Paint Colour Problem – Advice Very Much Appreciated.

[Jaochoo]

I recently decided to paint a wooden internal door white and proceeded to my local 'Home Pro' store to buy the necessary paint. I expected this to be an easy process as all I required was a white undercoat and a white gloss suitable for wood.

Now I admit that it is many years since I have done any decorating/painting and as a result I was totally confused by the huge selection of different paints on display.

Eventually I was approached by the 'Home Pro' paint "Expert" (I use that word very loosely!) and after explaining my requirements I was supplied with the following;

'Beger Shield' universal undercoat white primer (for wood) B966. Ultra premium grade.

Beger Shield' super gloss enamel. Grade 'A' ultra premium grade. "Teflon" is also mentioned on the can, supposedly giving "The ultimate surface protection for exterior and interior".

I proceeded to apply three coats of undercoat and two coats of gloss and I have to say the door looked really good (no doubt due to all the preparation prior to painting).

Once the paint was dry (and I had sufficiently exhausted all the praise from my wife!) I proceeded to move the door from my work area back inside our predominantly white house................this is when it became painfully obvious that the door was in fact cream!

Having previously lived in a house with walls painted with white emulsion and doors painted with white gloss, I do appreciate that a slight variation in colour is to be expected. However, this variation should be a different shade of white, not cream.

Perhaps paint technology has changed and I am missing something painfully obvious or, maybe I've just been sold the wrong product?

For your information the door in question is a slatted design (often used in bathrooms for ventilation purposes) which was extremely difficult and time consuming to paint – on reflection, I feel sure it would have been much easier to spray...............I just wish I had thought of this before!

Anyway, I will obviously have to re-paint the door yet again and for obvious reasons I want to make absolutely certain that the gloss paint I buy is definitely a nice bright pure white or, the closest thing to it.

I would really appreciate any recommendations as to the most suitable paint based on my above requirements, preferably the make and a product description to avoid any confusion once I am in the shop.

For your information I did discuss this issue with a local Thai decorator and his solution to the problem is to paint the wooden door with the same paint used to paint the walls, namely, emulsion for concrete. This would certainly give me a good colour match but not quite the answer I was looking for!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks in anticipation of your help.

[bangkokumpalumpa]

simple answer

150 baht for 2 cans of white spay paint

[Mrjlh]

Go back to the store with a sample of the "color" you want. Has to be a couple of inches in size for the best result. Maybe a door hinge? Have them use the color matching machine (spectrophotometer). It measures the reflectivity using three light sources. From the results they can mix the exact color you need including white paint. I'd also take back the color you bought to show them the difference. Be polite, it's very easy to make a mistake with paint colors. You'll need to pay for the new paint but not the matching. After they mix the new color have a sample painted, dried, and retested. Using the machine you can not get any more accurate than that.

That's what I did and got great results.

[ignis]

O

nce the paint was dry (and I had sufficiently exhausted all the praise from my wife!) I proceeded to move the door from my work area back inside our predominantly white house................this is when it became painfully obvious that the door was in fact cream!

If it looks so good, paint the others doors the same colour

really best for a plain colour to go to your local hardware store, they stock maybe 10 different colour's, and buy what it says on the can.. High Gloss Brilliant white + is a lot cheaper for a Brand name......

Home Pro is good for getting the different colour shades you want + as already stated take a sample with you and they will match any colour.

[Jaochoo]

Many thanks for the replies.

I have since returned the paint to 'Home Pro' together with a selection of photographs showing the door positioned against the white emulsioned walls.

After verifying the various reference numbers on the can and doing a quick visual check of the paint, a member of staff informed me that "A wooden door painted with white gloss will always look a little different to a plastered wall painted with white emulsion". I politely acknowledged this fact and explained that I wasn't expecting the colours to match. However, having purchased white gloss paint for the door I was certainly expecting the door to look white.

I then produced my photographs which clearly had the desired effect. A more senior and experienced sales assistant was summoned and after examining the photographs he agreed completely that my door did indeed look cream. He then proceeded to use the colour matching machine (as mentioned above by Mrjlh) and began adding specific quantities of pure white paint to my existing paint (checking the colour between each application) until the desired colour was reached.

In fact, I have just painted the doorframe to check on the colour and I have to say it looks great and would definitely be described as pure white.

Not sure if the staff at 'Home Pro' responded so well due to my friendly approach, the photographic examples highlighting the problem, or the fact that they just felt sorry for me having to repaint that ******* slatted door again!

Anyway, regardless of the reason, a big thank you to the 'Home Pro' paint department for resolving this issue with the minimum of fuss and, much to my surprise, entirely free of charge.