Woodwork paint

[FusionChefGeoff]

There's a lot of knackered woodwork in our new place (picture rails everywhere as well as normal skirting / doorframes and built in cupboards) I'm going to start repainting - I did skirting in DDs room with some leftover satinwood which was SHIT and soul destroying as t needed eleventy coats to look good.

What's 'the best' satin finish paint in your experience?? Or is there a tip to getting a good finish without several coats?

I did my hallway woodwork in eggshell paint from Craig & Rose. It was a dark colour (smalt), but still only took a couple of coats, and has fared much better than the cheapo satin and gloss I used for woodwork elsewhere in the house.

Can you get that in Homebase / B&Q type places or likely to need a specialist paint place?

You can get C&R paints in the larger B&Q “warehouse” stores. Dunno about Homebase as we don’t have one near us. Avoid B&Q’s own brand gloss paint, though. It needed eleventy coats, exactly as you said, and was a bugger to work with.

Does anyone have any other recommendations? I think my title sounds like it's a school project that needs painting - woops!!

I use FandB eggshell for interior woodwork. Obviously if you are changing colours you will need an undercoat and then maybe two coats. If it’s white on white then one or two coats is enough. I have used Craig and Rose without problems too. However use eggshell. You can wash out the brushes and it’s a tough finish that doesn’t yellow or discolour.

The problem with cheap paint is it's often thinner so you need more of it, becayse it needs more coats.

Any decent branded one will do the job. There is seldom any saving in buying cheap paint.

Great thank you - so does satin need me to fuck around with white spirit etc?? In that case I'd definitely prefer eggshell - I'm really clueless!

Not changing colour but it's very discoloured in some rooms so might need a few coats I guess.

No, only gloss needs the white spirit faff. Satinwood and Eggshell are both water based. Eggshell is matt and satin wood has a slight sheen appearance somewhere inbetween matt and Gloss finish.

rather than applying lots of coats of paint to hide the blemishes, you should sand smooth, and use a filler for gouges.

Apply a couple of coats of undercoat. Modern water-based undercoat goes on easily and dries fast, but water paint does not sand well. It tends to form balls of paint, not dust. You can wipe it very lightly with an extrafine paper to remove dust and flies' legs. Undercoat is not as bad to sand as topcoat.

Appropriately prep and prime the surface, then use a decent branded paint. Should require sanding/filling, then primer, then undercoat (often you can get a primer & undercoat in one). Once this is on allow it to dry well (around 4 hours in this heat or with the radiators on, or if your job is big enough by the time you get to the end the beginning is ready) and you can see if it’ll need a second coat. Then it should require two top coats. We used johnstone’s silk emulsion for our top coat and it looked good. A decorator ended up saying use oil based on your woodwork- it’s just much harder wearing (but much slower to paint and more work)

Hmm so looks like my plan of finding a magic all in one paint that would save me doing coat after coat is null and void then.

It's either multiple layers of primer / undercoat or multiple layers of paint!!

I HATE DECORATING!!

"magic all in one paint "

The paint manufacturers pander to this desire by selling special paints to the DIY market called things like Once Only Solo Nondrip Coverall.

They are made to appeal to the bad painter and are not much good as their other qualities are traded off.

Oil based is just really old fashioned and unnecessary. You cannot clean the brushes in water and the decorator probably means gloss - but avoid it!

Eggshell is water based and tough. Brushes clean off in water. Often you don’t need a primer unless you have lots of bare wood. Just undercoat and top coat. Maybe two topcoats. It’s not a huge amount of work unless you want a perfect finish.

Hi I'm resurrecting this - done all my prep and have undercoat x 2 on the wood and walls where needed.

So should I do the colour THEN cut in the woodwork or wood first then cut in with emulsion??

Hi Fusion.
I always do woodwork first. It's easier to get emulsion off woodwork paint, (when the inevitable slip happens), than vice versa.

Enjoy!