Oil Based vs. Latex Paint Finish
We have stripped our moldings and woodwork and are ready to refinish. We really like the look of the oil based paint glossy finish as opposed to the muted glossy finish of latex. However, we just found out that it is “illegal” to use oil based paints inside a house in NY. We were also…
We have stripped our moldings and woodwork and are ready to refinish. We really like the look of the oil based paint glossy finish as opposed to the muted glossy finish of latex. However, we just found out that it is “illegal” to use oil based paints inside a house in NY. We were also told that the oil based paints should only be used for metals. Is anybody aware of this new law…can anybody clarify this law?? Also, does anybody have any finish options that would compare to glossy oil?? Thanks for your time!
Hello
I am in the UK and have read about oil paints being phased out on the net. I thought it was because of the price of oil going up and up not knowing if actual oil is used in oil based paint manufacture. I have never heard about the low level ozone/asthma conection.
If it affects asthma sufferers when its dry what does it do to those using it when wet?
I know they use linseed in Scandanavia. We will more than likely follow you guys, since we did with the smoking ban it’s all litigeously motivated. Sorry about the spelling.
My school was painted last week with oil based paint. I have asthma and it has become worse since this has happened. Could this be linked to the oil based paint?
frances
dude, the first comment was right.
watch out for the restoration gestapo!
To those who are following this, I have been working with brian to find a suitable solution to this problem, and as one paint store employee said, that’s a really good question for the EPA…
(ie, latex is not yet a good replacement for the oil in high gloss). And in this case, the molding are in a “high hand traffic area, which has tradtionally shown that wear.
However one other alternative that has been presented is to use a lacquer finish. It would be hard to do in a home, but if you take the molding off to strip it, it could be sent out to a finisher.
I have also run across the “waxing” idea, although just today, and I found an interesting webpage about model airplanes, and using future floor wax (3 coats with sanding between) for a high gloss look. I am certainly going to be doing a test of this on some scraps.
I also want to mention that the only reason we have persued this is becuase the employee at a hardware store mentioned that “we would never be happy with the look of a latex gloss, go for an oil base gloss”…. So we primed and preped for that – using an oil base primer – only to find out after that it was a not good option.
As for painting molding – I agree with the last poster, dark molding is a downer. On another property we are hoping to strip and lighten the wood and then clear seal it offsite, for a modern feel with some of the traditional charm.
(but lets get real, its nice to have the “old look” but we don’t live that way anymore – and I for one can’t even envision living the way that they did – however to each his own)
I once had a house that had stained woodwork in half the house and white woodwork in the other half.. Everything was a jumble in this place and I decided to paint the moldings. The painters looked at me like I was committing some kind of unnatual act. Yeah, paint it…. Anyway, the end result was beaultiful – striking, the whole house was transformed from a dreary dungeon to light and beautiful. They sprayed the moldings, by the way. The molding was just poplar, but this is some kind of renovator’s mortal sin — painting moldings. In the end, the guys really liked it and agreed it looked 1000 times better.
you are a monster.
I never even thought about using oil based paints on my trim/woodwoork. That is, until I was at a hotel in France last week in which they’d done just that. And it looked AWESOME – the doors were silky smoothh and glossy, so much so thatr I wanted to pet them.
If I didn’t have a million things more pressing to do around here. I’d strip all my baseboards, moldings and doors and paint them with two coats of glossy, oil based paint.
Hello Brian and others: there’s a reason for the EPA ban…it improves the quality of life for all of us. For you to circumvent it to satisfy your perfectionism is plain anti-social. Most people wouldn’t know the difference between good latex and oil. Try waxing your finish.
There is still a major difference in the quality of the finish as we have tested three ultra-gloss latex paint finishes and it just does not come close to the silky smooth gloss oil finish…4 quarts and more expense seems to be the only way. We have also found very few places that will mix a custom oil at this point.