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Latex paint to make wash finish

Latex paint is mainly used for wall paint. But sometime it is also be able to be used in the wood finishing. The uses of latex paint is usually in combination with the wood lacquer can be used to make rustic wash finish. Usually we make the washed finish with the glaze, but with the latex paint we can make different "looked" of washed finish. The latex paint can produce a washed finish with more natural and rustic looked, a finish with thick "washed effect", but with low gloss and less film coating.





Here is the finishing process:
  • Preparation of the wood surface

The finishing process must be started with the good preparation at the unfinished wood. The latex paint is a waterbased paint, then the dry wood is needed. The high water content in the wood will affect the drying process of the latex paint. Make sure the wood is already dry with the m.c. about 10%. Prepare well the wood surface, make sure the surface is already well sanded with the smooth and even surface. The  wood sanding may be not as good the as the wood preparation for the "wood stain finish". Some imperfectly in the wood such as: slightly scratches, small dents or pinholes is accepted since it would not affect the final finishing looked. But the proper wood sanding is absolutely needed in the wood finishing.
  • The application of latex paint
We can brush or spray the latex paint to the wood surface. Make sure we apply enough layer of the paint to cover the whole wood surface. Use the paint color according to the wash color we want. There are wide range color of "washed finished"  we can make. Fortunately there are wide range color of latex paint is available in the store. We can choose one of the latex paint color according to the final color we want.
Make sure we give enough time to let the latex paint to dry. It is a water-based materials that generally need longer time to dry if compared with the solvent base chemical. The drying time of the paint actually is depend to the type of the latex paint, the humidity of the room and thickness of the paint layer.  If the weather is hot and dry, the drying process can be fast and easy. But when the finishing room is humid and  cold, the drying of the paint will be dificult and slow.
  • Wash the latex paint.
In the "wash finished",  we need to clean the paint at the surface and left the paint to fill in pores, grain and crevices only. We can clean the surface by sanding the dry latex paint with sandpaper or scotchbrite. Make sure we clean the paint at the surface and let the paint is left on the inside pores, grain and crevices.
We can also wipe off the paint with alcohol to make the washed effect. Dampened a rag with alcohol and wipe of the paint at the wood surface. Let the paint stay inside the grains, pores and crecives.
Make sure that we got the washed effect we want. We can wash the paint to make more "clean looked" washed finish, or we can let more paint in the surface to make more "paint looked" finish. We still can revise the paint effect in this step.
  •  Application clear coating
The next process is the application of a clear coating. Make sure we have got the washed effect we want before the coating application. We wont be able to revise the paint effect after it is layered with clear coating.
We can use the solvent base coaing to coat the washed paint. The clear NC lacquer, is good choice to be used. The NC top coat will give enough protection to the latex paint with thin film layer, and clear color. The varnish or shellac are also can be used, but they has yellowish brown color that will affect the finish color resulted. The thick clear coating such as PU or AC are also can be used, but they tend to build thick film layer that is not suitable for the rustic and natural looked  we want to make.
The spray application is needed to the clear coating application. Brushing the coating will dissolve the paint and damage the washed effect. Apply 1 layer wet coat of clear coating evenly to the finish. Use the low or medium sheen top coat. Let it dry and check the finish surface. If we got rough surface then we need to scuff sand the finish and re do the application of top coat. Ussually 2 layer of top coat is enough to make the smooth finish. Avoid too many layer of coating since it will affect the natural looked of the finish. Too thick finish layer also could change the finish color. We can apply wax to make more slippery and wet looked at final finish.

6 comments for "Latex paint to make wash finish"

  1. Are you kidding me???????????? Does the person that wrote this article understand the english language? Or, is the proof reader blind? The article is barely understandable. Writing like this should not be for publication!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes sir.
      Thanks you for your input.

      I am in learning to improve my english.

      Thanks

      Good bless you

      Delete
  2. Jim Tidmore needs to finsh that case of Bud in his garage and chill the F out. It is clear that the person who wrote this, while trying to help you DIY, uses English as a second language, a concept that Jimmy-Boy is not familiar with. Y'all bedder learn to speak 'Merican or Jimbo and his boys will roll up in their pick-up trucks and taunt you a second time.
    Thanks for the help Johanes, I could easily read what you were saying, and aside from a few verbs (them's action words Jimbo), you communicate as well as most bloggers.
    Could I just water down the latex paint, or would that only give me a light, consistant coat?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We need a light coat at the top of latex paint.

      Delete
  3. 2 things Jimmyboy: "proofreader" is one word; "English" is always capitalized. Have you been writing in English your whole life? Because pointing out mistakes is the purview of the perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear friends
    I really apreciate for your comments. Your comments are really help me to improve our capacity as blogger.

    Yes it is right, English is my second language, and i find it is not easy to write in English perfectly. But i keep learning and improving my languange. My point is to enjoy sharing my experience and knowledge.
    And your input will big help for me.

    Thanks and regards



    ReplyDelete