Hi guys,

What's the correct sequence for painting old house's walls?

What my painter and other painters around my area did was scrub a little > skim coat > sealer > 1 coat of maxilite > 2 coats of finishing

But i saw from some threads they said after sealer should apply finish coat and it's unnecessary to do maxilite.

I myself think that maxilite is unnecessary as well as it is usually powdery and will do more bad than good since the finishing coat cannot adhere to it due to dusty and powdery surface.

But there must be a reason for painters to do the maxilite coat isn't it? Because I cannot imagine them not wanting to save costs by skipping the maxilite step.

Thanks.

This post has been edited by Cyberbullies: Dec 3 2019, 01:29 PM

huh why maxilite ?

exactly my question, what's the catch? haha

Actually why u need skim coat? Unless the wall is very uneven then only you should consider it.
I just put base coat and 2 layers finishing

I am sure you have spoken to your painters if you are the inquisitive person reading from your post.

You are the paymaster, your right to ask.

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Dec 3 2019, 01:47 PM

it was quite uneven, they used the white type of skim coat which i think is inferior to the conventional grey skim coat because it was unable to level the wall as much as the latter one, so i feel like i wasted my money lol.

your base coat refers to sealer?

i have spoken to him, but answers are vague, like the paint will be more long lasting that way. no reasoning, just conclusion. plus forummers here are sometimes more knowledgeable haha.

This post has been edited by Cyberbullies: Dec 3 2019, 02:32 PM

Well my noobie opinion..
maxilite so that later on (few years time). U needed to call them back to re-paint.. More $$ to be made..

Just my speculation...

This post has been edited by nexona88: Dec 3 2019, 03:14 PM

One coat sealer plus 2x finish coat is the proper way to do it.
Sealer main function is to improve the adhesive between the substrate(the wall) with your finish coat.

Another coat of Maxilite in between will be unnecessary.

You sure they do 2 x finish coat?

Is your original wall colour too dark or too sharp which he has to use another layer of Maxilite to tone it down back to white-ish colour first? But still it isn't good practice to do so.

I think the reason why the painter uses the maxilte is because the oil base sealer takes sometime to dry. To finish their job, using the maxilite to cover the sealer so that they can paint the color of your choice.

Since maxilite and sealer are both white, a smear wont affect anything after the maxilite is dried.

Yes 2x finish coat. Wall wasn't dark but not in good condition either.

Found this online: https://www.inspirationspaint.com.au/faqs/d...coat-and-primer

I am guessing the maxilite is used as an undercoat. Function: "An undercoat is used after a primer. It is used to fill any minor imperfections to create a smooth, even-coloured surface ready for the application of the topcoat."

It's only used for old walls that need some kind of repair as opposed to new walls.

I did ask my painter to use sealer after the maxilite coat but he refused saying it's unnecessary.

Hence the question here is whether new paint (premium) will stick to new paint (economy maxilite) or not without using sealer.

I am assuming yes since i don't see people applying 1st finish coat > sealer > 2nd finish coat?

Though the former is on the adhesion of premium paint on economy paint instead of premium on premium paint.

This post has been edited by Cyberbullies: Dec 3 2019, 04:52 PM

Yes

Maxilite is used as base when one change from a darker colour to light colour paint to bring out the colour.

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Dec 3 2019, 05:07 PM

What's the sequence like?

1) Sealer > Maxilite > Finishing Coat; or

2) Maxilite > Sealer > Finishing Coat?

Cheers

This post has been edited by Cyberbullies: Dec 3 2019, 05:13 PM

No .1

If your wall is ok, without heavy stain, sealer is not necessary

Actually you can try using the balance sealer in any small patch wall to time how many days it takes to completely dry.

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Dec 3 2019, 05:49 PM

In painting well, the prep work BEFORE you start painting anything is often understated, but it is actually the most important.
Stripping off old loose paint, repairing imperfections with putty (cellulose filler), sanding down the old paint a bit, wiping down to ensure its not dusty before you start, taping off edges to have a clean line, etc.

Sealer is used to seal the [cement plaster] if you're painting on bare concrete/stripped down walls with old paint.
If you have applied putty on the wall (aka skim coat) you will need sealer as putty will absorb paint even worse than concrete.
Sealer fills up the holes in the surface [plaster/concrete] so the concrete/bare walls will not soak up all your expensive finishing paint (e.g. your colour paint). Sealer is cheap.

Cheap emulsion paint e.g. matex/Maxilite is used to give a white-over as sealer is not the most beautiful thing (it can be transparent or a weird shade of yellowish white).
This is like an extra step to ensure your colour is more pure and bright paint colour will 'pop'.
Imagine printing on clean A4 paper vs one sheet of old yellow newspaper.

Lastly put on two coats of the finishing colour paint.
Allow sufficient time to dry in between coats.

In my case, if its a newish painted wall (painted by developer to boring white colour), I can skip the sealer + emulsion (maxilite/matex) whiteover coz its already ready to paint over.

This post has been edited by ceo684: Dec 3 2019, 06:01 PM

Agreed

Good explanation, thank you.

I just had my interior painted from white to a light grey. Problem now is i can see streaks on some walls and have spoken to contractor about this. They touched up but some walls still the same. Any way to overcome this? Thank you.

Very good info, thanks.
For exterior walls same or different?

Similar process but the sealer you use should be upgraded to the proper exterior ones (see https://www.nipponpaint.com.my/exterior )

Thanks.
For old exterior walls.
How know if got fungus? Have black stains are fungus?

Yeah, black or green or white mold stains usually a sign of fungus, normally they grow near wet areas