Ask The Trades - change matt to gloss finish

pressi

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change matt to gloss finish
Sep 29^th, 2007, 10:13am

I have recently painted my living room with Matt finish painting and after completion found that the room has become darker. I would really like to change it to gloss. Would be very happy to know if it can be done.

worried for repainting with the same colour gloss as it might still darken the colour because of multiple coating with same colour

any thought or suggestions please.

Thanks

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corablimey

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Re: change matt to gloss finish
Reply #1 - Sep 29^th, 2007, 3:19pm

You dont say if you have painted your wall or your woodwork.

If its your walls, then you must mean you want to change from matt to silk.
Which isnt a problem, if it was the other way round, ie from silk to matt, you would have loads of problems, unless you knew how to avoid them, and I would have been able to tell you. Grin

You do realise that silk is very shiny, and will show up every imperfection you have on your walls, silk only looks half decent if its on pukka walls.

If you do change to go to silk, give your walls a good rub down, and dilute your first coat of silk.
Try and use a good make, and add about 15-20% water, dont go over the matt with neat silk.
If you want you can use it neat for the second coat, but personally I always add a bit of water for all coats, as you get a nicer smoother finish.

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CWatters Super Member Offline "Daddy fick it" says James Posts: 5150 Total Thanks: 58 For This Post: 0 Gender:	Re: change matt to gloss finish Reply #2 - Sep 29^th, 2007, 5:00pm I doubt changing from matt to silk will make the room any brighter. Try a lighter colour.
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jimcam GDPR opt-out Total Thanks: 58 For This Post: 0	Re: change matt to gloss finish Reply #3 - Dec 6^th, 2007, 3:27pm Corablimey, I had heard that you can't paint matt onto silk. What is the problem though?
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corablimey

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Re: change matt to gloss finish
Reply #4 - Dec 11^th, 2007, 9:01pm

Hi Jim, if you paint matt over silk you will get like a crazing on the paint, tiny little cracks in the paintwork will appear all over the walls.
Silk is too shiny for the matt to stick too, but you can put silk over matt.

There is a few options you can do if you want a matt finish over the silk.

You can sand like the mad to get as much of the sheen off the silk, then paint with matt, but you must thin the first coat down.(sometimes it doesnt work, it works better if the silk is very old, but a newish silk, I would go with the other options)

Or you can apply a thinnish coat of oilbased undercoat on the wall, then when dry, paint in matt.

Or, you can buy a tin of soft sheen paint, put that over the silk, again water it down, then you can go with the matt.

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jimcam GDPR opt-out Total Thanks: 58 For This Post: 0	Re: change matt to gloss finish Reply #5 - Dec 14^th, 2007, 10:48am Wow. Best to stick with silk if you've got it then!
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Lectrician

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Re: change matt to gloss finish
Reply #6 - Feb 7^th, 2008, 4:20pm

Quote:

Hi Jim, if you paint matt over silk you will get like a crazing on the paint, tiny little cracks in the paintwork will appear all over the walls.
Silk is too shiny for the matt to stick too, but you can put silk over matt.

There is a few options you can do if you want a matt finish over the silk.

You can sand like the mad to get as much of the sheen off the silk, then paint with matt, but you must thin the first coat down.(sometimes it doesnt work, it works better if the silk is very old, but a newish silk, I would go with the other options)

Or you can apply a thinnish coat of oilbased undercoat on the wall, then when dry, paint in matt.

Or, you can buy a tin of soft sheen paint, put that over the silk, again water it down, then you can go with the matt.

I want to paint my lounge ceiling, and the ceiling deffinantly has a sheen to it, so I assume it is silk.

What undercoat would you recommend as the best to use before matt paint?

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Lectrician Administrator Trade Member Author Offline Ask The Trades Posts: 8814 Total Thanks: 109 For This Post: 0 Braunton, North Devon United Kingdom Gender: Trade: Electrician	Re: change matt to gloss finish Reply #7 - Feb 8^th, 2008, 6:04pm What undercoat am I looking for? Something like this? http://www.wickes.co.uk/Master-Primers/Master-Universal-Primer/invt/605467
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woodsmith Global Moderator Trade Member Author Offline Posts: 4395 Total Thanks: 135 For This Post: 0 Gender: Trade: Joiner	Re: change matt to gloss finish Reply #8 - Feb 9^th, 2008, 7:50am I didn't know that you couldn't paint matt on top of silk, so what do I know but this is the undercoat I assume Cora was refering to, although I can't see why the one you linked to wouldn't work. http://www.wickes.co.uk/Masters-Undercoats/Master-Undercoat/invt/605158
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Lectrician Administrator Trade Member Author Offline Ask The Trades Posts: 8814 Total Thanks: 109 For This Post: 0 Braunton, North Devon United Kingdom Gender: Trade: Electrician	Re: change matt to gloss finish Reply #9 - Feb 9^th, 2008, 8:52am Yea I looked at them all, and the majority all said for wood or steel, except the one I linked to. I guess as this is a 'trade tip' so to speak, the undercoat may not actually be intended for the use
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