Damp proofing emulsion paint

[DIY disaster]

I've just built an en-suite room and am ready to paint the walls

Unfortunatley the choice of colours for bathroom suitable emulsio paints is extremely limited and my wife has chosen a colour that i only available as matt emulsion.

Is there anything I can paint over the top of the emulsion to seal i without it affecting the colour?

B&Q advised using PVA over the top so I emailed Unibond and they sai no, PVA is not waterproof and not suitable for this application.

Any ideas

-- DIY disaster

[Christian McArdle]

Dulux Trade Quick Drying Eggshell. Available in 12,000 different colours, so wife should be able to be appeased. Can be obtained from Dulux Decorator centres. I don't know if B&Q do it. If not, they'll probably be able to sort you out with consumer Kitchen & Bathroom in a similar range of colours, although I'm not sure if the consumer paint is an acrylic. It might just be a vinyl.

Christian.

[Stuart Noble]

Basically, no. PVA isn't "clear", and will tend to dull/cloud the colour

With reasonable ventilation, any emulsion should be fine. If you're expecting high levels of condensation, I'd forget water based paints altogether. Either tile or use a solvent based matt/eggshell.

[Christian McArdle]

Vinyl emulsion is basically diluted PVA with a bit of colour added anyway. For extra water resistance a higher quality acrylic based binder is advised.

Christian.

[Chris Bacon]

Good quality ordinary emulsion should be quite OK. "Kitchen and Bathroom paint" is IMO a bit of a con, being a split hair away from normal emulsion, and a long way from being proper anti- condensation paint.

I don't know of anything.

I completely agree with Unibond's advice. I heard an oik in TP advising someone to overpaint their tile grout with PVA, also a bloody silly suggestion.

[Peter Taylor]

You asked in B&Q ????? You should have come here first! :)

Acrylic varnish,

specially intended for this job. I'm not sure what effect it might have on the colour underneath.

Peter