Exterior Masonry Paint - pigments question

Chisler2

Hopefully posters here can help. I want to paint the outside of a newbuild extension with one of the weathershield masonry paints. I have a very strong idea of the colour I want/need the building to be. However the DIY stockists do not have that colour (olive green) on their colour-charts. In addition, the pigments they DO have are expensive as they are geared to 5 gallon (or is it kilo now............never can remember!)

At this end of the building-work, I have a very tight budget!

So my question is this. Can I get any pigment I choose from one of the colour-mix centers and mix that with the basic white base to get my olive green to the desired saturation?............or are these little tubs of pigment "for external masonry paint" different/special in some way?

antiskeptic

Chisler2 wrote: »

Hopefully posters here can help. I want to paint the outside of a newbuild extension with one of the weathershield masonry paints. I have a very strong idea of the colour I want/need the building to be. However the DIY stockists do not have that colour (olive green) on their colour-charts. In addition, the pigments they DO have are expensive as they are geared to 5 gallon (or is it kilo now............never can remember!)

At this end of the building-work, I have a very tight budget!

So my question is this. Can I get any pigment I choose from one of the colour-mix centers and mix that with the basic white base to get my olive green to the desired saturation?............or are these little tubs of pigment "for external masonry paint" different/special in some way?

If you watch paint being mixed you'll see that a number of pigments are added to the base to achieve the colour in question. I suppose you'd have a difficult time figuring out which pigments to get and which amounts to add to achieve the colour you want.

I'd identify the colour you want from someone's range and see can one of the mix guys copy it. I know ColourTrend can copy Farrow and Ball and that Farrow and Ball do an Olive Green .. for example. I'm sure ColourTrend do an exterior paint.

Given (even Farrow and Ball) paint is super-cheap per square meter compared to any other decorative covering you'll have bought/installed (tiles / carpet/ wood flooring anyone?) you might reconsider imposing a supertight budget on yourself - with the inevitable running around (time = money) and chances of things going wrong to the tune of X amount of mixed litres of paint. Folk splash out on expensive semi-solid flooring and then tosh up Woodies emulsion on the walls

(NB: I got a ColourTrend copy of one Farrow and Ball paint and it was nowhere near it. The supposedly creamy white was definite peach. I'd to add 2.5 litres of white to 5 litres of this supposed copy to get a decent match. But I got another dark tone which was more or less bang on. I'd imagine subtle shades of white are harder to achieve than something strong like Olive.)

the_pen_turner

find the colour you want and get the RAL code for it. every machine should be able to mix to that. I have a machine tha ti wanted to paint a part of. I googled the ral no and mixed it up perfect

failing that some shops have a colour scanner that can scan a sample or some object you like the colour of


don't let them fob you off. any good paint shop should be able to do it without any problem

Chisler2

the_pen_turner wrote: »

find the colour you want and get the RAL code for it. every machine should be able to mix to that. I have a machine tha ti wanted to paint a part of. I googled the ral no and mixed it up perfect

failing that some shops have a colour scanner that can scan a sample or some object you like the colour of


don't let them fob you off. any good paint shop should be able to do it without any problem

That advice is encouraging and the RAL colour chart is a revelation. I have taken the details of four colours through the grey-greens which are close to what I envisaged and shall find a retailer who will add the required amount of "that" to the drums of masonry white.

I live on a pension and have already spent my savings on restoring and renovating a derelict shell and am not "penny-pinching"! High time for the "dependency culture" - taking what the retailer dishes up and paying over the odds for the privilege - was challenged.

ouxbbkqtswdfaw

Hi, my advice would be to paint your new build in white first before you start on a colour.

Chisler2

qbm6s0trnd8jie wrote: »

Hi, my advice would be to paint your new build in white first before you start on a colour.

A white first coat and then working on from there sounds like a good idea thank you.

antiskeptic

Chisler2 wrote: »

A white first coat and then working on from there sounds like a good idea thank you.

If you've fresh plaster to work with then dilute the white paint by 10% and apply as a starter coat. The new plaster will suck in the diluted paint more easily and you get good adherence for it and subsequent coats. I used Crown Obliterating Emulsion and got good coverage over problem areas like corners where the galvinised steel beads can otherwise show through.

Go to a paint centre, and if you're doing a lot of painting, ask for a cash account to get discount (which I got at the Crown paint centre, discounts of 30% and more). Don't buy in Woodies or Chadwicks, they are rip off merchants by comparison.

Bear in mind that not all olive greens are the same. An expensive paint is more likely to build up the colour using a mix of attractive pigments, colours that will give a hue to the paint that works well in all lights. RAL is limited in this and you can get two different paints with same RAL number but which are qualitatively different. I'd a lovely straw yellow on the walls once, creamy and soft by day - but once the artificial light came on in the evenings, they turned a cold lemon yellow. The product of the pigments actually used to make the paint.

The idea of spending all the budget on building up the layers of renovation, then going cheap as chips on the finish is a trap fallen frequently into. But makes no sense.

Sinister Kid

Dulux do an olive green masonary paint off the shelf in a 10L, it's called olive garden. Most places will order it in for you if they don't have the 10L on the shelf.

If you are getting paint mixed up, the darker colors are always more expensive. Most manufacturers have three or four bases that they tint, for example, Dulux have Light, Medium, & deep, Fleetwood have P M B & D.
Untinted, the Light is essentially a white paint, Medium looks like a dull off white & the deep looks even duller again (there is very little white pigment so you can achieve dark colours). If you open up a deep base tin it will only be about two thirds full, the remaining space is for the colorant.
The bases are expensive because the cost of the colorant needed is included. The bottles of colorant can cost between €38 -€50 each! In a 10L tub of a deep base you could use nearly a full bottle depending on the shade.

If you go into a paint shop (not a woodies) Chance your arm & ask for trade discount, it is normally 10% (Better than nothing!)

Before you paint do a polybond coat, mix one part PVA to 4 parts water, paint on & leave to dry for 24hrs, it will help stop the wall drinking the paint.

Chisler2

Wow! Those posts are a master class in themselves and it would be useful (Mods?) to give this "sticky status"!

Thank you so much lads and lassies and I really appreciate the expertise and experience. I have printed all these responses and advice up and now know what to ask for and where, with (perhaps, even!) a bit of discount.