I was hoping I could get some advice on what type of paint to use on some wall lettering/graphics that I have coming up. In the past I have used acrylic latex with a primer. I am painting on a concrete block wall that already has a background color. I need to find out for sure, but I believe the paint that is on the wall now is oil based. I need to paint with red and white and I am not sure if I should use white primer everywhere.
Thanks in advance, Tricia
-------------------- Tricia M. O'Neill tricia@signs-unique.com Signs Unique 13 Swan Street Arlington, MA 02476 781-648-4804 www.signs-unique.com Posts: 25 | From: Arlington, MA USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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I've done lettering on painted block walls using bulletin colors. You'll probably want to figure on doing a second coat on the red, especially if the wall faces south; reds fade pretty quickly. Make sure the customer understands that your work is only as good as the undercoat that's already on the building. Painted concrete walls can have a tendency to blister, and that's not your problem.
Dan
-------------------- Dan Marquis Marquis Signs Lewiston, Maine dan@marquissigns.com Posts: 118 | From: Lewiston, Maine, USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Here in Oz, we can get a oil-modified latex undercoat. It's good for walls and billboards, as often you don't know what the previous paint was- waterbased acrylic, or enamel, and this will stick to both, cover well, and as long as it's properly dry, it can be coated over with either acrylic or oilbased paint. You can't just leave it uncoated though.
Add to that some emulsabond (by penetrol/flood co) and you really help the adhesion.
Hope that helps!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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we use 1-shot's bulletin colors as well. The key is what Dan said. We stressed this to a client who seemed concerned about the undercoat, so we bid the job removing everything and repriming and coating with 1 thick coat of the bulleting. After 5 years, still looks great!
-------------------- Matthew Rolli AdCraft Sign&Design Hudson, WI Posts: 280 | From: Hudson, WI | Registered: Aug 2003
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I'm confused. All you long time painters are saying to use bulletin colors. A chemist at One Shot told me that bulletin colors are a cheaper grade of lettering enamel designed for the typical shorter term use on a billboard. When doing such a high quality job, why not use lettering enamel?
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5397 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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Thanks for the suggestions, the client has still not gotten back to me to tell me what kind of paint the background paint is. I am thinking I should just sand the area inside the pattern to rough up the surface and then prime it prior to painting anything. Painting the red twice suggestion makes sense. I think I will use One Shot as that has the kind of sheen I would like to see on this wall.
Any other suggestions are more than welcome, I don't start this project until Wednesday the 21st.
Thanks, Tricia
-------------------- Tricia M. O'Neill tricia@signs-unique.com Signs Unique 13 Swan Street Arlington, MA 02476 781-648-4804 www.signs-unique.com Posts: 25 | From: Arlington, MA USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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1-Shot bulletin is designed for 6 month use. If you want to use oil, 1-shot lettering would be a much better choice for longevity. However, if you are accustomed to using latex paint, it is always a better choice for masonry walls.
Coat the wall with a latex BONDING primer to adhere to the previous oil paint, then paint with latex as you normally would.
Sherwin-Williams offers a product called Very High Gloss Latex which gives almost the same gloss as 1-shot. The first project I used this on is 14 years old, and looks like it did when first painted.
BTW... This is Don Hulsey, not Jay "One Eye" Allen
-------------------- Jay Allen ShawCraft Sign Co. Machesney Park, IL jallen222@aol.com http://www.shawcraft.com/
"The object of the superior man is truth." -Confucius Posts: 1285 | From: Machesney Park, IL, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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If it has a real gloss, I would scuff it. If not, I would clean it well, and start priming. Just be sure you have a BONDING primer if it is oil.
-------------------- Don Hulsey Strokes by DON signs Utica, KY 270-275-9552 sbdsigns@aol.com
I've always been crazy... but it's kept me from going insane. Posts: 2275 | From: Utica, KY U.S.A. | Registered: Jan 1999
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Tricia, Welcome to Letterville from an old Waltham boy.
Here's a way to check the paint on the wall... In an out of the way area, scuff the surface a little. If it drags paint off in little balls, it's oil. If it sands without much drag and comes off like a powder onto the scuff pad, it's latex.
Hope this helps... Rapid
PS: Ya coming up to NH for the Moose Meet?
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Hi Tricia. Remember me from the Cork meet? Anyhow, I have used a mix of 1-S bulletin and lettering enamels with great success. This is what was used on the large Foodland mural at the Mars meet, and it still looks great 3 years later. The bulletin has a creamier feel and a matte-ier finish than the lettering enamel. Combined, they work well. We mix it in one large bucket, then pour it into soup cans to paint out of. Not sure of the ratio, but our mix is heavier on the bulletin. We thin sparingly with turps. That and a good broken-in fitch...ahh...what more can a gal ask for? Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Yes, I remember you from Cork. How have you been? Thanks for your input on my wall job. I got word from the client yesterday that they used Benjamin Moore block filler and then a MooreGLo acrylic house paint on top for the green color that is the background now. I think I like Don's recommendation of bonding primer and then that high gloss Sherwin-Williams. I am a little hesitant to use any bulletin paint as I never have on a wall job like this before. It's an important job and there will be more to come so that is why I wrote to Letterville for advice.
Thanks for all the help everyone and Jill I hope to see you in Scotland in 2006, Tricia
-------------------- Tricia M. O'Neill tricia@signs-unique.com Signs Unique 13 Swan Street Arlington, MA 02476 781-648-4804 www.signs-unique.com Posts: 25 | From: Arlington, MA USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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Always double coat red. It fades faster'n any other colour.
Always remember the water-base (latex) VS oil-base rules:
~Oil ON Oil. ~Latex ON latex. ~Oil ON latex. ~Never latex ON oil.
And that 'righty-tighty - lefty-loosey' thing is handy info too . . . LOL
ANYWAY . . .
as per Dans wise advice, you never know who did the original painting on the block, so add a little 'disclaimer' on your quote & invoice stating you are not responsible for existing base-coat failure.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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