dulux primer won't dry

downshifted

We have used an all surface primer on rubbed down wooden interior windowsills - they were dark brown and it doesn't go with our oak furniture so we want to paint them white.

That was 2 days ago and it hasn't dried! It's still tacky.

We are beginning to think we will have to wipe it all off.......what do you think the problem is?

ormus

i assume its a water based paint?
too wet or too cold is the usual problem. also could be a sub base problem.
the answer to that is to seal it first.

savemoney

Humidity also doesn't help, its been quite cold/wet in recent days although today where I am its Gale force winds

Was it water based or solvent based primer. I tend to avoid water based primer and or solvent based.

downshifted

It's solvent based - and the temperature/humidity has been fine - it's a sunny dining room. Must be something in the wood or its stain I think

savemoney

Could be wood is fairly wet underneath, water based paint drys in a hour or two normally

downshifted

or maybe a bad batch of primer - although I have googled and not found other problems with it

downshifted

andrew-b wrote: »

I'd phone the number for Dulux on the can. If it's a problem with the paint they'll probably send you a replacement or at least vouchers for the cost of replacement.

Did this thanks for the advice - and they promised a voucher for some other primer, so that was nice. They had no record of a similar problem.

We cleaned it off with white spirit, repainted with Wickes all purpose primer - and it dried straightaway - weird

steve_the_plumber

I have experienced exactly the same thing as Andrew, yesterday (16/8/2010 with the same paint, Dulux multiserfice primer.
This was also painted in dry conditions on perfectly dry pine wood. I have been in contact with Homebase where I bought the paint. They in turn have contacted Dulux and have suggested that I leave it for another 4 hours. So far I have left it for 22 hours and it is wet as when I painted it. Even the drips of paint on the outside of the tin have not dried.
As this is a bed that I have just made it is going to be much harder to remove this primer.
It would seem to be a bad batch of paint.
I shall report back the outcome, I suspect I will not be the only one with this problem.

keystone

downshifted wrote: »

It's solvent based - and the temperature/humidity has been fine - it's a sunny dining room. Must be something in the wood or its stain I think

I've put the clue in bold for you. You've got the same problem as the person of a few days ago with non-drying varnish on their table by the sounds of it. Did you sand first or just slap it on over the stain?

Cheers

keystone

downshifted wrote: »

We cleaned it off with white spirit, repainted with Wickes all purpose primer - and it dried straightaway - weird

It may be that the white spirit took enough of the stain surface off at the same time to allow the primer to work - difficult to tell from here. Although you may have a duff can as suggested. A universal "sticks to absolutely anything" surface preparation is Zinsser BIN - shellac based which dries extremely quickly.

Cheers

steve_the_plumber

The Dulux primer had still not dried after 48 hours! There Technical department was rather a disappointment. All they could suggest, after going away to ask someone else, was to wash the original primer off with methylated spirit which would have been a major and very messy undertaking.
When asked which primer I should use instead he suggested a water based one. I did query if there would be a problem with this drying as the wood is now impregnated with the original primer and methylated spirit. He went to get further advice from someone else again and then suggested that I used "Trade Wood Primer".

When pressed who was going to pay for all this methylated spirit and new primer, to be fair, he did say that if I sent them the receipts I would be reimbursed. Unfortunately there was no suggestion that there will be recompense for the amount of time involved.

I did not fancy all that was involved with removing the original paint so I took a chance and painted a small area with satinwood paint.

It worked! I have now painted the whole bed and five hours later it is perfectly dry.

I can only assume that this primer paint was lacking in the necessary solvents and went over painted with the satinwood this provided the solvent that the original paint was lacking.

I was very surprised that they did not ask for the batch number on the tin to check if there had been a problem with this particular batch so that it could be recalled.