Can't find oil based interior semi-gloss

[fbostow]

I have a thirty-year old house. I like the paint color.

The woodwork needs touch up. I was able to get a fantastic color match from Sherwin Williams for the latex walls after Napko paints disappeared.

Unfortunately, I cannot find anyone who has a tint base for oil-based semi gloss for the interior woodwork.

I have heard the rumor that environmental regulations regarding solvent emissions has caused paint companies to discontinue oil-based paints which may explain why I recently could not find varnish when I needed it either.

Anyone know for sure of anyone who currently stocks oil- based tint base for interior semi-gloss? I think somewhere I saw an "exterior" glossy oil based paint. Would there be a way to reduce the gloss?

Anybody have any experience with artist paints? Could they just be watered down with mineral spirits?

Anybody know of a place that might have a stock of old paint?

If you suggest a paint source or brand, please tell me when you last used/saw it. I've spent a lot of time already. I suspect somebody out there still carries it.

When I do a google search, I find a lot of advice about not putting latex over oil-based, but nobody selling oil based.

I saw one recommendation to use oil-based primer as as an undercoat for latex. If I get to that, is even oil-based primer available?

I might add that my wife forced the re-carpeting of the house before I could address this issue. Large scale use of chemicals, belt sanders, etc. is now precluded. Meanwhile, the new carpet accentuates the deficiencies in the paint.

Thanks for your considered help and advice.

[RicodJour]

Probably the last thing you'd want to do is buy old paint.

You shouldn't put oil-based paint over latex, but latex on oil-based is fine. If you're really concerned about it, you can put one of the new latex primers on first than a latex top coat. The new primers are pretty amazing - they'll stick to pretty much anything.

That was the typical way of doing exterior siding.

If you wanted to strip the woodwork and start fresh, something like Peel-Away with the fabric would be a good way to go. Non-toxic, slather it on, cover with the paper, press into the crevices, go away for a day or two. When you peel off the fabric all of the old paint will come off with it. Then it's just a little hand scraping and a touch with some sandpaper.

R

[Duane Bozarth]

....

I tried three paint companies' web sites and found at least one at each...

Behr

Sherwin-Williams Benjamin Moore

[Pop]

It's available all over the place; you aren't looking very hard.

[fbostow]

Thanks. The problems are now obvious.

They don't use or sell much oil-based where I live. If they do, they call it "Alkyd" which I thought was water-based. I also didn't search for alkyd.

After I got a quart of Sherwin-Williams "SuperPaint" latex wall paint, I asked the price of a quart of oil-based semi-gloss. When he said "We only have latex," he may have meant in the SuperPaint line. The Classic 99 paints show "oil" as an option. You have to search the site for "oil".

You need to search for "paint OR enamel". It seems some companies no longer want to sell "paint". Three boos for marketing.

When you included the word "price" in your search, you exclude Sherwin Williams products because the company site does not list prices, and the dealers don't have websites.

I wasted time stopping by paint departments in mega-stores, lumber companies, and hardware stores.

It all goes to show that we still need our trusty newgroups.

[John Willis]

On 10 Sep 2005 15:32:36 -0700, [e-mail] scribbled this interesting note:

That was a mistake. Go to real paint store for paint, real plumbing supply houses for plumbing materials, real lumber yards for lumber, etc.

-- John Willis [e-mail] (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[RicodJour]

I have a question for you. Why do you want to use oil paint?

If a manufacturer warns about anything when recoating, it's about surface preparation. Cleaning the trim is mandatory, sanding isn't. There are paint additives and liquid deglossers that will soften the existing paint, so you can use latex.

Old school painters will claim the flowability of oil paints is superior, but latex paints have improved so much that that is no longer the case.

I always think it's a good idea to look to the future and minimize headaches down the road, rather than remain locked into a dated technology. By painting with oil paint now, instead of biting a verrrry small bullet, you're just postponing the transition to latex. And you're paying for that with a paint that yellows. So why oil?

R

[Duane Bozarth]

The amount of oil-based paint sold significantly less than water-based anymore, that is true by popular demand.

....

....

No need to search at all...I simply went to the web sites and looked at the product lineup...

[John Willis]

On 10 Sep 2005 20:49:00 -0700, "RicodJour" scribbled this interesting note:

Because I prefer it on interior wood surfaces. Yes, it can yellow over time. But, with repeated coats and appropriate sanding in between, I can get a finish that, so far as I know, cannot yet be obtained when using latex enamels.

If latex paints are uniformly superior, why are they not used (except by some do-it-yourselfers) on things like cars?

Latex paints, in some ways, just aren't as tough as oil based paints. In other ways they are far more durable. It all depends on the application, the experience of the painter, and the desired finish.

-- John Willis [e-mail] (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[RicodJour]

Not you. The other you, the one that I quoted, the OP.

As far as your painting technique, it sound like you are a perfectionist and willing to spend the time. If you're going for a furniture finish (must assume that from the repeated coats and sanding) I wouldn't go with any regular brush applied paint, whether oil or latex.

You equate automotive painting with painting interior wood trim? How would your oil-based interior residential paint hold up on a car? Piss poor, I'd wager.

The coatings industry is changing so fast that I no longer believe that to be true.

True enough.

My point was that just because the builder chose to use oil-based paint

30 years ago, doesn't mean that the OP is locked into it. There have been vast improvements in latex paints, and he should explore other possibilities as it will make his life easier in the long run. R

[John Willis]

On 11 Sep 2005 11:03:31 -0700, "RicodJour" scribbled this interesting note:

I agree. I have a friend who is extremely sensitive to many of the chemicals found in everyday life these days. For her an oil based paint or varnish simply is not an option for any interior applications, and some of the water based products cause her problems as well (water based polyurethane varnish, for example.)

There are many reasons why someone may want to use a latex paint. Unfortunately most of them are from people who think that just because s/he can hold a paint brush in his/her hand, that s/he is automatically a painter!:~)

And yes, when it comes to the quality of the finish on most of my projects, I tend to be perfectionistic.

-- John Willis [e-mail] (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[George E. Cawthon]

Noticed your comments so here are mine.

Some paints say that you must sand semi-gloss or glossy surfaces and that chemical deglossers are not acceptable.

I'm not expert and probably not a very good painter, but I have never found a latex that has the leveling of a good oil paint. Maybe an expert painter can get a good glossy surface with a latex, I can't and I'll bet there are others that can't either. Another factor is blocking. Yeah, if you let it dry long enough (for upto a month while the paint really cures) some latex paints are pretty good, but they aren't like oil paints.

Don't know what the future has to do with selecting latex instead of oil. In fact, if you've got oil, it makes more sense to stay with oil if you can. Let someone else transition (if they ever do. Sure, I'm using latex on doors and oil painted trim (mostly to avoid smell problems, not mine). On the doors, I used a foam roller and the doors look pretty good (partly because they have a texture). I couldn't use a foam roller on the smooth trim (don't ask why), but the trim has plenty of brush marks. Part of this is because I can't paint fast enough and accurate enough, to get good leveling. One factor I noticed is that the third door trim in a sequence after starting looks detectably worse than the first door. Why? probably because I get tired and paint slower, but mostly likely because the paint is drying and clogging the brush. That wouldn't happen with oil, or at least in any detectable way. But what the hell, brush marks are pretty common now, so nobody will particularly notice it, since the standard is now much lower. Oil paint isn't dated because it is worse, it's dated because the standard has been lowered.

[Norminn]

clipped

IMO, alkyd is much tougher/harder. Trying to paint wood trim and doors that have previous latex paint is a PIA .. can't sand the junk. Looking to the future includes the likelihood that the last time I painted doors and trim in my condo is the last time it will be painted. :o) I painted and papered a kitchen in 1980 that, with three kids and various animals, still looked good 20 years and many cleanings later. Latex also stains more easily.

[nospambob]