Best brilliant white eggshell for interior woodwork

[patagonia]

About 10 years ago I had most of my house professionally decorated and I am pretty sure Dulux brilliant white eggshell was used for the woodwork. It still looks great, the same as it did when completed, lovely finish, covers well, doesn't show irregularities and has not yellowed at all.

I am now decorating a couple of bedrooms which weren't done at that time and wanted to use the same paint. My local shop didn't have Dulux eggshell so I bought a tin of Dulux satinwood but when I used it on a window sill which was supposed to have been made good after new windows had been installed, I found it showed irregularities and I didn't like the finish as much as the eggshell which had been used previously. Unfortunately, the shop didn't have Dulux eggshell in small tins so I bought Johnson's and this was applied to a door yesterday. I am horrified to find that not only does it look like gloss paint but it has a slightly yellow tint and does not cover as well as eggshell where previously I only needed one coat where the paint was in good condition.
Can anyone recommend a good, brilliant white eggshell paint. I see Dulux is doing a new one (possibly water based?) Has anyone tried it and is it any good? I do want something that stays brilliant white and only has a slight sheen but not totally flat.

 

[opps]

I use Dulux Trade rather than Dulux, the latter being the retail version.

Oil based paints yellow because of a lack of UV light (regardless of brand). in a room with sufficient day time sunlight, the paint should be fine. If you have a fairly dark room you may want to consider using a waterbased eggshell. Waterbased paints do not yellow, however they are less durable and in general they require more coats (unless you are happy to live with heavy brush marks).

I am not a fan of Johnstones paints but you should find that the sheen level drops over the next few weeks. In 2010 VOC compliance forced firms to reduce the level of solvents in their paints, to comply they ended up increasing the level of solids.

 

[Chud]

We're in the process of doing a lot of decorating at home and what we're using is Albany super satin - it's a water based acrylic but it does flow nicely...according to the bloke in brewers it's basically crown fast flow paint.

As above go for trade, don't bother with consumer market stuff.

The water based paints are your go-to for not yellowing, I had the misfortune of redecorating with oil based about 6 months after they changed the VOC rules and the woodwork I painted after 2 months was yellower than stuff I'd done 5 years previously - it's not so bad now but I'd still opt for water based now, having said that my experience of them is very hit and miss:

• I find dulux trade (wb satinwood) dries ok and keeps it's sheen but is a 'mare to apply; it either stays streaky by drying too quickly or ends up slumping and dripping - from my experience you have to wipe ahead with a damp cloth to keep the wet edge going
• Armstead trade quick dry satinwood went on like a dream, no need for wiping ahead...it was touch dry quite quickly as expected but took months to fully cure.
• Albany super satin - goes on nicely - roller on with a medium pile roller/mini roller then lay off with a loaded brush - remarkably very little slumping/dripping and the brush lines smooth out well. My only criticism is that the opacity is not that high so a decent undercoat is really needed; since I usually have a tin to hand I tend to u/c with Zinnsser Bullseye 123.

 

[opps]

• from my experience you have to wipe ahead with a damp cloth to keep the wet edge going

Try some Floetrol next time. It helps with the wet edge and tramlines/brush marks.

I haven't tried the Albany stuff. To date the only WB paint that I was happy with regards to flow was Eico, however it has eff all in the way of opacity. Initially I applied it over yellowed gloss, whilst wet it looked nice and white, once it dried the yellow from the old gloss was pretty obvious. In the end I had to use oil based undercoat.

It looked great for a few months, then it became obvious that waterbased paints cannot deal with the oils in human skin. Areas such as the hand rails are now down to the oil based undercoat.

At some point I am going to have to spray the hand rail with white acid catalyst paint- not something that can be done when people are living in the house.

I want to like waterbased finishes but they are just not durable enough and I find myself unable to get the same quality of finish.

 

[Chud]

Thanks, I've been meaning to lay my hands on some floetrol for a while now.

I'll report back on the durability of the Albany paint as it's on the handrails of our stair case now...

 

[Mr Chibs]

I'm just using Johnstone Acrylic Eggshell... have to say I'm impressed, painted a couple of doors and you can hardly see the brush strokes.

Not to be confused with the Leyland version, which is wishy washy.

 

[opps]

I'm just using Johnstone Acrylic Eggshell... have to say I'm impressed, painted a couple of doors and you can hardly see the brush strokes.

I used that about 4 years ago to paint the woodwork in a clients hallway. The client specified it.

I hated working with it. The fact that it was a warm summer didn't help though. I had to add quite a lot of Floetrol and some water to get it flow. Had I been working with oil based eggshell, two coats would have sufficed. I had to use three coats of the Johnstone eggshell. The finish was (by my standards) acceptable but had I been working with oil based I could have provided a slightly better finish for two thirds of the costs.

The client, for whom I have worked for about 18 years was happy with the finish but complained about the blocking (months later when you close a door it sticks slightly to the door stops) and the black marks that keep appearing in the window sill where he leaves his keys. I reminded him that he specified water based paints.

He was happy for me to use oil based eggshell the next time I worked for him.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Cheers for the post, had to look-up Floetrol... makes me wonder, why they don't just add it to the paint at manufacture, and charge another quid.

I agree, it's quite thick as paint, the chap in the paint centre, had said to water it down, especially on the first coat.

Can't say I've noticed the blocking, (again all new news to me) but it's early days, so this maybe is ahead of me.
Do I take it, you don't get this with oil eggshell?

On a by-note, the colour mixed versions of this paint, have a great finish, (well for me anyway, perhaps you pro's might think average) I've painted skirts and door so far, two coats.

Thanks again.

 

[opps]

Cheers for the post, had to look-up Floetrol... makes me wonder, why they don't just add it to the paint at manufacture, and charge another quid.

I agree, it's quite thick as paint, the chap in the paint centre, had said to water it down, especially on the first coat.

Can't say I've noticed the blocking, (again all new news to me) but it's early days, so this maybe is ahead of me.
Do I take it, you don't get this with oil eggshell?

On a by-note, the colour mixed versions of this paint, have a great finish, (well for me anyway, perhaps you pro's might think average) I've painted skirts and door so far, two coats.

Thanks again.

Floetrol is one of those additives that you vary the amount of depending on the conditions. By way of an example, I seldom use it in emulsion but some colours are a nightmare and can result in "letter boxing", letter boxing is a reference to being able to see a slight difference in sheen when you cut in the emulsion. In those circumstances I would add floetrol.

Blocking- If you haven't experienced it on the doors that you have already done then hopefully you will be fine. It is very rare to find oil based paint blocking months down the line. Oil based paints, once cured are "static", by that I mean that they are not affected by humid weather. the same cannot be said of waterbased paints, some brands however are better than others.

 

[Mr Chibs]

"Letterboxing"... I'm out.

I have all on, cutting in, never mind anything else...

Cheers again.