Valspar Paint and Zinsser BIN

Hi all,

I am painting some MDF units and whitewood picture frames.

I have used an MDF primer of the units, 2 coats and sanded down. On the whitewood doors I have used Zinsser BIN to help prevent knots seeping through. I used 2 coats of this as per Zinsser guidelines.

The top coat is a Valspar Deep Space Echo from B&Q - customers choice. Ideally they recommend using a grey undercoat in conjunction with this top coat in satin. However, the MDF primer and the Zinsser is white. Never used valspar before, so just assuming it won't darken as much as it should, so may require a third top coat. I did ask and they said 2 coats is usually the best, though a third won't hurt. If you want it darker.

I wanted to ask, would it be ok to put a coat of grey undercoat on top of the 2 mdf primer undercoats, then 2 top coats of the dark grey on top? I know it's more time, but would zinsser react with the grey undercoat or the mdf primer?

Thanks in advance

I would think a normal grey undercoat on BIN would be fine, just hope the B&Q / Valspar paint is not going to give problems given their history.
Might be worth mentioning to the customer before you start.
If you haven't heard of it Google "Paint smelling of urine".
Hopefully sorted now but best to cover yourself.

Hi, thanks for your message. I appreciate that. I agree, I did say to use a better brand, but she has used it everywhere. I'm not sure how many coats of grey they recommend, will get some tomorrow. Thanks

Grey undercoat will be fine and probably a good move.

Be advised that off the shelf grey primers vary from brand to brand. From memory and by way of an example, the Dulux Trade stock grey undercoat is much darker than the Leyland Trade grey undercoat.

I have only used Valspar paints once- matt emulsion from B&Q. I tried to colour match it in Dulux Trade but the clients weren't happy with the Dulux colour match (fair enough). It was horrible to work with and the walls felt much rougher than I would have anticipated.

I hope I never have to use their paints again.

I did recommend a dulux variation, as I've worked with it before and much nicer. It's not unbearable, but not the best quality in my opinion, hey ho, she has used it everywhere else in the home, so wanted them matching. I haven't actually used Zinsser before as an undercoat, it does leave a super smooth finish on MDF. I am currently using 2 primer coats of zinsser BIN, one grey undercoat and 2 finishing top coats, seems to be going well, anymore top coats and they tend to chip.

Thanks all.