dulux "once" problems - cracking paint?

adrian_bond

hi everyone,

just wondering if anyone else has come across this porblems before and has any idea how to sort it?

we painted our kitchen walls above our cupboards and around our back door with dulux "once" paint yesterday in brilliant white. this was to cover over a slighlty off white magnoilia colour emulsion as we wanted the whole walls to be white along with the cupboards.

as i pained the first coat on, it was immediatley apparent that the paint wasnt thick enough to cover a creamy white colour in a single coat. it says to paint it thick with a brush in corners and edges so i did this, and used a suitable roller for everywhere else pretty thickly.

once the first coat was on, it seemed to be cracking like a dry river bed. we then put a second coat on to cover the thin paint and left it to dry for the recommended 6 hours.

now pretty much every surface is cracked and looks horrible. to say this is annoying is a bit of an understatement. :mad:

does anyone have any experience of this and what the next stage is to rectify it? I.e. do i need to remove the old paint somehow, or seal it, or simply go over it with a different type of paint and hope for the best?

any advise would be appreciated.

i guess i miss-interpreted the "Once" element of this paint. I thought it meant that one coat was enough, not that you would only every buy dulux products "once", swearing never to do so again!

cheers, Adrian

keystone

1. "Once" doesn't.

2. You put it on much too thick probably.

3. Was the "off-white magnolia" a silk finish?

Cheers

Meepster

What kind of emulsion was on the walls already?

ETA: I think keystone is thinking the same thing as I am...

(Or a Kitchen & Bathroom Paint?)

adrian_bond

keystone wrote: »

1. "Once" doesn't.

2. You put it on much too thick probably.

3. Was the "off-white magnolia" a silk finish?

Cheers

it says to put a generous amount on. i did this but without going nuts as there is no way it would have dried correctly. maybie this was the problem tho!

i think the existing paint was a silk finish yes. would this have caused a problem?

cheers

sorry, edited for my poor spelling!

Meepster

adrian_bond wrote: »

it says to put a generous amopunt on. i did this but withour going nuts as there is no way it would have dried corrsctly. maybie this was the porblem tho!

i think the existing paint was a silk finnish yes. would this have caused a problem?

cheers

Yes, it would.

You should never put matt emulsion onto silk emulsion, as the properties of the silk paint means that matt paint can SOMETIMES not dry properly. This causes the matt emulsion to crack, just like you have observed...

keystone

adrian_bond wrote: »

i think the existing paint was a silk finnish yes. would this have caused a problem?

Yup. Matt will NOT stick to silk and when it (as with all emulsions as it happens) dries it "shrinks", a non-tech expression of course and it therefore crazes and cracks.

If its just crazed then you need to go over it all with spirit based undercoat first then your matt will stick to it. If you've got cracks in your thick stuff then scrape the thick stuff off first.

Cheers

adrian_bond

keystone wrote: »

Yup. Matt will NOT stick to silk and when it (as with all emulsions as it happens) dries it "shrinks", a non-tech expression of course and it therefore crazes and cracks.

If its just crazed then you need to go over it all with spirit based undercoat first then your matt will stick to it. If you've got cracks in your thick stuff then scrape the thick stuff off first.

Cheers

thanks guys. in a word. A*SE!

is the spirint based undercoat expensive? can you recommend a brand / product?

i think i will buy some white emulsion based paint to go over afterwards anyway as i simply dont trust the "once" stuff anymore.

guess my lack of decorating experience has bitten me hard. i had no idea there was a strict procedure and rule for painting certain types of paint over one another.

guess you live and learn tho!

cheers

keystone

Meepster wrote: »

....as the properties of the silk paint means that matt paint can SOMETIMES not dry properly....

Not quite it dries perfectly fine but as all emulsion paints dry by a coalescing process and the matt has no key to the shiny silk (unless you make one) it will craze or crocodile every time.

Cheers

Meepster

keystone wrote: »

Not quite it dries perfectly fine but as all emulsion paints dry by a coalescing process and the matt has no key to the shiny silk (unless you make one) it will craze or crocodile every time.

Cheers

Well, yes indeed, but I was trying to simplify the answer for the OP...