Painting Bannister - Any tips?

[tigers999]

Afternoon all

I am coming to the painting of our bannister and I am just looking for any tips etc to get a good finish if anyone would be so kind.

We live in a new build barratt house (6 years old) and its finally time to tackle the staircase. Here are a couple of pics of what I am doing. The first one is with flash and the second is natural daylight.......as you can see, it needs something lol

I dont honestly know what paint Barratt originally used. Although I have decorated our houses over the years I know very little about decorating as such and therefore dont want to just go ahead and gloss it with no preparation. After reading several threads on here lastnight I see there is also water based paint which doesnt yellow like the oil based gloss, would it be better maybe to use water based paint for this particular job?

I am thinking a light sand and then a good quality gloss? Would anyone recommend anything else?

Thanks in advance. I am just fed up of spending alot of time and effort doing a job only for it to look rubbish at the end because I didnt prepare properly etc

 

[Cane32]

Recently painted the wood work in my house and decided to use.. DULUX......SATINWOOD.... on the doors banister and skirting.

Great finish not as shiny as... GLOSS... or as hardwearing , but self undercoating, wipeable , attractive and a alternative to GLOSS
Good luck.........

 

[dcdec]

I would definately go with water based, the best i have found is Johnstones aqua u/c and gloss and their satin is good too.

Sand well to provide a good key because its probably oil based on there at the moment.

Tips : Vacuum off dust before painting, use a synthetic brush (if you go for WB'd), and i'd mask off the hand rail if i was you as it looks horrible if you get paint on a stained surface, i bend the tape over my leg a couple of times to make it low tack so it doesn't remove anything from the surface when you take it off. Do two or three spindles at a time before moving to the other side and have a damp rag at hand to wipe off thick edges or a bit of white spirit on rag for OB'd.
Its important to get some good tunes going as well cos its boring as hell painting staircase components!

 

[footprints]

I would avoid quick drying water based paints, doing spindles you have to work around them and keeping a wet edge is difficult.

Water based needs to go on fast with minimal overbrushing and is's hard to avoid brush marks unless you are experienced.

I would go with the Satinwood as suggested, buy the Dulux trade one from a proper trade outlet if possible (the only time I had trouble with it was when I bought some Dulux trade paint from a DIY store, perhaps a budget version? who knows?) the advantage is that satin finish is much easier to touch in on areas like stairs that are prone to chipping and scuffs than gloss which shows every mark when touching up.

Regards,
footprints

 

[RigidRaider]

Don't use gloss; gloss is unfashionable at the moment because it is reflective and shows all the imperfections and anyway flat finishes are in vogue for all kinds of things including expensive cars and carbon fibre bicycles.

Rub down with fine sandpaper then wipe with a lint-free cloth dampened with soapy water or paraffin/white spirit/turps subs. Thoroughly vacuum the hall and landing and don't let kids and animals race around kicking up dust. Don't do what Mrs RR did and paint the stringers with a fluffy roller .

In a satin finish a pale pastel would look rather nice instead of white, which will yellow over time.

Fill any shrinkage cracks with decorator's caulk, which is an excellent product and easy to use.

Get your paints from a Dulux Decorator Centre, the qualities are professional and prices are competitive especially if you get a loyalty card and the advice is free, experienced, friendly and first class.

 

[dcdec]

I really don't understand why people are still recommending OB paints with all the known problems associated with them. The Johnstones i suggested have a pretty good 'open' time and arn't difficult to apply, you gents do know that the aqua is recently re-formulated don't you? Satura BL is the best satin because its a polymer hybrid so applies similarly to oil based, not sure about the johnstones but again it really isn't hard to apply

 

[Pigeon85]

My tips would be take your time using satin turn heating down or even off to stop it drying to quick. Even if you do 1 at a time and it took you all week it will be we'll worth it and if you do make a mistake or miss bits then let it dry and touch up after.

 

[footprints]

Well dcdec, we never had trouble with red lead, it went on a treat!

Must say I haven't tried Johnstones aqua u/c and gloss, so will give it a go maybe try it out at home.

I have tried several QD paints and was not converted so back to OB with a bit of owatrol sometimes.

Once I would have said painting ain't rocket science but wif fings like polymer hybrids buzzing around I ain't so sure no more!

Regards,
footprints

 

[tigers999]

Thanks for the great advice everyone!

With it being a new house, well it was when we moved in 6 years ago lol I want to start in the way I mean to go on, hence why I am now learning how to decorate properly rather than just throw some gloss on like I did in our previous house.

I got to work today filling the movement gap up the stairs so its out to buy the correct paint for the skirting and the bannister.

I am obviously stuck between the WB Johnstones Aqua Gloss and the Dulux Satinwood but to be completely honest, as I am somewhat a novice I think I should stick to OB paint.

Is it just a light sand then to allow the paint to stick, no need to go mad?

Thanks again everyone, its really appreciate

 

[Pigeon85]

Sand to take the shine off then undercoat first

 

[opps]

I would definately go with water based, the best i have found is Johnstones aqua u/c and gloss and their satin is good too.

I can't comment on the Johnstones WB gloss but I can say that their WB eggshell on woodwork is FECKEN SH!TE.

I have had to use it over the last couple of weeks and I have hated every minute. I find myself walking around grumbling and swearing, almost wishing that I had turned to crime rather than use that crap.

It is a mare to sand, the stuff overheats and clogs every different type/grade of paper on my Festool sanders. The dust clings to the surface and clumps more than OB would ever.

Although I have been adding XIM Bonder to the paint I cannot maintain a wet edge unless I make it so thin that it doesn't cover anything.

I have had to apply SIX coats where one WB primer and 2 OB eggshells would suffice.

Even after painting I turn up to find that the finish has been damaged by the next morning. Eg a window sill, the clients put their house keys on it. After a few days OB would be fine about it but the on the WB it leaves black marks (even a week after the last coat).

The tramlines (brush strokes) are very noticeable. I pride myself on having tramlines that are just about perceptible, not with WB though, it looks like a decent DIYer painted it and not a pro.

The stuff costs more than my preferred Dulux trade OB eggshell and it doesn't go as far.

It has messed up my brushes, even though I keep spraying them with water. Obviously I am not spraying them enough but my (designed for latex paints) Purdy Nylox brushes (or Wooster Ultras) will not lay off the paint if the bristles are too wet.

It stays ever so slightly sticky for days. Door jams stick to unpainted surfaces (Ok, OB would do that as well but less so).

Yes the lack of fumes is nice, if they didn't ruin my brushes the cleaning of them with water would also be a bonus. Quick touch dry another bonus.
Biggest (only real?) advantage, non yellowing.

Down sides, crap finish, possibly worse for the environment. WB sheen finishes are more expensive than their OB counter parts even though the base (water) is cheaper BUT they need massive amounts of electricity to produce them. One of my suppliers in Fulham has recently outsourced the production of their new WB paint to Iceland because the electricity there is so cheap.

Sorry DCDEC, I have a lot of respect for you but I am unable to sing from the same hymn sheet on this one.

I stress that I haven't tried WB gloss yet...

 

[opps]

Once I would have said painting ain't rocket science but wif fings like polymer hybrids buzzing around I ain't so sure no more!

I don't know how true the following is but I have heard people suggesting that the hybrids are popular because they work out cheaper, not because they are superior.

Then again, Grassy Knoll...

 

[dcdec]

I'm sorry for your pain opps but just to be clear i havn't recommended a johnstones eggshell or any other brand as i've never used a WB eggshell. I think you mentioned your problem a short while ago and i said then that i've heard that the F&B eggshell is good but i havn't used it so would only suggest it as an alternative. The Johnstones gloss and u/c are the best i've come across from the ones i've tried which includes caparol and mythic, the gloss level on the mythic was appalling, in fact it crossed my mind that it may have been damaged by frost at some point on its journey. Sikkens BL u/c is also excellent and their satin satura is the best i've used, the johnstones satin is also very good. WB is still a bit problematic on larger broader surfaces, its hard to produce a finish entirely free of brush marks because the paint doesn't level as well as OB.

My thinking in this post is that the OP is a diy decorator that wants to produce a good finish not neccessarily a pro finish so when weighing up the pro's and cons of a large job like a HSL a WB paint will look fresher than an OB for much longer and future decoration will be a coat or two on the walls and ceilings, touching up the woodwork means easy clean up instead of getting the whitespirit out or chucking the brush.
Only this week i did a room in an Elizabethan manor and i used OB gloss because the standard i needed to achieve warranted it. The room was also double aspect so no lack of natural light. I used Dulux blue lid. I had in the van an opened tin of 1 litre and an open tin of 2.5 litre (both blue lid, so not much diff in age), where i had poured and wiped the paint from the top edge of the cans one had yellowed badly and the other not much at all, this to me is inexplicable, perhaps part of the lottery of buying Dulux these days. I must say though that the blue lid does seem to be a lot better on the yellowing front.

When looking at prices i consider value above price and with the amount of junk China and the USA are belting out into the atmosphere without even mentioning shipping and the burning peat bogs in Borneo, the environmental argument doesn't cut much with me. My personal health does though and as i've mentioned before i'm sick of going home with a headache and i always found OB eggshell the worst.

Our industry is going through a bit of a revolution at the moment which is why i spend a lot of time reading reviews, experimenting with paints and brushes and doing samples at home. I feel if i want to move forward i have to embrace new technologies and techniques which allows me to be armed with the information to spec jobs for clients be they grass munching pacifists or old dinosaurs walking around the country pile with a shotgun and a labrador, and of course the everyday working man who trusts me to specify longevity and protection and value for money for his hard earned pound, and these are the majority of my customers.

 

[tigers999]

Just thought I would pop by as most people never finish threads off and its one of my pet hates lol

Anyway, I finally got around to abit of painting of the stairs....not the spindles but behind the bannister as such. After alot of deliberation I chose the Dulux Satinwood and to be completely honest I couldnt be more happy with the product.

It looks a really nice white and a quick sanding first meant that the paint took lovely. I havent seen in dry and in full day light yet but by torch light it looks good. I hardly used anyway so it wont be a problem if it needed a 2nd coat.

As a terrible DIY'er I can safely say I wont use gloss again. This Dulux Satinwood is just amazing and yeah it doesnt smell as bad and it alot more forgiving for drips etc.

Thanks again for the help and advice you all gave, it gives us idiots a chance of picking our way through the so called "best products in town" offers and not getting ripped off with something we dont want.

I am not so scared of the spindles now so it might be them tomorrow

 

[dcdec]

Did you use water or oil based?