one coat - gloss or satin?

[newbietothis]

I've got a painter coming in on Wed to paint hallway. In order to keep costs down, we've decided to go for 2 coats of emulsion on walls and 1 coat of paint on woodwork. The existing woodwork is white gloss, I was thinking of going for a satinwood (as opposed to a regular gloss) over the top (after a light sand) but have read in this forum that it will require regular dusting - anyone had this problem?

I have also read that eggshell may give better finish when doing a single coat, can someone explain the logic behind this - is it to do with the difference between an acrylic and oil based finish?

[Rupert]

No problem with dusting on eggshell (satin). If anything it tends to show marks less than gloss. It's always obvious when a bad job is done with gloss. Satin is more forgiving.

Personally I would give the gloss a very quick lick of white undercoat followed by the eggshell. The only problem with this is that it can be quite difficult to tell the difference between the two. So if you really want to save a few pence forget satin and use undercoat. ;-)

[Christian McArdle]

I always go acrylic. I don't like the shininess of solvent high gloss. I prefer the environmental credentials of water based paint. I also like the reduced amount of work needed to prepare for recoating in five years' time. I like the fact that it won't be bright yellow in a few years.

However, there are some advantages to solvent based glossier paints. In particular, they are harder wearing.

Christian.

[Ron Ireland]

And if you want to save even more pence, DIY, :-), a hallway should be easy enough for anyone.