Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Talk to me about sugar soap please - how essential?

8 replies

PatsysDouble · 07/04/2012 20:31

My slow preparation of the living room for painting has got to the point of washing the walls down - and 'sugar soap' just popped into my head.
From a quick google it sounds like this is necessary, but is there any substitute? I wanted to get cracking with washing first thing tomorrow (alas have no sugar soap and all shops shut) and painting in the afternoon.
Better to leave it until Monday and get the right stuff?
First time the room has been decorated in 8 years so hoping to get it right and make it last another 8 [busmile].
Also, is this just for the walls (emulsion) - what would you do with the woodwork/gloss? Light sand and then new top-coat?
Thanks for any tips!

OP posts:
TunipTheVegemal · 07/04/2012 20:36

I was taught by my dad that it was important to wash down with sugar soap or the paint would not stick properly, but when I dated a painter and decorator he told me that modern paints are better so it is no longer necessary.

pinkappleby · 07/04/2012 20:42

I used to sugar soap but found it made sod all difference so no longer bother. If the walls have marks/finger grease whatever on them I find a bit of cif is better than sugar soap anyway.

Woodwork yes sand then paint. WARNING all gloss now turns yellow, especially noticeable if the room is warm and doesn't have much natural light. It is because European regulations meant the formulation had to be changed and the nasty chemicals had to come out. I would use satinwood instead or anything water based. Change of paint probably means 2 coats needed, not one.

JobCarHouseNoBaby · 07/04/2012 21:05

Am mid living room redecoration myself OP!

Sugar soap has worked wonders at cleaning the grime off our walls. Also used foam sanding blocks soaked in sugarsoap to rub down wood. It was as smooth as a babys bum...

Saw a piece on watchdog about gloss turning yellow. Tis true the new regs caused a problem but according to the beeb the quick dry gloss by dulux has no issue or stick to Satinwood.

So far we have cleaned/sanded wood, put a coat of primer on, and a coat of undercoat. Gloss will go on tomorrow. My dad is a bit of an OCD on gloss though, I'm sure a good sand and new coat of gloss will do you fine

PatsysDouble · 07/04/2012 22:10

Wow, thanks for all the replies!!

So for the sake of progress I'll go for light sanding of wood and washing walls with normal stuff tomorrow then. Doing the job kind of wall-by-wall (along with ceiling near it) to keep the room in use, and the first wall is the least-touched so shouldn't be covered in finger marks. Bit of a long way round, but only have evenings when the kids are in bed to get on with the painting. Hoping I might make it 2-walls at a time once I've remembered what I'm doing!

Our gloss is indeed yellow - just the bits behind furniture though, anything in daylight is still quite white (although that might seem quite different after putting some new paint on!). Just going from white to white. Nothing radical!

OP posts:
pinkappleby · 09/04/2012 14:49

Good luck, am verrrrrryyyyy slowly doing our kitchen at the mo, the people who used to have this house were right bodgers and I am having to sand the blooming ceiling!!!

okefordbard · 23/01/2014 16:28

I know this is an old thread but it was useful advise regarding the use of sugar soap.

I read the comments on gloss paint yellowing etc with interest, plus the reference to Dulux paints. I feel the need to pass on some personal advice based on experience.

Last year I redecorated my bedroom following an en suite conversion. At first I used a Dulux undercoat for a gloss finishing coat. The smell was indescribably strong and persistent, driving us to move bedrooms for over a week.

I returned to Homebase and looked for low odour paint, gradually being attracted to water based products that also claimed to be non yellowing. An attendant, good old boy, advised me to avoid Dulux water based satin finish like the plague. He said that no water based paint would adhere to previous oil based paint, would run and when dry would peel off. I knew that a neighbour had used just that product so I borrowed a half full tin and tried it on a well sanded door. Well, it was horrible to use, being very runny, but I persevered. It also looked very light on pigment in the tin, sort of see-through! I was then astounded to discover not the silk finish promised, but a gloss so bright that it reflected like a mirror. It didn't peel however. For all these reasons I started Googling for water based, satin finish paint.

The first thing I found was a forum where the Dulux paint I'd used was slated by dozens of people on page after page. Then I found a professional painter and decorator website. One chap, backed up by others, recommended a Sikkens paint with the hard to remember name of Rubbol BL Satura. More Googling revealed that this Dutch product was actually made in the same factory as Dulux. However, having once used Sikkens paint on a boat, and having been a fan of beautifully painted Dutch houses, I was prepaired to give it a try.

I scouted around for this and discovered it was stocked by a firm called Brewers. Their website had a nifty nearest branch finder, so I rang up about the paint. The smaller branches didn't stock it but the main one in Poole did. I drove down, bought the paint and some nice synthetic brushes and as well as getting lots of good advice, was amazed to be told that in future I shouldn't drive so far, but just ring and they would deliver....Free!!

I used the paint. It looked very highly pigmented and was easy to use as long as I was a bit careful not to over apply it, though any runs could be quickly brushed out. It can be used indoors or out. I soon got used to it and painted without any runs at all. It covered very well indeed and dried extremely quickly, being dust dry in 1-2 hours and recoatable in 5 hours, should that be necessary. Only the odd bit of door surround required a second coat. It was so odourless that we slept in the same room unbothered. It is a tough polyurathene product and, being water based, is free of the Iodine based additive that EU regulations insist is in all oil based paints, so it will stay white. Oh yes, it produces a lovely white soft satin finish. After a year it is unchanged, cleans easily and not peeling at all. I am about to use it on the 11 doors of my hallway. Wish me luck.

Oh yes. I'm sugar soaping the very dirty downstairs doors and surrounds prior to sanding and any recesses upstairs that are difficult to sand into. I want it to last and be absolutely sure that the doomsayer in Homebase doesn't get the last laugh.

Tomatomess · 12/09/2017 13:22

You wrote this post quit a while ago - how did your further 11 doors go? Do you remember which paint from the Sikkens collection you used? And just to reiterate you painted over oil based paint with Sikkens?

ForNoisyCat · 04/10/2025 15:27

This post is still interesting and helpful, 11 years later!!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread