Farrow & Ball estate eggshell primer

[Colin]

Just a heads-up on painting F&B eggshell onto new primed cabinets. We are having terrible trouble with the first coat not being sandable even after 30 hrs drying (in an admittedly unheated room). Still feels sticky and clogs the sandpaper. F&B tech. said could be because the paint is not compatible with the primer, even though its a high quality sprayed water-based one. They say we need to prime with their primer whatever is underneath. They MIGHT be right, so until I know otherwise, I'm going to have to prime with F&B primer before painting their eggshell every time

[paintycait]

We've had similar problems and genuinely....it has been reformulated I bet. Moving to Tikkurila or Sikkens, I have supported F&B's product for a long time but this sh!t doesn't pay if you have to add an extra layer to pre-primed that isn't accounted for in your original pricing.
I want them to tell me what it IS compatible with other than their primer and they won't.
This is a TBC.....I am really hacked off at the moment because I have had a HUGE failure with Zinsser 123 and Dulux too this week and to be honest I have punted their products over and over....really feel let down, esp since we do the prep to the Nth degree. I still think 123 is the best on new MDF by FAR but this was over varnished timber....totally shocking and it will cost me a good few ££££s to put right
I reckon that many products that have been reformulated for 2010 didn't meet the mark...and we are only just seeing the result of them having to reformulate the reformulations.....only a guess

[Colour Republic]

Nothing to do with the primer as its happening to me at the moment and I've used their primer!

[Colin]

Yeah, I suspected as much, though I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Estate eggshell is a bit unusable in the average British building site then, i.e. under 20Deg C and a bit of humidity.

[andyrolls]

Yeah, I suspected as much, though I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Estate eggshell is a bit unusable in the average British building site then, i.e. under 20Deg C and a bit of humidity.

Much like johnsones eggy then, 4 day's ! with industrial heaters directed at for 8 hrs a day

[Bristol Decorator]

Yeah, I suspected as much, though I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Estate eggshell is a bit unusable in the average British building site then, i.e. under 20Deg C and a bit of humidity.

Ive been saying that for a while its shocking

I found a good colour match service ie not Dulux and use there oil based eggshell, 2 coats no problems (yet)

[rowland cutting]

f & b egshell is water based and has never sanded down that well imo
it is good gear though, far better than the dulux diamond crap

[Colin]

I've revised my opinion a bit of late. The colour chosen was F&B "Dove Tale" which is a new one, and the oil-based I was going to get it mixed up in couldn't match the colour. So I ended up doing the whole kitchen in F&B, except this time I did the first coat in their undercoat. In future, on one of these jobs, instead of three eggshell it's gonna be one u/c two egg.

I have to say it went pretty well, and the paint lay'd off nicely. The added bonus was, it being a busy site with trades everywhere, the fast drying-time meant my paint was safe after a short while, whereas oil would have been a nightmare.

It still clogged the Abranet, though not as bad as the damp little room I was in before, and I had to scrape the snots off with a blade and wire brush every now and then.

The softness of the curing paint has caused problems in the past when putting doors in a drying rack when painting off-site. When I flipped the doors over the drying rack left marks on the 24hrs old paint, and stacking them in the van meant using grease-proof paper between each door.

So if F&B could solve the slow curing problem, I think it's a pretty decent paint. And as you've all said, F&B are not alone with struggling to make VOC 2010 compliant paints perform like the old ones.

[Purdy the brush]

Hi, new to the site but suffering from the same problem. A new kitchen was installed where I am working made from Romanian oak, day later women turn up with mini rollers and F&B paint, oak is primed with 123 bulls eye primer then 2 coats of Estate eggshell rolled on but not "layed off", 2 days later paint is still wet to the touch and gives the usual "orange peel effect" 2 weeks later foot marks and hand/finger prints all over the doors and wont wash off, as the decorator on the job client has asked me what I can do to rectify the problem, contact F&B they say there is no problem with their paint it must be the primer that was used. Old kitchen used up in utility room painted with F&B primer and two doors done in "ultragrip" 1 coat of estate eggshell left for a week to cure then 2nd coat applied, still wet after 3 days, doors are covered in dirty hand prints, same problem with Dulux undercoat, now the pits of paint, someones telling porkies.

[traditionalpainter]

I have been talking with the upper echelons of farrow and Ball about the non drying and after doing lab tests last week and failing to replicate the non drying issue, now they are doing "consumer" testing outside the lab. Apparently going to contact me in a couple of weeks with their results.

They keep banging on about it not being their paint at fault, insist there is no formulation change since 2009.

When I said that so many decs seem to get short shrift from customer support they keep on saying they dont patronise painters, and they do own up if they are at fault and refer "us" to the faults catalog at the Paint Quality Institute to see where we are going wrong when paint bubbles, flakes or whatever else is going wrong. Never had that info from them before, have any of you?.

Not sure where the chain of command get their info from.

Obviously, like you would assume everyone in the world is sick if you work in a hospital, equally, with the feedback I get from all round the place, you would think every F&B egshell job s a complete fiasco.

However when so many good painters get issues, you have to wonder it must be that the paint is too "particular". If an atmosphere is too humid for their eggshell, but not too humid to split/swell the joints on a new wooden kitchen, whats all that about? I dont buy that there isnt an issue their end with the formulation, or there isnt fundamentally an inability for it to work in a variety of real world environments. Anyway, will let you know when head of tech support calls me