Paint. How long is too long...

[mac11irl]

As above... 

We are currently redecorating the new house, have been painting etc.

The next room to do is the kitchen. Its currently a dark "Mahatten Grey" as was the hallway and porch.

Both the hall and porch took FOUR coats of the new paler colours (all Johnston's trade dulux is gone to absolute sh1t3) to fully kill the grey and build up the new colour.

 

So, i reckon on putting 1-2 coats of white/pale on the kitchen first before the proper colour. Its a big space..

I was in the attic last weekend and found a stash of all the original paints from when the house was new. 2002...

Theres about 2 gallons of white and (manky) pale green vinyl soft sheen. I cracked them open and gave them about 10mins stirring each and they seem fine. Doesnt stink and they have have been in good storage conditions.

It would be an ideal and free.. base coat to flatten off the grey.

 

But.... said paint is 17yrs old... how long is too long for a paint to still be usable...

[Tilt]

I'm no professional but would assume if it has mixed well then it should be fine.

Makes sense to me but i would test a patch, not only to see if it covers and dries nicely, but also to check your finished colour takes to it.

 

Good luck...........

[mac11irl]

Thanks. 

I suppose my concern is if i use it and then put our finish coat on and in 12months time the "old" paint turns out to not bonded very well and starts to lift then im screwed and ill be annoyed, and swmbo will be upset.... happy wife etc....

[Robjon]

40 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

I suppose my concern is if i use it and then put our finish coat on and in 12months time the "old" paint turns out to not bonded very well and starts to lift then im screwed and ill be annoyed, and swmbo will be upset.... happy wife etc....

 

...and you will have to do the job again... and you will have wasted all that money on your new colour...

 

I agree with Tilt that the "old" paint will probably be fine. But for the sake of the cost of a new tin of white, I personally wouldn't risk it.

 

Intrigued to know what you decide to do...

[mac11irl]

Aldi appear to have white emulsion on 10l for 10quid today....

Aka 1/4 of the price of where we will be getting our top coat paint.. think i have a winner, even if the aldi paint is crap to work with, at least its a lower longer term risk..

[Tilt]

17 hours ago, mac11irl said:

Thanks. 

I suppose my concern is if i use it and then put our finish coat on and in 12months time the "old" paint turns out to not bonded very well and starts to lift then im screwed and ill be annoyed, and swmbo will be upset.... happy wife etc....

 

Maybe in 12 months time your missus will have changed her mind on the colour and you'll have to do it again anyways, Lol. 

[J.R.]

3 hours ago, mac11irl said:

Aldi appear to have white emulsion on 10l for 10quid today....

Aka 1/4 of the price of where we will be getting our top coat paint.. think i have a winner, even if the aldi paint is crap to work with, at least its a lower longer term risk..

 

The Baufix paint sold by both Lidl and Aldi is absolutely superb, I have been using it for over a decade, decorating a complete appartôtel plus 2 or 3 other properties, its covering power is astounding, there was one dodgy batch once that had micro-billes in the paint just like sand but once rollered on and dry they all came away with one pass of a plastic scraper.

 

Its supern value for money especially here in France where paint is eye wateringly expensive for rubbish quality.

 

One pot that had been opened went smelly but none of the others have.

[mac11irl]

1 hour ago, Tilt said:

 

Maybe in 12 months time your missus will have changed her mind on the colour and you'll have to do it again anyways, Lol. 

 

Luckily my missus hates decorating too, so its a take our time choose wisely and do it once...

 

havnt got ut wrong yet...

[Aspman]

Have found Dulux crap in recent years. Have found store brands also crap but no worse than Dulux. Everything needs 4 coats especially the 'one coat' stuff.

 

The lass is big into decorating and used to have her own interior design company. She rates the B&Q stuff that is mixed in house, Valspar.

I've also used the expensive stuff Farrow and Ball which although being a totall PITA to figure out which paint is in the tin covered like nothing I've ever used before. Made it seem less expensive.

[andyoctavia]

I would be worried about a reaction between the old paint and any new paint which goes on top of it, because the actual formulas/chemical makeup could be quite different with advances in paint technology.

[andyoctavia]

11 minutes ago, Aspman said:

Have found Dulux crap in recent years. Have found store brands also crap but no worse than Dulux. Everything needs 4 coats especially the 'one coat' stuff.

 

The lass is big into decorating and used to have her own interior design company. She rates the B&Q stuff that is mixed in house, Valspar.

I've also used the expensive stuff Farrow and Ball which although being a totall PITA to figure out which paint is in the tin covered like nothing I've ever used before. Made it seem less expensive.

I have also found Valspar to be very good.

[mac11irl]

I bought 10litres of Aldi's finest to use as "undercoat"

the rather old stuff is now in the shed pending transportation to the waste recycling centre.. it can sit a while until they run their next "clear out yer gaff by recycling" promo day. Its about once a year, they set up a day where all the crap usually costing for disposal - paint, weedkiller, cleaning products etc - can be brought down and dropped onto pallet crates and taken away directly by the processors for free. Its as much about trying to stop people putting nasty **** in the gen waste / regular dry recycling as anything else... handy though

[VWD]

Mac- beware of recycling centres if like those on UK mainland. where it's a case of "we don't do paint". W've had problems with old paint, doing it the official way. Till SIL told us how to do it. In your case it might involve a Guinness or three .

[SuperbTWM]

13 hours ago, Aspman said:

The lass is big into decorating and used to have her own interior design company. She rates the B&Q stuff that is mixed in house, Valspar.

 

 

Is this a recent thing? Last time i got some trade paint mixed up it was Dulux Vinyl. I have only ever used Dulux paint so don't really have a comparison but I have never been unhappy with coverage.

 

 

[mac11irl]

7 hours ago, SuperbTWM said:

 

Is this a recent thing? Last time i got some trade paint mixed up it was Dulux Vinyl. I have only ever used Dulux paint so don't really have a comparison but I have never been unhappy with coverage.

 

 

 

"Trade Grade" might be okay, normal stuff is pants, be it factory or shop mixed.

FIL and I have been shocked by poor the cover is with it the last few years.

Ive been using Johnstones from our local johnstones shop as much as possible now. Its all "trade grade" as they supply pretty much all the contractors around our area. Its maybe 15% more expensive, but coverage is about 30% better.

Dulux starts to cure and go tacky around the paint tray edge and roller as soon as you pour it out making it a pain, pulling bits of chewing gum consistency paint off the wall as you go along. Absolute dose.

[OldTrilobite]

Last summer I needed to repaint some woodwork with something like ivory-white, satin finish. The nearest I could find, off the shelf in some big store (B&Q?) was "Colours One Coat" in Satin Antique White. No grumbles about cover - I was repainting over a similar shade of off-white, and had a decent undercoat. It is a solvent-based paint, not water-based. But this paint takes weeks to really harden. It's dry enough on doors and door frames in a few hours, but on window-cills it stays slightly soft for weeks, and anything you put on the cill sticks to the paint after an hour or so. I think it took several months for this to stop happening. Cheapo paint!

[VWD]

Another problem with water based gloss paint is that whilst it might be ok for skirting boards etc, it's useless on hard wearing surfaces such as bannisters.  We had an additional bannister fitted  by Adult health to help me navigate the stair and water based paint rubbed off in no time flat, whilst proper oil based paint lasts.

One interesting thing about fence paint. I can spray most fence paints with my market bought ex Aldi sprayer as it has a thick setting. But this paint once left out overnight in cold weather looses the solid texture and sprays a lot better with a fine nozzle. I know there are special fence paints designed for the sprayer, but I find thy are a lot dearer.

And a tip over a lot of years of home decorating. Pay more to get satin /gloss type emulsion  (for walls ) . Oh- the experts might get away with one or two coats of matte, but I've found it worth while to buy satin as it reflects the light meaning less coats for a decent finish .

[KenONeill]

13 hours ago, VWD said:

water based gloss paint is that whilst it might be ok for skirting boards etc, it's useless on hard wearing surfaces such as bannisters.

I think you can still get proper spirit based varnishes.

[Aspman]

38 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

I think you can still get proper spirit based varnishes.

 

Last time I used oil based gloss it took an extended time to dry (if I said a week I'm not sure if I'm exaggerating or not), but worst of all it yellowed within a few months.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9188572/Dulux-pays-thousands-in-compensation-after-Brilliant-White-gloss-fades-to-yellow.html

 

Now I tend to use acrylic based gloss. It doesn't give the best finish but it is easier to use and stays white.

[mac11irl]

1 hour ago, Aspman said:

 

Last time I used oil based gloss it took an extended time to dry (if I said a week I'm not sure if I'm exaggerating or not), but worst of all it yellowed within a few months.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9188572/Dulux-pays-thousands-in-compensation-after-Brilliant-White-gloss-fades-to-yellow.html

 

Now I tend to use acrylic based gloss. It doesn't give the best finish but it is easier to use and stays white.

 

That explains why some the doors id redone in old house went yellow. 

 

Heres the kicker though... the new voc regs dulux blamed came in a long enough time ago that they should be sorted by now... and some how other manufacturers met the same regs without having the same problems as dulux...

[VWD]

We've found the same drying time with proper oil based gloss. But one reason Swimbo likes the water based stuff is that brush cleaning is easy. Another thing we found with some water based glos paint is that like emulsion it tends to go "off" in a shorter time.

[J.R.]

It probably takes longer to go off because there are a lot less solvents in it now, its probably like waiting for Danish Oil to dry.

 

Something with water based paints that has caught me out is if you paint the doors or whatever outside under a shelter, in my case a car-port and leave them overnight to dry, if there is any dew which can happen even in the middle of summer it can prevent the paint from drying or create wet milky spots in the already dried areas.