Bulletproof paint for woodwork

[Bimblywibble]

We have unpainted wooden doors surounded by white gloss architraves and door frames throughout our house. The frames and architraves are badly chipped (back to the original dark wood) and they need repainting. But what to repaint with?

I have never been a fan of satinwood. I painted a couple of skirting boards in it about 3 years ago and they have both scuffed through to the wood in places. I don't want to be repainting that often, I need something tougher. In my experience gloss is much more resilient, but white gloss looks a bit dated now.

Does a paint exist that is as tough as gloss, but not as shiny? I'm not too worried about ease of application, I just want something that will last.

Not really no!

The law changes have now made oil based gloss obsolete ( almost, you can still buy it til end of the year) paint will very soon be ALL water based, so not as tough. Satinwood is also waterbased.

If you have layers and layers of old paint, it will be more prone to chipping. Might be worth sanding back, priming and giving 2-3 coats of top coat.

It's also possible that there was some sort of varnish on the wood originally which again can affect how resistant to knocks the paint is.

Thanks both, that's v interesting about oil based paint.

We don't have lots of layers of paint, it looks like just one layer over the wood, but the dark wood was the original finish so it is likely varnished. The woodwork has been neglected for years - lots of families bringing up small children here and just painting walls, not woodwork I suspect. But the satinwood was onto a new skirting board, I'm really disappointed with the finish.

Did you prime and sand the new skirtings first? I've recently painted some skirting boards and architrave and I primed, sanded away any rough bits with medium sandpaper, primed again and painted with satinwood. Frankly by then I'd had enough so they've only had one top coat of satinwood. I'd normally do two coats.

I used Zinsser BIN primer and have found it to be very good - not as cheap as other primers, but it gives excellent coverage.

I think so, though it might have been dual purpose undercoat and primer and I am not the most dedicated of sanders. It is in the bathroom under the towel radiator. On reflection the DC pull wet towels on that bit regularly. Not ideal for water based paint perhaps.

Would eggshell be any tougher than satinwood?

There are probably some primers and under coats which are better than others. I find satinwood as durable as gloss without yellowing, but I use trade satinwood. I think the cause of the problems is whatever the woodwork was treated with first - the varnish. A really good primer could help.

Thanks wowfudge.

Dulux do a range called 'Diamond', both emulsions and for woodwork. It is considerably more expensive than the usual paints, but considerably more hard-wearing. Scuffs and marks are very easily wiped off, and not so easily chipped. Not sure if a normal DIY store will sell it, but I buy ours from a trade warehouse, and they will mix any colour you want.

Thanks Evans, that sounds like a good tip.

I have never been brave enough to buy trade paint. Does it take particular skill to use?

No, it's normal paint, just you can't buy the 'Diamond' finish variety in a regular DIY store, as not many people know about it outside of the paint trade, IYSWIM. Just go into a trade place, ask for Dulux Diamond (..whatever you want, eg, Diamond Matt for walls, Diamond Satin for woodwork...) and use it as normal. The staff there will know what you mean.

The rooms we've used it in haven't needed to be decorated for three years, I just wipe off the marks and scuffs and everything is as good as new. It is expensive though, so check the price first if you're wary. [itlsmile]

Cool. Thanks very much Evans.

You're most welcome, Forest - hope it's helpful!

Oh, but of course, you would have to do the normal preparation, ie, rubbing down, undercoat too. Don't just paint over the top of what you've got as it is.

Ok. A lot of satin claims not to need undercoat, maybe that ispart of the problem.

Little greene still do oil based eggshell. We did our kitchen about a year ago and despite lots of abuse it's holding up

Dulux diamond is available in most DIY stores. It's not particularly special. It's just a trade paint. You can buy it in B&Q

Thanks, SoulSister. I've never before been able to get it in any of our local DIY stores. They have a problem keeping up with the regular colour charts I'll keep a look out in the future, maybe it just depends upon where you live?

The point is though, that it is a more hardwearing paint, which is what OP was looking for, so was trying to help, not claim that it was 'special'.

B&Q sells lots of different trade paints.

You lot are brilliant. Thank you so much.

We have a huge b&q so I will start there. It doesn't have the dulux colour mixing, it has valspar instead these days but I only want white or off-white so that shouldn't be an issue.

Sikkens satura bl & the primer that go with it are the best I've found so far, have to order online or get it from dulux decorator centre. Tried lots of different paints but this seems to be the dog' danglies