Help with painting wall panelling

[cloughie100]

First coat of paint applied to our DIY wall panelling and it looks awful - homemade with MDF strips. Should we apply paint with sprayer ? Any tips?

Did you put any sort of primer on the wood?

It needs more coats. What sort of paint is it? I was once advised with eggshell (not the water based type) to thin it with a drop or two of white spirit and it did go on much better. But you could thin it a teeny bit with water if its a water based paint. You may need more coats but you don't get as many brush marks.

It'll be fine you just need to build up the depth of colour with more coats

Msg is quite absorbent, you just need more coats

Mdf

Thanks all- it’s vinyl Matt paint. We used primer but think it may have been the wrong type. We will perhaps thin the paint slightly and keep painting. We are applying it with small rollers, would a brush be better?

So vinyl matt isn't exactly the best paint to be using but I've been here before and know the deal. You're fine using a mini roller but the technique is a little off, don't push too hard, it's gentle pressure, and you're looking to get a nice uniform finish on each coat, even if it looks thin. Once you've got your roller loaded up, start in the middle and work your way towards the edges, rolling the paint out, i'd say 2-3 good roller fulls of paint for a panel. If you see any spots where it looks thicker, just roll back over it, gentler on the roller each time, when i do my final passes im not putting any pressure onto the roller, im just passing it over the paint. I'd say this would take 3-4 more coats, 2 if you're lucky.

When you get to the edges of the MDF, where it has been cut, it will look furry, this is because the MDF has absorbed the water out of the paint, after a couple of coats a gentle sand back might bring the edges nice and smooth. If you want to make the edges look really good, google "Powdered MDF glue" £8 on amazon, use that like filler on the edges and sand back and they should be sealed and stop furring.

I used b&q all surface. No primer. And a brush.