Which Paint To Buy? Dulux? Johnstones? Leyland?

the best paint in my experience is dulux trade, its the paint i always offer my guarantee to the customer on and i think i have probably tried them all. however, johnston is actually a decent paint, ive had good results both interior and exterior with it. the answer to your water based question is that the powers that be are trying to change all paints to water based, i know they have been fazing oil based out for a while as ive often found it difficult to find. if you buy dulux paint from b&q it may well be water based, however, if you go to a dulux trade counter i believe you can still buy oil based eggshell.although i must add that its been a while since i have needed to buy eggshell, as a lot of people around here opt for gloss or (i hate this one) the customer buys the paint themselves.

 

Kryptonite, I'm not a painter but have done a lot of painting. I can't tell you which paint is best, but I've always been told that Johnstone's is - as Mick says - decent stuff. I doubt, in practice, you'd notice any difference bewteen it and, say, Dulux.

You're going for 'eggshell' paint - that's good. I presume it's water-based? In which case, whilst it might be a wee bit more tricky to apply, it will at least give you a true brilliant white finish that'll stay that way.

One thing I was ask you to check - are you applying this to bare or previously-primed timber? If 'bare', then isn't 'primer' what you need and not 'undercoat'? And most water-based paints can - I believe - be applied straight to primer and doesn't need an 'undercoat'.

Unless what you have is oil-based eggshell? In which case you may want to ask the pros on here whether it'll stay white over a couple of years.

 

New unpainted wood, use primer followed by undercoat, or buy an acrylic primer/undercoat.

 

Kryp, is that Dulux water or oil-based?

My understanding is, oil-based benefits from Primer > Undercoat > Topcoat, whereas with water-based you can leave out the 'Undercoat'. (Mind you, water-based will likely need more Top-coats anyways )

(Primer is designed to adhere to and seal new timber. Undercoat is designed to prepare the finish ready for the top-coat - that's my understanding anyways!)

If there are any knots in the wood - especially resinous-looking ones - then use knotting liquid (what's it called?) first. Now't more soul-destroying than seeing dark circles appearing a few months after your lovely paint job.

 

Get some of this.........

http://www.screwfix.com/p/colron-knotting-solution-125ml/50926?cm_sp=Search-_-SearchRec-_-Area1&_requestid=750896

Some of this..........

http://www.screwfix.com/p/acrylic-primer-2-5ltr-white/64719#

Then put whatever topcoat you want on. Make sure you prep the surfaces first- wash, sand, dust down, etc. Sand lightly in between coats too

Johnstones, Leyland, or Dulux all do a topcoat (oil or water) that will fit your requirements. On the wood, I'd go for Dulux diamond satinwood, been much improved recently (water based and goes in two coats)

 

do not mix oil based with water based, they dry at different speeds which creats cracking

 

Oil based paint (specially the brilliant white) does tend to yellow with age, whereas water based acrylic paint does stay white a lot longer. For gloss paints the oil based does produce a better finish than the acrylic. Drying times too are completely differnet between the two types of paint. Oil based can take up to 24hrs to dry, ready for the next coat of paint (and can take weeks to dry out completely) Acrylic (water based) paints are touch dry in less than a few hours and can be  re-coated in the same time.