I’m currently spray-finishing the millwork that I made for a powder room/mudroom suite that I built. The panels and mouldings were primed off-site using Zinsser BIN Shellac primer. I’m now topcoating them on-site with Target Coatings EM6500 pigmented “lacquer.” (A few pics attached to provide some context, which can always help. Forgive their poor quality.)
For a few reasons, I’m not getting as good a result as I’d like—namely the surface is ending up somewhat rough. I believe this is mostly due to the combination of spraying a waterborne, on site, in winter. I can’t open the windows and doors wide enough to exhaust the overspray sufficiently without it become too cold. Consequently the overspray comes to rest on the wet or tacky coating, giving it the roughness I’m witnessing. Being a waterborne the overspray dries quickly in the air (which is very dry, as it’s winter) and lands on the rapidly drying surfaces. Being a waterborne it doesn’t have the ability to resolve or dissolve that overspray to allow it to “melt” in.
It’s not a horrible result, ultimately, and it looks good. But running one’s hand over the surfaces (which I am wont to do) doesn’t reward one with that reassuring smoothness. Having read through this finishing forum it seems that the issues I’m having (along with some other related issues) are very common. There is no shortage of waterborne-pigmented-topcoat threads. But I have a couple specific questions that I just can’t answer myself, and hope some of you guys might have the experience (that I don’t have) to be able to opine.
Firstly, do you think General Finishes coatings are that much better that they justify the (sometimes significant) extra cost over similar coatings from other brands? By better here I mean: easy to spray/more forgiving while still producing an overall excellent result. Maybe not the toughest, most durable coating—for that you’d need to go with a 2K polyurethane. Maybe not the clearest finish (in the case of clear topcoats)—for that you’d probably need to use real lacquer. But still an overall great-looking finish that provides the level of protection/durability you need for that application.
I’ve sprayed Target Coatings almost exclusively, specifically their 9000-series polyurethane, their conversion varnish, the 5000 primer/filler, and the 6500 pigmented topcoat. I have wanted to but have not sprayed the 6000 WB lacquer which seems to be a common favorite. I started spraying Target mainly based on positive reviews here and continued with them because of familiarity with their lineup, fair prices, quick shipping, and the fact that they worked well enough.
But while they’ve worked well enough I’ve never been blown away by the Target finishes—not in the way that people who use the General coatings seem to respond to their products. Here and in other forums I’ve seen a lot of “I’ll ONLY use General Finishes” and “After having problems with Coating X, I tried the General product and it was so easy to spray and the result is perfect!” I just don’t consistently see people talking that way about other coatings.
The General products, however, cost two or three times as much as analogous products from other brands. General’s white pigmented poly, for example, is around $100 a gallon, sometimes before, sometimes after shipping, depending on the source. (It’s interesting that their black pigmented poly is significantly cheaper.) Meanwhile I recently bought Target’s 6500 white pig lacquer topcoat for about $45/gallon, including shipping, when they were running a promotion, which seems to be pretty much all the time. Other examples of this price differential are easy to find.
So are General’s finishes better? Of particular and practical interest to me right now is whether the General WB pigmented poly is “better” or easier to spray and more forgiving than the Target WB pig topcoat, or other topcoats? Because I’m thinking that a finish, under normal conditions, that is easier and more forgiving to spray and always results in great results even for people who don’t have lots of experience or technique will maintain those characteristics in less-than-ideal conditions. A finish that’s easier to spray/more forgiving would possibly allow me to get a superior result. And it would be worth it to me to pay more for that. I’m well aware of the situations where you just “can’t afford” NOT to use the more expensive product, because it is superior, and you’ll likely find yourself buying it anyway after trying to save money by buying the cheaper product. In the end you’ve spent a lot more money (and time) than you would have if you just went with the better product from the start.
Part of the answer to this question is inevitably subjective—if you get good results with the finish, you feel comfortable with the finish, and you feel like you can afford the finish and it’s worth it, then sure, it’s justified for you. But I’m more interested here in a more objective take on the issue, from people who have used a variety of coatings, might be minimally familiar with the chemistry, and can compare apples to apples and apples to oranges.
And I’m not just potentially interested in General coatings. Any waterborne pigmented coating that you’ve sprayed and really like (or heard very positive things about) is of great interest. I’ve come across a few products that might be promising but information about them is sparse. Among others I’m talking about AcromaPro Akvatopp Waterborne Pigmented Topcoat; Valspar Zenith WB Pre-Cat Pigmented Topcoat; Chemcraft Aquawhite Acrylic Pigmented Topcoat; ML Campbell’s Agualente; and Sayerlack’s Waterborne Topcoat for Interiors.
Some of those might be even more expensive than General, or impractical to get ahold of, especially in small quantities, but they’re still of interest.
Finally, because of the conditions I’m spraying in, it also eventually occurred to me to consider a finish that’s less dependent on weather conditions for getting a good result. Which basically means solvent-borne finishes. I have no experience spraying anything but waterbornes—with the exception of shellac primer, which among ALL the things I’ve sprayed is my favorite. You can spray it light or lay it down heavy. It sands better than anything else. I saw it mentioned by John TenEyck as an option in another recent pigmented-topcoat thread, which encouraged me. By itself it’s definitely not durable, but under a clear topcoat would it be protective enough?
Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to cover all bases. Hopefully some of the responses will help me and the many others who are interested in waterborne pigmented topcoats now and in the future.