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covering over dark brown trim

21K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  lornmastro 
#1 ·
Hi all,
Have a job with dark brown trim all over the house. Would like to do it in as few coats as possible. Was planning on using sw problock latex primer and bm regal semi gloss. Does anyone else have a product they would suggest for better coverage?? Thanks lorna
 
#2 ·
The pro block is pretty good
If it's stained and/or poly'd trim I wouldn't use a latex though
I'd use an oil like Zinsser's Cover Stain, or if it's real dark, Zinsser's BIN (shellac)
It's not a coverage thing, it's an adhesion (to the oil-based products on there now) and bleed through (later, after the top coats are on) issue
 
#4 ·
I agree w/slickshift, it depends on what is on there now. If it's a brown colored latex paint, you can just paint it with however many coats needed. Even if your going white, three coats max should do it.
Test it w/ Goof off or alchohol solvent, if it cuts, its latex. If it doesn't cut, it's alkyd or oil and you'll have to prime w/ alkyd first and finish with your choice.
If it's stained and varnished, you'll have to prime w/ alkyd/oil (unless it's a latex polyurethane,but I doubt it would be)- I like cover stain in oil- than finish with the flavor of your choice. I'm also assuming you'll be sanding and tacking before and between coats as well. Good luck.
 
#5 ·
For a smaller job

Agree, Zinsser products should do the trick!

A bit unorthodox, and not what you'd want for an entire house's worth of trim, but for smaller odd jobs, spray gray auto body primer provides a really adhesive coating. Same prep as for any other primer, light sanding for the most part, and then oil paint will adhere to it like a magnet, no problems with bleed through. Takes a full 24 hours to dry properly before sanding and top coating. Works on old enameled cabinets too.

The wonders of Bondo will have to wait for another post!
 
#6 ·
...dark brown trim all over the house. Would like to do it in as few coats as possible.

Does anyone else have a product they would suggest for better coverage??
Yup..if it's dark brown latex, use BM's Aura Satin
 
#8 ·
Called bm dealer and am I bummed...they said something about the coverage white over dark color would not work well because of the lack of pigment in the white aura paint??? thought I(I mean slick) found a great application for that aura paint...oh well maybe one day i will get to try it.
 
#9 ·
Uh........that's not entirely accurate
Aura's base is not a "white" to which you add pigments for "colors"
Even the whites are shot from the tint machine
As all Aura bases are tinted until the can is full, the whites have just as much tint as any other base

I have not used white Aura over dark/brown trim myself, but I have talked to more than one painter who has, and they said the results of the white over dark trim were great ("excellent" and "spectacular" if I remember correctly)
Apparently it works quite well

Again, sorry I can't say from personal experience, but I do trust the sources
 
#10 ·
#14 ·
Yeah BM is having another paint cost increase I was told 3.5% across the board but could vary by area. I believe Aura has two price points only one contractor price and one retail. My price would be 46.99 also here in Chicago but haven't tried it yet. I use a small dealer who is still deciding to bring it in. He is a C2 dealer and promotes that over BM so I don't think he will get it in.
 
#15 ·
Hi all, thanks for the feedback. I think I will have one of my ladies pick up and pint and see how it works out. But I don;t understand why would I have to prime first if i'm going over latex paint(on an interior)??I had planned to sand and wipe as I always do.
 
#16 ·
prime first if i'm going over latex paint....I had planned to sand and wipe as I always do.
That would be fine
A good latex blocking primer would be a good idea when going from dark brown to white with most paints
Myself, I would try it w/o the primer with the Aura
If nothing else it'd be a good test...that would pretty much be the extreme (aside from a black trim)
 
#17 ·
I've had the unpleasant experience of going over a dark blue to white on interior trim. I had up to four coats in most places before it finally stopped the 'bleed'. The previous coat was like a heavy duty latex porch & floor paint used on the trim. It was a good solid coat but also kind of thick - and my thinking was that an alkyd primer would be a 'chippy' layer over this flexible undercoat. I would go with a stainblocking all-purpose interior/exterior latex primer - and have it tinted, heck add more white to it if you are going white. And hope to god that 2 topcoats does it.
 
#18 ·
I think I"m going to do a test.
1st one with latex primer/blocker then bm semi gloss
2nd one with semi gloss alone
3rd with aura

I'll let you know what I discover.
Last time i went from dark green(forest) to white it took 4 coats. 1 primer/blocker...3 semi gloss. DON"T want to repeat that again...in a whole house!!
 
#19 ·
To be honest - I think it will take a blocker plus 3 coats in these situations. I was working with this one woman where we sanded some old doors painted in off-white. And she is a perfectionist - I would have just used two coats of the paint - she decided to prime - well we used Aquaglo - and it took a full 2 coats of aquaglo on top of fresh-start to get the true color - and this was over basically white trim! I always bid 4 coats to go from dark to white, what's the alternative? Go with 2 coats of primer to really kill the dark trim? Even then - will you be happy with the way just one coat of aquaglo looks? You'd still use 2 coats then, probably, right? If it was me - I'd try a latex all-purpose stain blocker as the first coat, 220 sand, then use a latex enamel undercoater meant for wood trim exclusively - so as to fill the 'pores' better. The I'd topcoat with a high gloss latex paint - and hope to god that enough resins remain on the surface so it looks like a low-lustre or semi. And if that didn't work - then just paint the remaining coat in the sheen you want.

Oh yes do not forget over all else - give that dark trim a good sanding - I don't mean just 'scuff' - I mean give it a really good pounding with 100/120 grit before you lay on some blocker. It will really improve the coverage of that first coat of primer - and maybe give you results that will cut down on the necessary coats to kill the brown.
 
#20 ·
Plain Painter: Maybe the problem was the Aquaglo :). I think it is even worse now for trim since they re formulated it. I am going to have to try Aura one of these days.

All my trim for the last several years has been Muralos waterborne, don't think I would go back to anything else.
 
#21 ·
Mark I agree with the aquaglo - I told this woman that it doesn't cover like it use to. My main trim enamel is Muralo Ultra as well - it is freakin thinnnnn, but still covers amazingly. Still - I did some work for my folks - where the carpenter but this thin grey pre-primed luan like trim between the windows. I reprimed them with 100% acrylic enamel undercoater, and then one coat of muralo ultra white semi. While the grey is totally killed and looks beautiful - the sheen just isn't there in some places - so it really needs a 220 sanding and another coat - so including factory prime coat - 4 coats total. And this is new work! Though the funny thing is - for the first time I tried the all-purpose latex enamel undercoater on the surrounding moulding trim which wasn't primed - I puttied the nail holes and sanded the wood, primed and one coat of Ultra - and it looks better than the wood that was factory primed that I reprimed!
 
#22 ·
O.K. drumroll please...the results were as follows
For coverage only on trim painted with a dark brown paint
The primer and 2 coats of paint covered almost as well as the semi-gloss 3 coats (and needed to touch up with a 4th coat here and there)
BUT
the aura needed only 2 coats (with a touch up here and there). It covered much better brushing it on verses rolling it on. But remember it only comes in satin.
So from now on if I have a paint job like this again ...going over dark trim I definitely will be using aura first. I want to shoot the guy at my BM store that told me it wouldn't work...cost me many woman hours of labor. Thanks all for setting me straight. Bought another can of it today. By the way there a way you can add white pigment?? to the can to help with coverage
 
#24 ·
question-
1. Was the trim painted with the 3 coats of semi-gloss shinier than the others? Each coat of a a paint with a sheen tends to graduate the shine with every coat.

As far as I know, with Aura and the waterbornes you can't add any other tint because they're titned with a different kind than say Regal.
 
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