Painting bare wood and MDF

[Big G]

Hi – starting to sound like a broken record here. Just had our lounge re-plastered. Had new MDF skirting and wood picture rails fitted.

Filled the screw holes with B&Q wood filler (tried to get hold of ThirdEye’s suggestion of Red Devil but our B&Q warehouse doesn’t stock it).

Anyhow, the picture rail is ready for knotting, priming, undercoating and whatever. The skirting is currently in the process of having its holes and cut marks in the bay filled and sanded.

So – from the top (literally). I already have some Wickes knotting solution. Does quality matter when it comes to covering the knots – i.e. should I get some better stuff? Should I use primer and undercoat combined for the picture rail or are separates better? Water based or oil? And finally, which gloss? Once got a decorator in and he used liquid gloss. I remarked on this and he said he wouldn’t touch non-drip. Also, I’ve used water based gloss before (about 2 years ago) but didn’t find it very glossy. Is there a water based gloss that is glossy? I may use oil based gloss it’s just there’s a few posts saying that water based stays white for longer.

Now the skirting. This is white MDF skirting. Do I need to prime, undercoat, or do anything else with it or can I just put some gloss straight on it?


Many, many thanks in advance

G

 

[spice]

For the wood, just knott the knots, I use an old brush, or if not too many a bit of kitchen roll or cotton wool, I always use oil -base primer, then oil base undercoat, and oil base gloss or satin whatever your choice is.
if your not too sure about the wicks knotting, after you have knotted, go over it again just to be on the safe side.

After you have primed,you will probably see some bits that need filling, just fill, rub down then undercoat.
The more white you put on, the more nicks and indents show, just fill, and undercoat, then do your topcoat, if your doing gloss, just one coat will do, but if satinwood or eggshell, if you do two coats you get a nice finish.

MDF soaks in the first coat, so I always thin down my first coat of undercoat, then undercoat again, and finish with two coats of satinwood, (depending on how well it covers) you might have to do 3 coats of undercoat before gloss, make sure you give the MDF a light rub down between coats, as can be furry at times.

Use what you want, waterbase or oil, but I think if you want the product to last, then oilbase is the best, maybe down the line you can always freshen it up with water base stuff later on, but at least this way, you are ltreating the wood from the bottom up.