My Pure White Shutters are Cream. Is Pure White Cream, or have they supplied the wrong colour?

[lozcozard]

Hi, I was wondering if someone can help with with RAL colour Pure White.

I bought some shutters from a local company who order them in from China. They are bathroom shutters so not standard material (mdf?) but something else due to the moisture. I ordered pure white, RAL 9010. PURE WHITE. I dont know about you but pure white to me is white, that is pure and so no other colour in it.

But the shutters turn up cream. I have pure white tiles in the bathroom and white everything, so against those its cream. I asked my kids what colour are they, they said yellow.

Please see the attached images against my white tiles.

Is this the colour of RAL 9010 Pure White, and so RAL have named it wrong and everyone is getting cream when they order pure white, or have the shutter manufacturer made a mistake? I have a new garage door in pure white RAL 9010 and that looks white.

It looks more like RAL 9001 which is the same 1 and 0 on the end, easy typo to make maybe.

Thanks!

 

[JohnD]

You can buy sample swatches of RAL colours on stiff board from places that supply painting trades. Get one and compare it. RAL is an official "specification" like saying something conform to BS1361, so it is not a matter of opinion or interpretation.

 

[endecotp]

For a definitive answer you could get yourself a RAL colour chart and compare it side-by-side.

 

[lozcozard]

I will see if I can dig it out, but be good to hear from people who have experience with it too.

About this "so it is not a matter of opinion or interpretation" -> do you mean my opinion or interpretation of the name "pure white"? If so then its a bit of a strange comment, I mean pure white is pure white. pure white is not cream. Its not an opinion or interpretation. Its like someone saying blue is red and someone else saying thats a matter of opinion

 

[endecotp]

pure white is pure white.

Colour is quite a lot more complex than that.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

RAL colours may well have names applied to them, but it's the RAL number which is used to specify the paint, not the name. To compare two colours in a spray shop a colour corrected light both is used so that an exact match for a given specific "warmth" of lighting can be obtained. The difficulty is that perceived colours can change due to the different ways that differing paint mixes reflect light of different wavelengths. This can make two colours which match in the comparison booth look markedly different when viewed under say fluorescent lighting (which has a decidedly yellow-green hue) or conventional filament lighting (which is red-yellow). Viewing an exterior door in daylight (which at this time of year has a decidedly blue cast to it) isn't a good comparator, either, be sure the lighting inside your house is generally a lot "warmer" (redder or yellower). Getting a set of RAL swatches as a comparator is far more likely to tell you if the colour is right. It could still be that you have a case of metamerism

 

[lozcozard]

”but it's the RAL number which is used to specify the paint, not the name“ - the name Pure White IS RAL 9010 so they are linked. Asking for pure white would get 9010.

I contacted RAL and I’m saddened to say they confirm that Pure White is a cream colour. So my shutters are correct. And I’m dumbfounded the colour was named Pure White. Crazy.

But RAL told me that this name was given in 1927 and was the whitest they could produce at the time. So to them in 1927 I guess it was white but today we can make whiter. There are two more whiter whites added which is traffic white 9016 and signal white 9003 (the brightest). The naming is so old no one can do anything about it and they say they can’t rename them, and no one is alive to “blame”!

So RAL charts must be used and not go by the names. I wasn’t offered a RAL chart I just asked for “white”.

Lessons learned but I’d expect manufacturers to let us know these things.

 

[endecotp]

I’ve just checked what my secondary glazing is, and it’s 9910 “Hipca White”.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

So basically using the name was wrong. You should have used the RAL chips from the get go. Even white paints in the 1970s were yellower than they are now, let alone the 1920s.

 

[lozcozard]

Yeah but wasn’t offered RAL colours. I wasn’t asked the RAL name. I was asked what colour, I said white to go with all the other white. Only after it was fitted and saw it was yellow was I told it was Pure White.

Been told they’ll sort it now anyway. Luckily the panels were sent wrong way around manufacturer mistake. So they’re sending new panels. I can ask for the brightest RAL white now. So the extra expense is a new frame in that White only.

 

[lozcozard]

I’ve just checked what my secondary glazing is, and it’s 9910 “Hipca White”.

I didn’t even see that on the end on a website as the white is almost like the white background. That looks whiter than any other but RAL told me today signal white is the brightest. I’ll have to check.

 

[lozcozard]

Hipca White is not an official RAL colour they told me. Guess it doesn’t matter if it’s the white you want!

 

[foxhole]

Have cream inner windows Ral 9001 , same colour paint is a perfect match .