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Not done any decorating in a long time, at least not painted any woodwork. Bought some Johnstones water-based Satin and undercoat, as this is what a decorator used elsewhere in the hallway/landing and I want it to match in the rooms I'm doing. However, I'm having issues getting a good finish
I'm applying it using a brush and the undercoat goes on ok. I'm struggling with the top coat, especially on doors. I think it's down to the paint drying so quickly. Blending bits back in is a nightmare (e.g. around the panels in the doors) and the result doesn't look great, with brush marks being very visible. Never used to have such issues with spirit based gloss/satin
Should I try rollering it onto the larger areas? Watering it down a bit (although this might affect the sheen of the finish)? Any other ideas?
Are you using good quality water-based specific paint brushes?
cant emphasise enough what a massive difference this makes.
Do the inset panel first taking care to brush out the edges thoroughly and you should be fine even with dry edges.
If you want to use a roller get the cheap flock mini rollers that most diy stores sell, and work well with water based paints.
Hope this helps, Paul.
As said a good brush is essential. Purdy monarch or similar. If painting over existing finish, lightly abrade with fine oxide paper or a fine flexi sanding pad. Wash down with sugar soap or use a decorators wipe. Johnstones satin is self undercoating so unless your previous finish is really yellowed you should be good with two coats of satin. Now a paint tray with your Johnstones in, your brush and a mini roller, either foam or better still mohair. Then wipe the piece of woodwork you are going to paint with a clean, damp lint free cloth and apply your paint immediately with the roller. Get an even covering on and then lightly lay off with the brush. This removes any orange peel finish left by the roller and you should be left with a lightly brushed finish. You have to work fast and keep wiping with the cloth before you paint!
I use their Joncryl primer-undercoat and I find that it needs a light rub down to get rid of brush marks before top coating. That might help
I roller paint onto doors and "lay-off" with light brushing. Synthetic brushes help with acrylics.
I had a similar experience to you with water-based top coat and now use Joncryl with Johnstone's Trade oil-based satin
Thanks all.
Brushes are synthetic Harris (not cheap but no idea actually how good they are?). Synthetic seems the right choice for water based, but perhaps it's a bit coarse bristle wise?
Will get a roller and tray. Might try doing the insets (by this I mean the non flat decorative bits) with a brush and let them dry and sand any rough edges if needed. Then roller the remaining flat panels. Got quite a few doors to do so by the time I've done them once i'll be round to start the first again. Dampening the surface makes sense too, will give that a try.
Undercoat and top coat were the same price so two top coats vs. undercoat and top coat will not be any different as coverage seems the same.
Make sure that your leaving enough time between undercoating and top coating with the satin. If your applying the top coat too soon it can drag like crazy. I'd leave four hours minimum between coats, lightly sanding between coats.
To keep a wet edge going too you can use a water spray bottle with a fine mist nozzle and give the woodwork a light spray over before starting painting, or use a clean damp cloth like has already been mentioned.
Get the paint on quick and dont mess about with it too much, just lay off and it should settle fine.
I made a big mistake of ordering a load of dulux wb satin instead of oil based.The millionaires house I painted took forever .. it was awful to apply and I'd never use it again unless forced!