Paint

For "industrial" things and some of the topsides of the boat, I went to a local supplier of Jotun paints. The two part epoxy undercoat was excellent, but the top coat, which we wanted to be close to the dark mahogany colour, was a disaster. The first attempt on their mixing machine ended up a sort of pink colour. I objected and they reduced the price for a second attempt. This time we looked at the colour before I left the premises, and they agreed to have a third go, aiming at "Niger Brown". This turned out as a sort of Orange, which I reluctantly accepted. It actually looks OK on the boat. I've used the pink all over the place where it is not terribly visible and, for example, on the trailer it has matured to a sort of terra cotta shade.

We are now having the wood on the house painted, using a painter as I'm too decrepit for the long ladder. SWMBO and I got the colour charts and chose a British Standard colour of a slightly lighter than mid green. Being a pessimist, I went to the local Leyland supplier and bought a small tin, which they mixed on the machine. The painter did a demo plank under one window, and SWMBO has been having to intercept the neighbours and say that we really are not having that colour. It's very pale, almost dayglo and nothing like the colour chart.

So off we went to the local Dulux supplier, chose a much darker green off their rather limited colour chart and bought another small tin. I was a bit worried as the young lady who mixed it on the machine seemed to mix one tin then start again to do the one she gave us.

Back at the ranch, the painter did half a window sill. This came out a very bluey green, again nothing like the colour we had chosen on the colour chart.

By now, SWMBO is saying she has no faith in this modern paint and can't we just go to B & Q and buy tins off the shelf that are just a colour and don't have to be mixed.

I remember years ago getting the current paint mixed on a machine and it came out the colour we wanted. Have I just been extremely unlucky or have some of the nozzles inside these mixing machines got clogged or worn over the years?

Has anyone else any experience or advice. The stress level here is now quite high on an upward trajectory.

Reply to
Bill
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Has the painter any suggestions of where to go?

I can't believe it's rocket science to add pigments to a paint to come up with a matching colour?

Perhaps choose another retailer? Talk directly to Dulux?

Reply to
Fredxx

In message , Fredxx writes

He recommended the Dulux place, which is large, well respected generally, and has been there ever since I can remember. Additionally, he gets trade price and, I think, an additional discount.

It may be that he uses the trade counter, staffed by men. SWMBO led us to the ladies on the lay-peoples sales desk.

My current thought is to paint a piece of card, take it in with the colour chart and have a "discussion".

Reply to
Bill

When I got the paint for the outside of the house it had to be mixed. I was skeptical about matching across batches (I under estimated how much I'd need) but they were identical. IIRC I had three lots. This was from the Dulux Decorator Centre in Carlisle.

To have such a wide variation and from different places I do find rather surprising. Taking it back with a sample and the chart would seem sensible.

I assume you are letting the stuff dry and that it has covered well (two coats?).

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I have had at least three lots mixed at the local Johnstone's - and they matched the Dulux or Crown perfectly!

Reply to
polygonum

I don't know of anyone in the last year or so who has actually liked the colour they ended up with. I have a theory which i cannot test myself these days that its thelighting in the shops that is the problem here. If you could mix it up outside it might actually end up Being correct.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Worse than that. we have our walls painted 'sea silver', In winter its a sort of greenish grey. At sunset its a buttermilk yellow. Fortunately SWMBO is a graphic artist and understands colour tempreture. But she is crappier than I am at working out what paint will look like under different lighting from the shop.

You should be able to borrow a swatch and hold it up against the wood you want painted. IN the position it will be and under the light that it will receive. I have found that then, the mixing does produce near enough the right shade

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

The only swatch I can find is one generally worn on a wrist.

Reply to
Fredxx

Actually it *is* which is why it hasn't been offered until comparatively recently. Exact colour matching is incredibly tricky and heavily dependent on the ambient lighting where you compare them.

Oh and the long term stability of any mixed to random shade paint left over in a tin is at best limited and at worst guaranteed to settle out. A manufacturer mixed tin of paint to a standard colour offering is by comparison a *lot* more stable and likely to stay properly dispersed long enough to be useful for touch-ups later.

Our village hall has several tins of mixed at a retailer colours and all remains have settled out in an annoying fashion in less than a year from purchase. The pigment isn't willing to redisperse either.

It is the sort of building that gets bumps and scrapes from use.

My advice is choose one of the standard colours that is more or less reproducible and be sure to get two (or more) tins with the same batch number if you are particularly sensitive to colour shifts.

The mix to match game you are at the mercy of the kit in the shop and the skill or otherwise of the operator (and the inherent compromises made in the paint system to enable mix and match to work at all).

Reply to
Martin Brown

I suspect it is more where people look at the colour chart. If they want a paint for outside, they should look at it outside, in different weather conditions. For indoors, look at in the room it is going to be used in, both by daylight and by artificial light. The mixing is done by numbers, which should give a good match to the colour chart and good repeatability.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

This where I disagree. We're not talking matching, but we are about ensuring a paint ends up similar to the colour chart representation.

I've seen it done by hand, where accurate scales are used to provide gramme accurate addition of pigments.

There really is no excuse.

Reply to
Fredxx

Agreed - it is almost entirely pointless viewing by shop lighting except as a starting point. The mixing is usually spot on or extremely close - unless an actual mistake is made.

Reply to
polygonum

I think I've sussed out my problem and now feel rather stupid.

First, the Jotun paint was supplied by an engineer's merchants, and they obviously needed more experience on the mixing machine. The Leyland paint, I haven't pursued, but I think there must have been some small glitch.

The Dulux paint actually does match the colour chart, but only if you view the colour chart at 90 degrees. We had painted a trial piece of horizontal window sill and held the chart beside it at a shallow vision angle. Also, the trial tin(s) were matt emulsion (all I could afford to throw away) against the gloss on the colour chart. It's the gloss on the colour chart that depends on the lighting, sun etc and the viewing angle.

I now have 2 more small tins of Dulux emulsion in different greens, and am waiting for the first coat to dry on my trial piece of cardboard.

Thanks to everyone who assisted.

Reply to
Bill

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