every brush stroke has come out a different shade...

[smp50]

Hi. I haven't seen this particular issue discussed nor have I seen the effect before, but this is the first time I used this particular paint (normal Dulux matt emulsion "for walls and ceilings")

I've painted onto new, clean white lining paper (wallrock stuff) and the paint is a mid grey kind of colour. After two coats (fully dry) including all the edging, it looks absolutely ridiculous - every individual stroke is a different shade. Different enough that it looks like a different colour of paint, some parts are much darker and some much lighter, the whole room is a mix of these various shades.

Is there some obvious explanation for this? I used a 4" brush and laid it all off in the same vertical direction, and covered each wall as quickly as I could so it's not that I was dragging sticky paint around into that bad texture you can get. In fact, the texture on these different coloured patches seems to be the same.

Any ideas? I'm going to have to buy some different paint (Wilko durable emulsion is the only paint I actually trust so far, I should have stuck with that) and do the whole lot again, which I rather resent.

 

[emilybronte]

Two possible reasons:

1. Paint is unevenly mixed - stir it really well or take it back to the store and ask them to put it in the shaking machine again for 5 minutes.

2. The brush has traces of paint left in it from previous jobs. Chuck it out and get a new one.

Why are you using a brush for walls, anyway? A roller is much better for large areas.

 

[smp50]

Two possible reasons:

1. Paint is unevenly mixed - stir it really well or take it back to the store and ask them to put it in the shaking machine again for 5 minutes.

2. The brush has traces of paint left in it from previous jobs. Chuck it out and get a new one.

Why are you using a brush for walls, anyway? A roller is much better for large areas.

I never liked the stipple and splatter from a roller. I do struggle to keep a wet edge with the brush, though - the thin layer paint on the edges of the brush stroke starts drying immediately and is then disturbed by the next overlapping/adjacent stroke.

I just bought some of the expensive "durable" emulsion I was used to, very thick stuff and completely different. It will take £60 of paint for this 2.5 x 4.5m room, though. Two coats seem to be required no matter what, I don't understand people who claim to paint with one coat, how they get it so uniform the first time I don't know.

 

[emilybronte]

I never liked the stipple and splatter from a roller. I do struggle to keep a wet edge with the brush, though - the thin layer paint on the edges of the brush stroke starts drying immediately and is then disturbed by the next overlapping/adjacent stroke.

I just bought some of the expensive "durable" emulsion I was used to, very thick stuff and completely different. It will take £60 of paint for this 2.5 x 4.5m room, though. Two coats seem to be required no matter what, I don't understand people who claim to paint with one coat, how they get it so uniform the first time I don't know.

Even when refreshing walls with the same colour emulsion a couple of years after first decorating, I usually apply two coats. If you are changing colour it may take three (or more, depending on quality of paint and the colours in question. Farrow and Ball dark greens, allow for 5 coats of the bloody stuff). Anything which calls itself 'one coat' paint, or any decorator who says they only need one coat for a really professional, opaque finish, is lying. Of course it will take two coats. Durability has no direct correlation to opacity.

And if you buy a fine, short haired roller (pref sheepskin) and roller slowly, you will not get splatter or a stippled effect. Stipple has to be better than brush marks, surely, in any case!

 

[footprints]

Best way to reduce splatter with a roller is to move it slowly, scrubbing it back and forth quickly increases splatter greatly, also getting the loading just right and not trying to squeeze the whole roller dry of paint before reloading helps.

 

[joe-90]

You didn't thin your paint now did you? Now you've got texture issues that Wilko's paint is unlikely to hide.

 

[Nige F]

A 4 inch brush is too small - you need a 6 inch - and lay off @ random , tho` that might be up fo debate It`s what I do tho`

 

[smp50]

Thanks for the replies. I was wrong about the brush, it's 150mm so that's 6" sort of?

I got some wilko durable emulsion and did a wall and it's a lovely uniform colour, as I expected. The texture of the dulux underneath was mostly ok, the colour patching seemed independent of any texture variation.

I admit that I haven't experimented with different rollers and probably have never used a "good" roller, so maybe I was premature to abandon them. I'll consider trying one again for the next room I paint.