Streaks. Do you mean color streaks or brush marks?

Michael

By streaks I mean brush marks. I need to find a way to get the paint job to look nice and smooth.

have you given it 2 coats? may be necessary.
me

It could be your paint is too thick, in which case you can thin a bit with water or floetrol depending on what it is. You can also use a roller to avoid brush marks, but then you get that roller texture going on. Plus, depending on trim design, not sure how you'd get the paint into nooks and crannies. I actually have to use an artist's brush in a couple of places in the custom trim my husband made for the house.

I'm not sure you can avoid brushmarks altogether. I for one love brushmarks and followed through with a brush when I use a roller to put the paint on, but that's me. But if the brush marks are unsightly, I would guess it's the paint, and not the brush. But I'm not a pro. Hopefully Michael will be back soon with better advice for you.

Ivette

Hmmmmmmmmmm...brushing technique is hard to teach online. Either you have it, or you're learning it. :)

What type and brand of paint are you using? What brush are you using? Are you familar with painting to the wet edge?

Michael

I don't mean to hijack this thread, however while Michael is awaiting an answer - I thought I'd jump in and ask a question sorta relating to the same...

So here goes, Michael & other forum folks who may have experience: I am using Cabinet Coat on my woodwork & used a purdy brush. It is awesome. My question is with the white painted doors I am painting that we have in every room! Seems those foam rollers (4") do a fantastic job on those doors, but it seems waaaay too easy! Of course, I clean doors well then lightly sand before I apply the paint. So..my question is, in the long run, will this sort of application perform as well as a quality brush job would?

Add some Floetrol (for latex/water paint) to the paint to improve flow out and levling. ABout 2-4 ounces per gallon.
Mix in a quart container first to get the correct mix.

A lot of paints are now excessivley thick to get better hiding, but the result is often a lousy paint job.

brickeyee, thanks very much for your ideas, even though I'm not the OP. I've been scared of Floetrol and that other one, but I'm getting brushmarks in my trim as well and it's so irritating!

*OR*, as graciann mentioned, would a foam roller be a better idea in general?

Still have plenty to do, looking forward to all answers, and I'm sure the OP is too :)

I would dearly love michael's or anyone else's (brickeyee?) input on the idea of a foam roller vs. a good brush for trim, if someone's evidently not all that lucky/talented with brushes...

Holding off on the trim...

A quality brush and Floetrol make the newer 100% acrylic paints handle like the old alkyd paints.
Purdy or Corona work well. The $5 dollar brushes are just lousy. The bristles are either too stiff or too floppy. Neither of these will produce a good finish. There are others that are just as good (some even better) but these two are widely available.
A 2 inch sash brush (angled tip and not as thick as a straight brush) works very well for finish painting.
After that you just need practice. The older guys I learned from would have killed anyone wasting time with tape for trim. It may be OK for someone starting out, but by the time you apply tape and remove tape you could have spent a lot of time practicing so you did not need it.

I always get a laugh by asking the Sherwin Williams sales people if they have stay white enamel. It probably went off the market before they were even born. It was one of the best non-lead alkyd enamels available for about 20+ years. You could touch up years latter without any color change. A real advantage with the pigments and binders available at the time.
The paint industry has tried to make paints that match the performance of the old enamels. Sanding between coats removes dust nibs and produced a perfectly flat smooth finish. Latex does not sand very well, but the newer acrylics will sand nicely Add Floetrol and you have excellent leveling properties. It thins the paint with a mix of binder and slower solvents. This allows time for the paint to level without thinning out the binders like plain water would. It may take an extra coat (2 instead of one) but the results are worth it.

If you use a quality TRUE Waterborne paint, like Impervo or Muralo and Cabinet Coat, it is not thick and should never be treated with floetrol. Those paints are actually very thin because they use formulated with microscopic resins.

A thick, latex body paint is not recommended for trim if you desire a porcelain like finish. Spend $30 or more for trim paint.

Apply all three of the above with a Chinex brush.

Michael

"Those paints are actually very thin because they use formulated with microscopic resins."

The solvent content determines how thick the paint is, not the use of "microscopic resins". The resin is individual molecules in a carrier solvent.
The ony microscope you could see the molecules under is an eletron microscope.
"Microscopic resins" is pure advertising BS.

Anyway, the paint is thin, and certainly doesn't require floetrol to enhance the coverage, the flow or the leveling.

Use the paint. Then comment.

Michael

"Use the paint. Then comment."

The reliabiltiy of your recomendations just suffered pretty badly if you cannot recognize advertising BS ("very thin because they use formulated with microscopic resins") from reality. Resins are liquids in a solvent. Not solids.
An important function of Floetrol is to extend wet time, not just thin the paint. I can easily make paint thinner while not inceasing the wet time and have a levlling problem (just thin with a fast evoratng solvent).
Given my price break level at my delaer and satisfaction with the exising paint I would not care to risk my reputation.

Floetrol doesn't thin paint.

Use a true waterborne. Risk it at your own house and tell me you'll return to tired latex.

Michael

This is probably a dumb question but can you tell me, Michael, when you refer to Impervo, is that BM Satin Impervo? I live in Canada and that is how it is sold. Also, what is a chinex brush, and what is a waterborne (?) brush? Thanks in advance..

I'd love an answer to the last question!

The guy at my local aint store told me the acrylic paints are very difficult to work with and should be left to professionals.

Is that true?

margieb2: Do a search for "chinex",. Also search "waterborne". There is tons of info on this site and on the homedecorating site. Look for responses from Michael/brushworks. He has given lots of info on these topics. If I knew how to do a link for you I would, but I am not to savy on the computer. PS, I am currently using a waterborne paint. SW ProClassic, and a purdy chinex brush. It is heavy and does sag a bit, so you have to be careful, however I far from being a pro painter but I am getting the technique down and the baseboards are looking quite nice. Not perfect, but for a DIY job, I can live with it. Hope that helps.

ive just finished painting a bit over 700 feet of pretty fancy 5.5" baseboards and 3/5" casings...To me as a novice, it came down to two simple things: a very good brush and good paint. Of course its 2-3 coats, but absolutely no streaks or anything -- it looks streakey when wet, but the BM paints self leveled out and look almost spray painted and totally smooth now that its dry. I just used BM aquaglow semi gloss (started with BM impervo satin, but it wasn't glossy enough). I used a simple 2.5" angled Corona brush too.

That Corona is more than a simple brush.

It's the best on the market.

The flagged tips helped to make it appear like a spray on finish.

Michael

From diityourself.com:

Another synthetic fiber used in brushes is Chinex, which is manufactured by DuPont. Chinex fibers simulate the characteristics of natural bristles and therefore work very well with oil-base paints, but since they are synthetic they will stand up water-base products as well.

What is the sheen of Cabinet Coat compared to semi-gloss?

I'm not happy with the way the semi-gloss has been going and am considering using Cabinet Coat, but I don't want to repaint all the trim and doors right away.

Thanks!

The brush and the paint don't make much of a difference if you don't know how to lay it on...seriously. The reason we get brush marks in our trim work is because the paint isn't applied heavy enough. Newer painters and homeowners just simply don't put enough paint on, mainly because they are scared the paint will run or sag. You want your surfaces to dry as one. This is the concept of the wet edge really. You want to work from one mitre to the other and then move onto your next section. Areas that have started to set up you don't want to be brushing back into because that is when you can pull partially set up paint and that is when you will get brush marks that won't go away. You want your paint film thickness to be even. It took me a few years to perfect my brushing technique to the point where I don't get brush marks...sure the right paint helps but even if you give someone the best paint on the planet to use, if they dry brush everything the end result is just not going to be good.

Woof! Sounds complicated. I just painted my kitchen and managed to get paint on my toaster and cuisinart (then I stepped in the paint tray). Me, with roller on extension pole in hand..someone says "Mom?" I rotate..do the math. Anyhow..as far as the trim is concerned, I had success with paint pads..not been mentioned here..any comments? (Or will I be subjected to the ducking chair).

"The reliabiltiy of your recomendations just suffered pretty badly if you cannot recognize advertising BS ("very thin because they use formulated with microscopic resins") from reality. Resins are liquids in a solvent. Not solids."

Sticking up for MichaelÂs reliability and to correct your fallacy.

The resin may be introduced as a liquid, but they do contain solids. A latex resin in a paint formulation for example may contain 50 to 60 or so percent solids, which contributes to the bottom line in a solids calculation.

"The solvent content determines how thick the paint is, not the use of "microscopic resins". The resin is individual molecules in a carrier solvent."

Nanosphere, ie microscopic resins and colloidal chemistry in both the pigments and the resin can be used to reduce or enhance the thickness and viscosity of the final liquid paint product without regard to solvent content. Just because you donÂt understand the science of formulating with chemistry doesnÂt mean its advertising BS. Just to be simplistic, I can have two pans of beef broth on the stove. Throw just a bit of flour into one and voila itÂs thick and it is in little way different in terms of solvent content compared to the other.

In regards to the recommendation to add Floetrol to existing paint. What does this do to the overall chemistry of the paint in terms of durability, VOC emissions, etc?

hey, I am looking for some good paint brush company who gives free paint brush while we buying liquid paint. Can you refer me someone near to new york place.

Here is a link that might be useful: body paint latex