to contact DT about 6 weeks ago- my customer had purchased 10L of DT matt emulsion and the colour was massively different to the old tin that she had left over. DT said that from time to time they notice that colour formulations deviate from the correct colour. They kindly sent out vouchers for two new tins.

So any who, what paint did you use initially?

Yeah I've had the same problems with gloss white where most of what I had done was still tacky feeling years later, especially if I try to wipe said surfaces. Recently used leyland trade satin wood and it set no bother with no tackiness. They do a gloss as well if that's what you're after. Definitely recommend giving it a go

Azlog said:

Yeah I've had the same problems with gloss white where most of what I had done was still tacky feeling years later, especially if I try to wipe said surfaces. Recently used leyland trade satin wood and it set no bother with no tackiness. They do a gloss as well if that's what you're after. Definitely recommend giving it a go

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And was your water based or oil based gloss?

Story I forgot to mention it was water based.

I have just been told by a neighbour, who’s brother is a painter and decorator, that Johnstones Aqua gloss is the best to use - but advises to use in conjunction with their Aqua undercoat too. (The cost mounts!).

Apparently it is water based but contains some type of additive that makes it acts in a more oil based way whilst retaining a high white finish over time. Well, that is my interpretation of what he said. Anyway, the up shot is that it dries properly! Which frankly is what we should expect from our paints!
And Dulux should inform its customers about the ‘residual tackiness’ likelihood.

pyounger said:

Johnstones Aqua gloss is the best to use

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I haven't used their WB gloss but a couple of years ago I had to use their water based eggshell. I hated every minute of working with it. Admittedly I didn't use their undercoat. A month later I got a call from the client complaining about the fact that the window sill in the hall where he leaves his keys had black marks all over it. I reminded the client that they had specified the paint.

opps said:

And was your water based or oil based gloss?

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Looking at it online I'm pretty sure it was the water based