# Water vs solvent based paint



## gc (12 Aug 2010)

I was looking at the Dulux Eggshell paint in b+q today and they had Trade Eggshell which was water based or Main Range Eggshell which was solvent based. The water based paint was almost twice as dear, does anyone know why? I was thinking about using the trade eggshell as its low odour and quick drying but wondered if there is any difference in finishes between water based and solvent based paints as i have only ever used solvent based for painting wood (skirting/doors etc)?

The trade paint says you can use it watered down instead of a primer, would this be ok or would you advise against this?


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## lemonjeff (12 Aug 2010)

Gc,
I've used both types, the major difference for me with the water based was it's much harder to achieve a good finish using brush or roller. Water based also yellows quicker according to the pro's, although I read a circular from Dulux a while back that said they are lowering the VOC of the oil based and that it would yellow slightly quicker than the old type.

As for the price difference ? Maybe they use spring water or could just be because we live in Britain.

Jeff


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## yellowbelly (12 Aug 2010)

the base material i.e water would be cheaper to manufactureIMO but the cost of researching such a product would need recouperating somewhere hence passed on to the customer


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## cornucopia (13 Aug 2010)

water based pro's- are that it 
*will never yellow*
quick drying 
low odour

water based con's-
poor opacity
higher skill requird to acheive a finish

If you are after a water based finish i would reccomend sikkens rubbol BL satura-similar sheen level to eggshell and a brillant silky smooth finish

because of the voc 2010 changes-if you do go with oil based eggshell bare in mind that it will stay open/wet for about 6-10 hours, this may be a problem with airborne particles etc and it will take 4-5 days to matt down to an eggshell finish


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## Dibs-h (19 Aug 2010)

cornucopia":25eyiqen said:


> water based pro's- are that it
> *will never yellow*
> quick drying
> low odour
> ...



Don't know about the Rubbol - but have used their Cettol BL (matt I think range) with a HVLP and extremely happy with the finish - so can't see the Rubbol being rubbish.


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