Gloss paint with wrong undercoat

[Lorenzo]

Hello all,

We have just paid for the external woodwork of our house to be painted and I am not happy with the final colour!!

We chose a dark green (ICI - Hollybush Green). This is a high gloss paint. The instructions say to use a dark grey undercoat. The painters used a lime green undercoat instead.

The end colour looks nice in the shade, but when the light is shining on it, it has a lighter "wishy washy" reflected colour. I have compared it to the colour sample in the book, and you can't see any difference, it just looks different on the house.

I don't know if the wrong undercoat has made any difference at all - it could be my imagination - or whether I have just chosen a bad colour.

It the wrong undercoat likely to be the cause of this? Should I ask the painters to give it a second gloss coat and would that make a difference? Or could I put a darker green colour on top?

Many thanks for any advice here!

[Palindrome]

Read the can to see if they recommend two applications of topcoat, with/without rubbing down between coats?

Contact the paint manufacturer and ask them? Some are very helpful and quick to respond.

Paint a scrap bit of wood with dark undercoat and the same topcoat and see how that looks?

Paint a scrap bit of wood with light undercoat and two topcoats and see how that looks?

Paint a scrap bit of wood with light undercoat, the original topcoat and darker top coat and see how that looks?

Sorry that this hasn't answered your question. An additional layer of topcoat can help - but not if the can says not to. The wrong undercoat could easily be the problem - the can instructions are there for a reason. A slightly different colour topcoat could introduce even more problems - it is easy to miss bits when painting under such circumstances and end up with a right mess.

It may easily be that the only solution is to rub down the existing topcoat and apply a second coat.