It’s been a while since I’ve submitted myself to the tedium of gloss painting, but I have been told there are a load of bannisters, skirts and doors that urgently need my attention.

What brand white gloss do knowledgeable folk go for these days? Are quick-drys still rubbish, and what prep is considered ideal on already-glossed wood?

TIA

Water based. Dries quickly and won’t go yellow due to lack if UV.

if you’re painting over existing oil based gloss then  sand, a coat of Zinserr BIN primer or Bullseye 123, lightly sand, on other coat of primer if you think you need it, lightly sand, two coats of trade *water based undercoat and then water based gloss.

The colour should come from the undercoat, the gloss is to make it shiny.

Dulux, Crown or Johnstone

As above, but make sure you’re using a synthetic bristle brush with water based paints. I like the Johnstone’s aqua as far as brands go.

Or lightly sand, quick wipe with a damp cloth. Dulux trade satinwood for me.

if you’re painting over existing oil based gloss then sand, a coat of Zinserr BIN primer or Bullseye 123, lightly sand, on other coat of primer if you think you need it, lightly sand, two coats of trade *water based undercoat and then water based gloss.

Interesting. That’s a lot of coats! Do I need as many if I’m putting oil based on top of oil based?

Or lightly sand, quick wipe with a damp cloth.

Dammit, as a lazy bastard who likes a nice finish, I’m somewhat torn here!

I use waterbased glosses, satins and eggshells all the time at work but still wouldn’t use them in my own home. Still too brushmarky and dare I say it, too white. So white it shows all the day to day grubby marks especially round door handles and on banister rails etc. Still prefer and use oil. My favourite is Crown Solo satin. Usually covers in one coat and if it doesn’t a coat of quick dry primer undercoat first ensures it will.

Satins are more forgiving to brush marks and imperfections.

I’d sand, wipe, prime, finish. Unless the manufacturer says something different. I’d probably stick to one brand fro primer and finish as it is unlikely that every combination of competitor products has been considered.

Unfortunately the water based ones can’t go straight on top of oil based paint, it just peels straight off

Bit of a pain if you are trying to save time…

what the fishy cat says.

We used water based, sanded, primer, 2 coats about 4 years ago. Johnstons paint. However it has marked badly and I have already repainted one room.

We had terrible yellowing as lots of windows so still think we made the right choice, it also dries a hell of a lot quicker.

Cheers guys. Looks like no riding for a couple of weekends then!

Sand down to give it a good key. Wipe clean or use tack cloths, then two coats of self undercoating oil based top coat if you’re painting onto pre glossed woodwork.
Far less faff.

Just touch up the chips then go riding.

I’ve used Teknos Futura Aqua 80 at home for the last few years. Really good stuff.

Link to Teknos website

Found it after getting hold of some of the paint used to spray our engineered wood front door when it was first manufactured. Talked with a guy at the company that made it and he told me all about Teknos paints. I bought some initially to repaint our door from dark green to black. Did that about 4 years ago and it’s not needed even a touch-up in that time.

I’ve since used it in white on interior doors and other woodwork – including balustrade and stair handrails. Have 7 and 11 year old boys and even the handrails are holding up!

It’s not cheap, but it does seem to be very good quality stuff. And it doesn’t make your entire house stink!

I just glossed exterior door with oil based, it was green on green.  Gave good sand and also sugar soap to get any residues off, let dry properly and two coats looks good.  I prefer oil/ solvent based gloss seems much more durable than water based.

Any gloss paint is deeply naff at the moment, satins are where it’s at. Satin paint is also much more forgiving of bad brush technique, as jonba writes above.

Dulux trade oil based undercoat and gloss.
Sand / key
2x undercoat with a de-nib sand inbetween
1x gloss
will come up like glass

Just doing my Hall/stairs and landing. Leyland trade quick dry undercoat, seems to cover ok. Dulux trade satinwood for the doors. Again went on ok and looks good. Dulux quick dry gloss on the skirtings / frames / stairs. Its o/k on the narrow stuff but terrible on the loft hatch and window sills. Really dragging and lots of air bubbles and brush marks. Might try water it down a bit and seehow a second coat goes.

Personally I don’t particularly like water based gloss paints as I find they never seem to come up shiny enough for my liking.

The best gloss I’ve found in years is Sandtex 10 year external gloss. It goes on really well, flats down really smoothly and gives a really hard shiny coating that has outlasted anything I’ve previously used on skirtings, door frames, etc. It also seems to stay white a lot longer than any other gloss I’ve used.

OK, yes it’s spirit based but the effort required to clean the brushes is worht it for the over all finish and lack of care needed around it afterwards.

Has anyone tried brush then roller over the top to smooth out the marks? Seems to be a technique used on painting boats and such.

I’ve used water based both inside and outside the house with no issues. It dries as fast as emulsion and leaves a good finish. It does need proper prep and 2 coats, outside I use 3 coats. The stuff I’ve got is Bedec Multi Surface Paint.

The stuff I’ve got is Bedec Multi Surface Paint.

Off the back of this, and after weeks of painting coat after coat of inferior stuff, I grabbed a tin of this from Toolstation earlier.

Expensive as hell, but it’s tremendous! Really easy to apply and gives a lovely finish with fewer brush marks. It’s covered a yellowing radiator in one coat and I’ve put it onto a pine door without an undercoat – and I’d guess it’s only going to need one more to finish.

Bloody brilliant – top recommendation 🙂

Well, after asking a question about gloss paints, I’ve plumped for a Crown Solo Satin. Mainly because someone said gloss wasn’t trendy any more. 🙂

The plan at the moment is to rub down, wipe clean then do one coat of an undercoat/primer, because there are various knots and bits showing through from the previous poor effort. Then possibly rub down again before lobbing the satin on.

Just done all ours in Crown Solo Satin, brilliant paint, prepped it first with gloss off.
Then we’ve put house on market hopefully it will sell before paint goes yellow.

Ha ha yes, our satin white architraves are now indistinguishable from the surrounding pale yellow emulsion on the walls.

Has anyone tried brush then roller over the top to smooth out the marks? Seems to be a technique used on painting boats and such.

Other way round, roller then finish with brush.

The quality of brush will make so much difference, I use Purdy Monarch Elite brushes and get a finish so smooth that I can see my reflection a bit in a painted flat panel door.
I use a small sponge roller on a radiator handle with oil based Leyland trade paint (eggshell and gloss).

Purdy Monarch Elite

The Rolls-Royce of paintbrushes

We’ve just done most of our wood work with Dulux professional undercoat and then the professional liquid gloss.

It looks really good although I’ve spotted a few nibs of dust in parts so it will get a light sand and then another coat of gloss.

I find Purdy brushes are not as good as they were for some reason. Decorator tea break chat!

Sorted my brush mark problems out thanks to youtube. Go over the area first with a damp sponge and use a damp synthetic brush.