Painting My Desk Top - Paint Curing Times

[MaiDong]

I've spent the last few days slowly sanding down, undercoating(3x) and glossing my office desk, I'm thrilled with the results, I'm just waiting for the 3rd coat of gloss to completely dry before sanding it down and adding possibly a final coat, I'm gagging to get my things on to the desk but I know I will have to be patient and let the paint cure otherwise I well be left with indentations on my brand new surface, I was just wondering what people's experiences were with regards to curing time for Dulux gloss in these climates?

Thanks in advance for your views, MD

Sent from my GT-N7000B using Thaivisa Connect App

[wpcoe]

Slightly off topic, but I had planned a project to paint the surface of my desk (and keyboard drawer) as you did. I was on a visit to the USA and stopped by KMart -- in mid-town Manahttan of all places -- and saw some attractive Contact Paper. On a whim, and not sure how much I needed, I picked up a roll and am pleased with the current desktop. I'm not sure how long it will last, and may need to revert to the original paint-the-desktop plan, so will be following this thread.

[MaiDong]

Really glad I painted my desk and didn't want to settle for anything else wpcoe, I wanted the best finish I could possibly manage and I knew that would probably be better than a local bloke coming to do it for me...I had a few problems along the way due to a lack of experience but I had a carpenter friend on hand in the uk who guided me through it the best he could.

I was unable to find pretty much everything I needed to do it the way he suggested but I ended up using TOA undercoat(primer in Thai language on the tin), I done 3 coats of that, sanding down level between each coat, I then used ICI Dulux Gloss Finish white No.101, my UK friend said it would be too bright and shiny for him but I went ahead and I'm pleased that I did, although the brush strokes show up when looking at a right angle(see first pic below), when at a normal seated angle(see second pic) or simply walking into the room you can't spot the strokes.

The brush I used was the best I could find, in other words, a B60 brush instead of a B30 brush, the bristles came out for the first few coats but as I used the same brush for the whole project it sooned settled down and ended up quite a good brush for a single project.

The desk I painted is about 6 years old (you can see what it looked like in the 3rd pic below), it's 2m x 1m hardwood legged & framed, plywood topped and underneath so there was some differences in the way the undercoat and paint took to the woods but as I done so many coats it all turned out almost the same anyway.

There are faults, there are a few wrinkles, I tried my best to prevent them, especially on the first coat of gloss, I had 2 fans on the desk and they dried the top layer much too fast and I ended up with serious wrinkles and almost gave up, but I got my paint scraper out, scraped half the desk top of the fresh sticky paint, and started again, it all turned out fine in the end but there really is no rushing the drying of paint!

I have kept the legs & edges of the desk waxed as they are all hardwood and I think it looks really nice and sharp-lined.

But like I said in my OP, I'm gagging to get my new purchases onto the desk top and despite feeling dry, and not being able to leave an imprint of my finger anywhere, I'm worried about ruining my new baby as soon as I've finished it!

Again, any advice is welcomed

MD

[MaiDong]

Still not dried!

[bankruatsteve]

Since you seem to be happy with what you have done, my suggestion is to go to your local glass place (with measurements) and have them cut, polish edges, etc. for the top if you want to preserve it. It's got to be dry by then.

[MaiDong]

Since you seem to be happy with what you have done, my suggestion is to go to your local glass place (with measurements) and have them cut, polish edges, etc. for the top if you want to preserve it. It's got to be dry by then.

I thought about that but I'm not sure I want the 'clunk' every time I put something down, and by the way, the desk is 2m x 1m, wouldn't a decent piece of glass that size cost a fairly hefty chunk of money?

[Morakot]

Since you seem to be happy with what you have done, my suggestion is to go to your local glass place (with measurements) and have them cut, polish edges, etc. for the top if you want to preserve it. It's got to be dry by then.

I thought about that but I'm not sure I want the 'clunk' every time I put something down, and by the way, the desk is 2m x 1m, wouldn't a decent piece of glass that size cost a fairly hefty chunk of money?

Probably quite expensive if you go for hardened glass, which would make sense considering this size.

[bankruatsteve]

You could probably go with 1/4" standard glass with polished edges and for that size, just guessing, is probably B3000-5000. It wouldn't hurt to check at your local glass place. Worst case without protection would be like paper and other objects left in a position for a while can stick to the surface and nothing much you can do to fix.

[MaiDong]

It's ok, it seems to be hardening up now, panic over

[Morakot]

It's ok, it seems to be hardening up now, panic over

Good, so how long did it take all together?

[MaiDong]

5 days!