Cleaning brushes.

[Traveller]

Hi All.

I was planning on cleaning my brushes in a bucket with white spirit, however, the label on the white spirit bottle advises not to use a plastic container. Why is this? What is safe to use? Metal?

Also, I don't have enough time to do all the painting in one go (wooden door, frame, window frame and skirting board). Is it ok to prime one day, add a second coat of primer on the next day and gloss on the third day? As for brushes, do I just use the same ones for priming and painting (and for the bathroom ceiling paint as well)? The paints are all white but obviously one is gloss and the other isn't and then there's primer as well; don't know what colour that is.

Lastly, what type of paper is recommended to smooth a) already painted wood before re-painting and b) the new coats of primer/gloss? I used fine sandpaper for the old paint and rubbed quite hard.

Thanks.

 

[Zampa]

First answer...white spirit is fine in a plastic kettle

Also, I don't have enough time to do all the painting in one go (wooden door, frame, window frame and skirting board). Is it ok to prime one day, add a second coat of primer on the next day and gloss on the third day?

You wont need two coats of primer..make the second one a coat of undercoat

As for brushes, do I just use the same ones for priming and painting (and for the bathroom ceiling paint as well)? The paints are all white but obviously one is gloss and the other isn't and then there's primer as well; don't know what colour that is.

Use what you are comfortable with...you should normally use bigger brushes for bigger areas...no harm in washing them out after each task in your plastic kettle.

Lastly, what type of paper is recommended to smooth a) already painted wood before re-painting and b) the new coats of primer/gloss? I used fine sandpaper for the old paint and rubbed quite hard.

Eh?

 

[Traveller]

Thanks for the help Zampa.

'You wont need two coats of primer..make the second one a coat of undercoat '

I already had an almost full tin of primer and undercoat in one, so I just used two coats of that. I bet someone's going to come along now and say it is always better to use a separate primer and undercoat!

I didn't think that cleaning the brushes would be so easy! A few dunks in some white spirit and then washed in plain water got the paint off for the next task.

What I meant by the last question was that what type of paper (sandpaper, glass paper, etc) is recommended to get the old gloss or shine off the wood and then what kind of paper would be best to sand down after applying the primer and before applying the new gloss.

I've done the frames and skirting board now with Dulux Once (gloss), but even though I tried to apply a thin coat and brush out any saggging, sagging still occured all the way down the frames. I continued to brush the paint until it wouldn't let me (i.e. started to smudge as it dried) but still the sagging occured. Don't know what I am doing wrong. I am thinking that maybe it could be that I didn't sand the coat of primer which didn't give the paint enough of a key to stick to since the wood being painted over was so smooth to start with, but this is just a guess.

Anyway, thanks for your good advice. I'll need it for the main part (door) which I'm still to do.

 

[big-all]

if your using the same paint the next time you use the brush just load the brush up well and pop in a plastic food bag remove the air and place an elastic band or wire tie on the bag

will keep ok for a day or so

 

[Traveller]

Thanks for the tip big-all.