Best gloss!

[merryandbrightdelight]

Help please!

This weekend my job is to redo the staircase/landing. The gloss on the skirting boards on the stairs has gone horribly yellow (not in direct sunlight either so not sure what's going on) and the rest just looks tired and needs a freshen up.

What's the best to use? Google tells me eggshell - is this a paint?

I'm not bothered about it being 'glossy', I just want it to be lovely and white! I dropped some white paint on the bannister before and it dried lovely and I did wonder if I could just paint it white with paint, but not sure if it would chip?

Any ideas welcome, thanks!

Eggshell is a type of gloss, much more durable than normal wall emulsion, which would chip and scuff very easily.

White paint with oil (clean brushes with white spirit) will discolour. White water based paint will stay white.

Oil based paint will yellow , water based paint will not however water based paint doesn’t flow as well so harder to get a smooth finish and get rid of brushmarks of the water based paints I’ve tried crown trade fast flow is good and they do an eggshell, satin or gloss depending on the level of shenn you prefer

You are all amazing thank you! A trip to Screwfix tomorrow sorted

I have found the quick dry, low odour gloss yellows quite quickly (or chips easily) but the old fashioned, incredibly smelly gloss that takes 24 hours to dry or at least 5 days to harden, is less likely to go yellow. I only use the Dulux brand so not sure what the others are like.

This is the exact one I have been using! I've been worried it had gone off when I'd used it, but I won't be using it again, so so yellow

The lesson I have taken from various attempts to paint gloss and other paints on the woodwork over the years is prepare properly - sand down to roughen the surface and or prime it - and get a decent paint.

We did our bannisters and other woodwork last year following some internal building work - we followed the advice of our builder who recommended Johnstones Trade eggshell as the best and it certainly seems to have held up well. Much thicker than the Dulux we had previously used and much more satisfying to apply!

This 👆

If you're going to paint over oil based gloss with water based gloss, make sure you rub down and prime properly.

Amazing! Thank you! Can I ask, was it acrylic or solvent based?

@merryandbrightdelight Use Farrow and Ball eggshell for woodwork, its water based and brushes clean under the tap. Never yellows and is easy to use. Much easier than gloss. Yes, costs more but job done once. Our stairs and landings are Wimborne White and still perfect after 15 years.