Hi all professiona painters, I’ve just fitted a new staircase and am painting it using acrylic primer undercoat, then acrylic top coat, my question to you guys is how the hell do you get a decent finish with this water based paint!! It drys so quick!! Is there some trade secret or do you stick to solvent based paint? Thanks
Acrylic paint finish
- Thread starter gemshan1
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They paint fast 
. I tried water based in my old house but wasn't happy with the results, I guess I am not good enough at painting. I am using oil based paint in my new house at the moment.
You can try adding a product called Floetrol, it helps keep the paint wet for longer.
Benjamin Moore Scuff X is water based latex paint that is meant to be easier to work with, I am thinking about trying that out. It is pricey though.
. I tried water based in my old house but wasn't happy with the results, I guess I am not good enough at painting. I am using oil based paint in my new house at the moment.You can try adding a product called Floetrol, it helps keep the paint wet for longer.
Benjamin Moore Scuff X is water based latex paint that is meant to be easier to work with, I am thinking about trying that out. It is pricey though.
I stick to solvent based... (given a choice).
Part of the problem with completely waterbased systems on new timber is that the primer/undercoat doesn't fully seal the timber, meaning that the next coats soaks in too quickly.
Some brands are more forgiving than others.
On my current job, I have to use Farrow and Ball waterbased eggshell. I am applying it over previous coats that were applied over oil based paints. To be fair it flows pretty well. I just need to remind myself to occasionally spray the brush with a light mist of water to prevent the fast drying paint messing up a £15 brush.
To date the only water based paint that I have come across that laid as flat as oil based paint is Eico. Unfortunately, their white paint is pants at obliterating yellowed white paints, so I used oil based undercoat first and waited a week or two before applying the Eico. If you do it too soon, you end up with fisheyes in the paint (pools in the finish where the water based paint pushes itself away from the releasing solvents in the oil based undercoat). To date Eico is the only waterbased paint that I have sanded that doesn't instantly clog my abrasives.
@robbo83 is correct that Floetrol will help a lot. It helps maintain a wet edge without simply thinning the paint (like water would). Floetrol isn't cheap, but you only need a small amount per L of paint.
A friend of mine was having problems with his Leyland acrylic eggshell (it was soaking in too quickly) but didn't want to pay for Floetrol. I recommended propylene glycol (the main ingredient in Floetrol). He got a litre for about £7 on ebay. He said that it made a massive difference.
Interesting as I get the impression most pros on here have gone water based. Can I ask what your preferred solvent based paint is for woodwork?
I am using Dulux Trade Satinwood at the moment and have been struggling with it, it seems so thick and sticky, this is a new tin of paint from Wickes. I used it a year or so ago and I don't remember it being so thick. But it is very forgiving in terms of brush marks so I am getting away with it but it's not exactly enjoyable. I am thinking to try Crown Trade Satin.
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My paint of choice is Dulux Trade oil based eggshell. If I am painting a large area and want a flat finish, I add a little bit of white spirit and more importantly, some Owatrol oil to maintain a wet edge. Post 2010 VOC compliance, I now add a tiny bit of Terebene to speed up the curing process if required.
BTW, if you are painting with oil based paints, spend £20ish on a BrushMate 4 box. At the end of each day, you clip the brush back in the box, put the lid on and the brush is instantly usable the next day. You can fit up to 4 brushes in the box. They are suspended and don't touch the bottom, and hence don't become contaminated by other colours.
The box has a pad inside that releases a vapour which keeps the brushes wet.
BrushMate would rather that you replace the pads when they become dry. I dribble liquid from the bottle for the BrushMate 20 (the bottle is about £9 Vs £5 for a pad). Assuming that 2 pads last a year (at tenner), you dribble liquid from the bottle on to the pad, and you end up with about 4 years.
My 2" brushes cost about £16-18 each. I can use the same brush for years without having to clean it.
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No. Why? It's just a different system.
Add floetrol to acrylic will help slow drying and application or switch to a water-based alkyd which is more like an oil paint.
Thanks opps. I need to invest in some Owatrol I think. I did use a bit of white spirit sometimes but just wasn't sure if I should do. Because I am not the fastest painter I find the paint was getting really thick towards the end and then I didn't want to add more white spirit.
I actually bought a BrushMate last week. Absolute game changer as I was dreading the cleanup. So handy just to pop it in at the end. Great tip on the bottle over the pad, appreciate it
I understand why people use waterbased finishes, they have some advantages, but durability is not necessarily one of them.
One my current job, which includes painting the exterior of the house, the customer was moaning about the fact that the previous decorators had left (waterbased) paint on the textured glass in the front door. The customer had previously spent hours trying to remove the paint. I spent 5 minutes using a a 1cm brush dipped in cellulose thinners and the paint came off instantly.
Granted, most surfaces don't get cellulose thinners or acetone spilt on them, but people often touch painted surfaces. I have seen several examples of waterbased paints, in time, failing the fingernail test because the oils in people's skin softened the paint.
An example that springs to mind is my mum's kitchen cupboard doors. The doors have small wooden knobs. When people open the doors their fingers invariably touch the paint on the doors. Over the last 7 years, the factory sprayed water based paint around the knobs has rubbed away. The base coat is white acid-cat or pre-cat. The base coat is still fine.
One the upside, waterbased paints cure faster, don't smell so much and don't yellow due to a lack of UV light.
I used to specialise in hand painting (raw) MDF cabinets to a pretty high standard. I was never able to achieve the same standard using waterbased paints, and in houses where a different company was hand painting the acid-cat primed kitchen cabinet doors, the quality of finish was lower than mine- no sleight on the painters, more a comment on the paint that they were using.
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