It is good that they painted it with cheap emulsion paint. For a new house, the dampness of the wall is still there and it'll taken around 24 months to dry up completely. The dampness cannot be seen using your bare eyes and you can only know that if the wall is damp with a device called protimeter. The reason why I said it is good is because the cheap emulsion paint has a lot of powder as you said it is chalky. And the damp wall can be dried up faster when you applied emulsion paint on it. For the powder to be absorbed.

Some people who might have a little knowledge about paint would suggest you to apply sealer, be it the solvent-based sealer or the water-based sealer. Like what blasto said above about the ACE Hardware. They hired sales person who are not so familiar with paints and they might just know which color is nice and which one isn't. People who knows about paint(with experience) will know that what I said above is right.
However, you might still opt for the premium matt emulsion(Pentalite for Dulux, Strax for Jotun and etc.) which has less gum than premium shining interior paint(Pearl Glo, Satin Silk, Majestic Pearl Silk). If you apply those shining paint, then you wall will most likely have something like water mark or damp mark due to its dampness. This is because the gum blocks the wall from being dried up. The same goes to sealer. If you apply sealer, the wall most likely won't dried up so fast or dry up later than usual.

Ok, if you want to change the colors, the cheap emulsion still have plenty of colors for you to choose.

If you want expensive paint, like what I mentioned above, you can still opt for the premium matt finishes.

My recommendation,

Cheap paint:
- JOTUN Jotaplast
- KCC Koreton Plus
- Pacific Newlite
- Sissons Masonry

Expensive Paint
- JOTUN Strax Matt
- KCC Koreton Ezy Clean
- Sissons Super Siscolux

Try not to choose ICI Dulux for it is overpriced and the quality has gone down since a few years ago.
And also try not to choose Nippon Paint for their quality is even worse than ICI Dulux and what I can say is the one of the worst paint is Nippon Paint.

Sorry for if I offenced some of you.

Feel free to ask me more.

1. OK, so you've chosen the premium paint..
My recommendation will be Jotun Strax Matt or Sissons Super Siscolux..
Strax Matt is around RM80 and S. Siscolux is around RM 70 per 5L..Prices may vary for different colors..

2. If your yellowish wall is not too dark, then it is okay..You just need to apply 2-3 coatings of the paint..Preferably 2 coatings if possible to cover up the yellowish wall..

3. If there are nail holes or some holes, just fill it up with polyfillas or puttyfillas...About the smoothing of wall, you'll need to have USG or scheme coats to smoothen the wall..

4. The adhesive of masking tape isn't too strong. Therefore, it is advisable to stick some masking tapes on the area where you don't want it to be painted. It won't peel off paint so easily. Yes, you can tape the cornice if you want but advisably you paint the edge of the wall with a 1.5inches brush or 1 inch brush..But still, that requires skills for not touching your cornice..

5. If your feature wall, you want two colors, then you can just paint one side first. And then paint the other side with the way you are doing it in No.4..DO NOT stick the masking tape on the first wall right after you've painted it. At least until it is thoroughly dried..But this, I recommend you do it with brushes..try not to use masking tape..

All I can say is Matex is the easiest-to-paint emulsion paint in the market..The reason is the amount of powder is the most in Matex. Therefore, it is the easiest to paint..

Federal Paint..A company which doesn't really prioritize the quality..They might not have the right formula to produce paint..Enough said..

The market of paint is not the same as 10 years ago..One tip for you, try this method if you want to lower the price..Tell them(paint shop) that you asked from somewhere else(another paint shop) that they are selling at a cheaper price..Not too much la...Like the price they are giving is 100, you tell them you can get for like 95..But as far as I know, Satin Glo doesn't costs that much..less than 100..Do you mind telling me which shop you went?

First of all, you misunderstood..I'm not a painter actually...lol

1. I'll recommend Jotun's Jotaplast or Pacific NewLite..Pacific Paint is a newly incorporated company and to be frank with you, it's(Pacific Paint) emulsion paint is of one of the best quality in the market..
And yeah, Jotun indeed have the Multicolor Tinting Machine and from this machine, you can almost get every possible color in your mind. But for the cheap emulsion paint, only certain light colors can be mixed with the machine..And this also depends on which shop you buy from..Not all of the shops know how to mix cheap emulsion paint using the machine..
In fact, quite a lot of other companies also have this type of machine..
For example,
KCC Paint
Sissons Paint
ICI Dulux
Nippon

2. Yes, if the paint is concentrated, then you should add a little of water. The 1 part to 10 parts, I also confused edi. don't understand la..But it is advisable not to add too much of water and normally 5% is ideal..But some paint have different amount to dilute..For example, Jotun's Solvent-based Sealer(Cito Primer 09) can be diluted with about 50% of solvent. Sometimes, more than 50% and sometimes less than 50%..

3. 5L can cover approximately 10 sq. m..Some can cover less than that and some can cover more than that..But average, 10 sq.m..Gloss paint can cover more than that around 13-17 sq.m depending on the painter or the person who painted it..

4. I'm not that good in masking tape but as far as i know, any masking tape also won't peel off the paint...You can buy one masking tape and you'll know the adhesive isn't very strong. As far as I know, Sancora's masking tape also not bad..

1.Sorry bro, missed your post..Par Paint, a very good paint but it will be very hard to get in market due to their company's strategy..Quite hard to look for one with full range..

2. Pearl paint will make your uneven wall noticeable if you have one..and no, not only pearl paint can be cleaned, most of the premium paint can be cleaned..Yeah, Strax can be cleaned..

1. There's nothing much for companies like Jotun and Nippon and etc..But there are some for KCC and ICI not to mention others..KCC has improved tremendously over the years and ICI has somewhat gone down a bit..There are more complains for ICI now whereas last time, ICI Dulux was known as the best quality paint..

and for me, usually mixing a can of 5L, it only takes 2-3 minutes..it won't take 30 minutes or an hour to mix a can of paint..maybe they were not serving you at that time but serving other customers...even a 20L paint, it only takes around 5 minutes to mix if using the shaker..


Yes, premium paint can be cleaned..

Interior wall-all premium paint that i mention below can be cleaned..
all also quite odourless but KCC's products have some kind of fragrance smell..not smelly odour..

Shiny Pearl paint:
Jotun's Majestic Pearl Silk
Sissons Silk Glo
KCC Korevon Silk
Dulux Pearl Glo

Matt finish paint:
Jotun Strax Matt
Sissons Super Siscolux
KCC Korevon Ezy Clean
Dulux Pentalite

2. Normally, for plaster ceiling, a normal emulsion paint will do..below are some of the brands that I'd recommend

Pacific NewLite(a very new brand..and if you trust me, try to look for this brand..as far as I'm concern, it is as good as Maxilite although all the emulsion paint are almost the same..
Dulux Maxilite
Jotun Jotaplast
KCC Koreton plus
Sissons Masonry Emulsion paint
Nippon Matex

3. Grill & Gate
- Jotun Gardex, KCC Koramel, Dulux Gloss Finish, Sissons Tungolac

4. Exterior
- Jotun Jotashield 5 years
- Jotun Jotashield Extreme 8 years(2x heat-reflection)

Advisably, apply a coat of sealer and 2 coats of top coat/finishing coat but mostly people will apply one coating of sealer and one coating of top coat..
Use sprayer for best results but you'll need to have one..

scrap off if you want to repaint the whole thing..try to scrap a piece of the paint and bring it to any paint shop and ask them to look for that color for you..
Spraying is of course better but you'll need the paint sprayer..quite expensive if i'm not mistaken..usually not much painter have the sprayer..




I'm afraid that brands like KCC, PYE and Pacific produce better paint than some reputable companies...
just my two cents..

This post has been edited by trdcelica: Dec 10 2009, 11:01 PM

1. Shiny Pearl means that you'll see the paint on the wall shiny(kilat) or something like glossy..matt finish means the paint is matt or non-shiny/non-glossy..

2. Plaster ceiling, normally people use cheap emulsion paint..emulsion paint is also known as the cheapest paint..approx. 7L-RM30 and 18L-RM60..
So there is no need to apply any undercoat or sealer(primer).

3. Grill & Gate, preferably apply a coat of undercoat before applying the finishing coating..It's known as Undercoat for wood/metal..any paint shop will know when you tell them undercoat for wood/metal..

4. For old wall, apply a layer of sealer(primer) before applying the finishing coat.

5. If the paint is still on the wall and showing no sign of flaking off, then all you need to do is just wipe it with a damp cloth and then apply a coat of sealer. Or just hantam the finishing coat also can..
Of course if you want to scrap the current paint off, it brings more good than harm but you'll need to sacrifice a lil bit of time..

6. Sprayer..I'm not sure about it but you don't need a sprayer to paint your house..just use some good quality rollers and brushes...sprayers are for those professional painters who get a lot of jobs..
The sprayer alone might costs more than the paint for your whole house if i'm not mistaken..

yeah, but i still see some of the 'SKL' painters use sprayer to paint wherever they want...This only applies to those SKL painters aka some pro or pro wannabe..

memang pun..painting more or less also requires a bit of skills and shellac isn't something easy to paint..

Actually, shellac also not as hard as protective coating's paint..Take epoxy as an example, you'll need to paint very fast and must be ngam ngam finish on time..If not, prepare your paint to be thrown away..And once, I've a hardware customer who ordered around 10-15 sets of 4+1L Epoxy paint..and I don't know how clever she was..She went and mixed the hardener with the 4L epoxy for her customer and the next day her customer went to collect the paint..Then went back to his place, opened up the cans and what was inside was something like dried gum, totally dried up...How clever she was that I couldn't find a word to describe her..And the thing was she didn't even bother to ask how long will the epoxy dries up when mixed with the hardener...

she also keh kiang liao..

The theme wall is called the feature wall..The feature wall of the house is the first wall you see when you enter your house. Feature wall of bedroom is the wall behind the bed.

Chocolate is the most common color of furniture and bed..Almost any color is suitable for the feature wall. For example, light chocolate, light green, cream..

It depends on which shop..Retail price is RM86.00..
Quite a lot of them if not all of them give discount and around my place, the price can fetch up to 90, 80, 78, 77 or maybe even lower..
Sin tuck woh also not bad i think..

Eh, bro..Satin Glo 100 bucks ah? W/Bond also cheaper than that wor in Ipoh..

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Added on December 15, 2009, 11:30 pmHaha..welcome..

hehe..

This post has been edited by trdcelica: Dec 15 2009, 11:30 PM

20L of course project la..difference of around 30-40%
why satin glo so mahal d..pearl glo selling for RM9x only..

Yes..it is advisable to mix the two cans of paint together to avoid having two colors..

I'm afraid you've got it wrong...colors can be mixed with a multicolor tinting machine with whatever paint in your mind except for those emulsion paint..light colors can be mixed with cheap emulsion paint also..

Let's say you want the color OW2 31A, and the color is only available in the Odourlite section of the catalogue..You can always opt to mix the color with Satin Glo or Vinilex or Weatherbond, Gloss 9000 and so on..
If that shop have more than one machine, they can mix with other brand also provided that shop knows HOW TO mix with other brand..

Yes, for certain brand, they still have paint directly mixed from their factory. Jotun Paint for example, they do not have ready-made..
If you mix from the shop and return to the shop to buy another can of paint, the colour will be same as long as it's not too long..
eg. if you buy a can of green colour paint today and return to the shop to further purchase another can of the same colour, you won't get two different colours given the shop mentioned is using the same batch of base and the same can of tinter inside the canister of the machine..

pardon me, are you saying that ICI Dulux Pearl Glo or Jotun Majestic Pearl Silk do not have features that you mentioned above?
I do not hope to offend you but those features that you mentioned can easily be found in any premium paint.

It still depends on the painter. Some experienced painters can paint very fast but some experienced painters can take a long time to paint due to their level of satisfaction(The results on the wall).

This post has been edited by trdcelica: Dec 18 2009, 10:49 PM

But I stated why Satin Glo is so expensive while Pearl Glo is selling at around RM9x...
Maybe you missed that...

Yes..

FYI, for Jotun, there's no more ready-made 5Ltr paint with colors...Even the standard colors you find on the catalog have to be mixed with the multicolor machine and price depends on the color...

It's quite hard to compute like this..Would you mind telling me how many rooms do you have?

It depends on the color...some of the standard and mix colors cost the same price..
Colors like red, yellow and green cost the most...

IMO, Jotun is one of the best quality paint in protective coating paint let alone decorative paint..

You should get to know more about Jotun's Protective Coating paint..You'll be somewhat impressed...
That's just my opinion..

It would be hard for you to guess the color..My advice would be korek a piece of the paint and bring it to any paint shop(preferably with multicolor machine) and ask them to match the nearest possible color for you..if you know which brand the previous contractor used, then it would be much easier for you to get back the color..
If you wanna touch up your exterior wall, probably the color will be different as the color will fade off after a year or even a few months..

FYI, Maxilite is a normal emulsion paint which after a few months, you'll find that your wall is chalky or powdery..

1. If you do not mind wasting a bit of your money and time, try ask someone to wash your exterior wall with a water-jet machine..It'll be better..
And you have wipe the wall until there's no grease or oil mark or whatever dirty things on it..

you'll save more if you can get 20L packing..

Approximately 1L can paint 10sqm...
Jotun Strax, try to press the fella to 80..As far as I'm concerned, RM80 is considered as cheap although there are some selling at lower prices than that..
Never buy the 18L RM70..If I'm not mistaken, it's Jotaplast and the market price is RM62..and some even sell lower than that..
If you wanna buy sealer, keep it mind that Jotun only offer 20L packing for sealer and 18L is the normal cheap emulsion paint for ceiling..
If you want sealer, ask them for either one below..
20L
1. Jotun Jotasealer 03(cheaper version of sealer..RSP: RM 140-160)
2. Jotun Jotasealer 07(adequate for int. and ext. wall..RSP: RM 170-190)
3. Jotun Basecoat Sealer(cheapest among sealer's range..only for interior..RSP: RM 90-120)
4. Jotun Cito Primer 09(most exp. among sealer..solvent based...int and ext..RSP: RM 300-340)
The min. prices given cannot be achieved by all the dealers but I believe that the max. prices can be achieved by all the dealers..
And there are also some of the dealers selling at a lower price..

I'll recommend you the Jotasealer 07..
But if you want the best, go for Cito Primer 09..
Cito Primer 09 can be thinned by around 10L of thinner..So, that means it'll turn out to be around 30L after thinning. This sealer can only be thinned using good quality thinner...Otherwise, the paint will turn to toufufah-like...
And Primer 09 helps you save some paint..
I've heard from a painter who told me he estimated to use around 5 cans of 5L paint but he ended up using 3 cans of 5L paint after applying the Cito Primer 09..

This post has been edited by trdcelica: Dec 27 2009, 11:39 PM

The sealer's function is to make the paint last longer. For instance, your exterior wall will last for 7 years with the application of sealer but your wall will only last for 4-5 years without the application of sealer. In other words, the sealer is the undercoat or primer for wall.
And also, the color retention on the wall will be better with sealer..

If you found out that there are moisture in the wall(patches of water mark), you'll need to apply sealer to prevent the moisture from escaping off the wall..another way is apply normal emulsion paint(cheap emulsion paint) ..I already explained this in the first few pages if I'm not mistaken..