When one has been doing something for 30 years or more, there is an inclination to forget how much you know and others don’t.
Thinking about this I came up with the idea for this months blog.
I’m calling it -Paint Finishes Explained.
I expect everyone will know some of the following, but even so, if you read with patience you may find there’s something to learn.
So here we go:
GLOSS PAINT is the shiny one, usually oil paint and needs an undercoat to give adhesion and coverage.
UNDERCOAT goes under gloss. Oil undercoat for oil gloss is recommended here.
EGGSHELL can be oil or a quick drying acrylic paint.
Oil eggshell is a beautiful finish and can be applied to wood and walls too.
The acrylic eggshell is a good finish and has the advantage of not yellowing (if a white colour) over the years.
Eggshell is its own undercoat, so two coats of eggshell usually covers it.
If covering a dark colour with white eggshell, use a white undercoat, then two eggshell coats on top. Always TWO coats of eggshell as one coat covers badly even if the previous colour has been completely whited-out by the undercoat.
Some people think eggshell is a colour. It’s not a colour, it’s a finish. If there is a paint company out there with a colour called eggshell they should be severely reprimanded for causing confusion.
EMULSION PAINTS are for walls and ceilings.
For ceilings there is no need for vinyl in there as no one I know washes their ceilings.
For walls you should have a vinyl matt or vinyl soft sheen. The vinyl makes is washable. Well, washable to a degree.
Don’t use vinyl silk because it’s ugly and looks like you’ve painted the walls with shiny plastic.
Always two coats of emulsion. Sometimes after one coat the coverage looks good enough -don’t be fooled. Left with only one coat the surface will begin to appear shadowy after a few weeks.
Diamond Matt is great for walls and is very tough and very matt. Now this one you can really wash and even scrub black boot sole marks off the surface. If you have dogs and children, this is for you.
Well that covers 90% of it.
Exterior painting is more technical but not so much.
I’ll talk about exterior painting in another blog, but for now I’ll just say go for oil-based gloss on your front door.
Painted well the oil allows the paint to level out, leaving no brush marks.
Achieving a comparable front door finish-quality using an acrylic satin finish is not as easy.
Good luck
Joe