 Keeping Up Appearances ...paint irregularities and why my paint doesn't look perfect Customer complaints on interior paints are usually related to appearance irregularities. These include variations in sheen, gloss, color, hiding power and touch-up variation from the original. These problems are inter-related and influenced by the quality of the paint and the application. How bad these problems appear to the human eye is also influenced by several factors unrelated to the paint and its application. They include the volume and type of light present when viewing the painted surface, the surface texture, the dimensional size of the surface, and the viewing angle. A low-end paint applied unevenly or too thin might still look OK to the human eye in a small room with poor lighting. Conversely, faint appearance irregularities may be noticeable and objectionable, even with properly applied high-end paint, in a large room with ample lighting. Why is that? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? Same thing almost. The appearance problems are likely worse in the small room with poor lighting but the viewing conditions are not conducive to seeing them. As far as the human eye is concerned they don't exist. In the large room with ample lighting, viewing conditions are ideal. Under these conditions the human eye can detect even the slightest appearance irregularities. What causes poor hiding? We all know that some colors are inherently weak in hiding and require more coats to achieve hide. We need to make the customer aware of this. With colors that do hide well, full hiding on new work requires a prime coat and a minimum of two finish coats. Some people incorrectly apply paint too thin, at a spread rate that only gives wet hide. It might work for flats. Flats tend to increase in hiding power upon drying. Most enamels, however, will lose hide upon drying. Uniform film thickness is essential to good hiding. Hiding improves with paints, such as C2, that level well. Good leveling provides more uniform film thickness. What causes sheen and gloss variations? 
There is a big difference in the porosity of drywall paper (field) and joint compound (seams). A good wallboard primer should equalize this difference in porosity as well as provide good hold-out for subsequent top coats. The top-coat will strike in to primers with poor hold-out, losing both gloss and sheen. If the primer fails to equalize porosity, the gloss and sheen loss will vary erratically. Gloss and sheen variations will telegraph through visually to the final coat. This is called picture-framing and is a common complaint on new work. We tested several interior primers sold by Dalys and found C2 C2000 Interior Latex Primer to have the best porosity equalizing and hold-out properties.
Gloss and sheen variations are also caused by uneven thickness of the paint. Gloss and sheen increase slightly as paint thickness increases. This is an application problem that can only be remedied by carefully applying each coat of paint at uniform thickness. Failure to do so can result in higher build at roller laps and thickness variations between rolled and cut-in areas. How do you make touch-ups blend in? Remember that gloss and sheen increase slightly as film thickness increases. Most blemishes can be touched up with a very thin layer of paint. Thinning the paint with water and applying a very light coat will make the touch-up blend in better. What about color variations in the dried paint? It very rarely happens. If it does, it's a color-acceptance issue in the paint. It may be a problem in the paint formula, the wrong type of colorant, or too much colorant. What does frequently happen is that people mistake gloss and sheen variations for color variations. Higher gloss and sheen make some colors appear darker. The gloss will increase on touch-ups applied too thickly. This is often misinterpreted as the touch-up being darker in color. Likewise, inconsistent hiding is often mistaken for color variation. Depending on the color, areas without full hiding may appear lighter or darker in color, compared to areas with full hiding. Do color and the degree of sheen and gloss impact appearance variations? Yes. Light reflection decreases as gloss and sheen go down. Light reflection also decreases as color depth increases. Any decrease in light reflection will make appearance variations less noticeable to the human eye. What about that huge house with the vaulted ceilings and wall to wall windows? Every minor imperfection in the paint job will be visible. Dead flat paint will be the most forgiving. Using dead flat on the ceiling may be the only way to achieve a uniform look. For the walls, low eggshells and near flats will hide irregularities better than satin or semi. OK, so you picked the right products and spent the week-end painting. It's Monday morning and the paint still has highs and lows (sheen and gloss variations). What do you do now? You wait. The paint will not reach its true end appearance until it is fully cured and the cosolvents have evaporated from the paint. It can take anywhere from a week to a month. Darker colors take longer to cure. The same is true for color development of paint applied at different time intervals. Touch-ups applied a week or two after the original painting will not fully blend in until they have fully cured. Don't rush to judgment. Once all the paint has cured its appearance should be sufficiently uniform to satisfy even the most critical eye. |
