Wood paints: Oil based or Water based?

[Dave Starling]

I went to B&Q yesterday to buy a litre of their own brand oil based wood primer. I switched over to oil based paints a couple of years ago so I could use a paintmate container. I was told they were eliminating their stocks of oil based paints as water based paints are better for the environment... Their own brand primer and all of the big names are now water based only.

I didn't see the point in arguing with the chap but surely using gallons of water to rinse out brushes (and even worse pouring waste water down the drain) is worse than keeping said brushes in vapour filled containers so they don't need cleaning between jobs.

In the end I had to buy a one litre container of dulux professional for =A314. But are water based paints going to be the only option now?

Dave.

[stuart noble]

Probably the only option in B&Q, which is only geared up for women clutching shade cards

[Ronald Raygun]

Yes, linseed oil is a renewable. But what about all the other stuff that you have to mix in with it before it becomes paint?

[Peter Scott]

If enough people go in and start moaning about 'gloss' paint that isn't and that chips off the woodwork maybe they might reconsider? No, of course not. How is it good for the environment when you have to repaint twice as often? Oh yes, of course it is *good* for the industry which is all the EU cares about I think. Anyway weren't paints made with linseed oil once? Why not again? That's a renewable.

Peter Scott

[Andy Dingley]

They still are. As well as the mass-market shift to water-based paints, there's a growing niche market for plant-oil based ones. Some of them are pretty good, although the prices are steep.