Help touching up Regal Matte, 2 different problems, please?

16 years ago

I skimmed out one wall that was really bowed so that the baseboard would lie flat, feathered the mud and sanded edges. Primed with BM Superhide. Then painted with 3/8" nap roller Regal matte Navajo White, tried to work wet edge but feather into existing paint about knee-high, well above mudded/primed area. Now the edge looks lighter, new paint below looks darker on angle. Not sure if this is "flashing" (my BM Muresco ceiling white flashes - looks lighter from any angle - when touched up). But how do I get rid of it? I hate to paint the entire wall (8ft ceiling and *don't* want to get this on ceiling b/c I can't touch *that* paint up!).

The paint I'm using is leftover from original paint job July 2007. Is that the problem? I've touched up other small area before with a roller and the worst I've gotten is a lighter patch - but not this weird almost tacky-sticky looking edge. Is it my feathering technique?

I've also go spots over my kitchen cabinets where I skimmed, sanded, primed and painted (same paint). After 1 coat, 1 quick touchup 2 hours (Tuesday) later to get primed edges I missed (rolled 3 separate patches instead of 1 large area), and then another whole-area (app 10" x 5ft) roll 2 days later (Thurs), I still have these dull spots within the shiny (new paint) area when I look from distance at angle with light behind. But up close it looks different from the lower wall I rolled - like glitter in the paint - same as it looked 2 days ago. I thought the final coat would take care of that. Not sure if something's coming through there? I did try to vacuum, where I couldn't reach I wiped down with Swiffer dust cloth.

Thanks.

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Comments (6)

paintguy22
16 years ago
Honestly, I find that Regal Matte doesn't touch up 1/2 hour after it is painted, much less a few years. I also find that Muresco doesn't touch up either. It has a slight sheen, so this doesn't surprise me.
2ajsmama
Original Author
16 years ago
I will *never* use Muresco again, when we had to repaint after builder fixed cracks/seams, the painter I hired chose the Muresco instead of the Pittsburgh we had used originally. THAT doesn't touch up 1/2 hr later. The Regal Matte seemed to touch up (in the Navajo White, White Satin, and Horizon, but not Thornton Sage or Antique Jade) if I just had to hit a spot quickly last year w/o a lot of mud or primer. I have 2 cans of primer in basement - one Fresh Start and one Superhide. I don't know which painter left which one. Maybe one is better with the Matte? Someone on Decorating forum suggested the primer may be the problem, if Superhide has a bit of sheen?

Would that be causing the "glitter" effect in that one area? Or did I leave drywall compound dust? I'd think after priming and now 3 coats of paint that I would have covered everything. Painters sure didn't dust down walls last year after sanding the ceilings, when they had to touch up nail pops on the walls.
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paintguy22
16 years ago
It could be a question of nap size, but really the problem is that Regal Matte doesn't touch up well. What I do when touching up with any paint is not use any primer at all. I have had more problems with the primer actually causing the touch ups to flash, so I just skip it. I get the best results by just doing 3 coats of the finish paint. But, there is a difference between the paint not touching up because it is flashing and because it just doesn't match. Say the painters ran out of paint, and picked up one last gallon to finish the job. It could be that the last gallon was not tinted perfectly and/or that it was not mixed (boxed) with all the paint for the job and this is the gallon that you are using to touch up. This is why it says on all paint cans that you should box colors for uniformity. Also, BM claims that the sheen level of their Regal Matte dies down after full cure, so in theory your touch ups may blend in better after a month. I've never bought into that claim though.

The biggest factor is going to be lighting. If the touch up is in a dark room in a corner, then it may appear to blend in better than if the touch up is on a high foyer wall with a big window casting light down the wall.

A lot of times what happens is you sand the patch out further than the patch and then you don't touch up far enough around the patch to cover up what you have dulled with the sanding. Is this what you could be seeing as a glitter effect? I don't know, but sanded drywall mud can look sparkly in sunlight.
2ajsmama
Original Author
16 years ago
That's what it was trying to get rid of over the cabinets - looked like someone had sanded paint surrounding a patch, then may have not even primed before painting. So I skimmed over, sanded, primed over a larger area, and painted over that. Would sanded mud look sparkly after primer and 3 coats of paint? It is actually little pinpricks that look shiny - not craters, but maybe raised from nap, not totally dry yet?

The other area really is only noticeable at the edge where I tried to feather - now looks "powdery" though there is no powder or dust when I touch it. Looks fine over the large area I skimmed over the baseboard - no glitter. Though I did vacuum that before priming since it was easy to reach, the area near the ceiling I just wiped with a dust cloth. Think it's my "blending" technique? I'm putting a bookcase there so no one will ever see it, but I'm trying to get the technique down before I skim out the walls in my foyer that are bowed. Baseboard will flex to fit 5ft or longer walls with studs 16" OC, but these short 2-3ft walls on either side of bay window, in foyer at end of bath and closet, etc. just too short/stiff to close up gap. Esp. the one I just did - 2ft wall, no stud in center, only on ends.
paintguy22
16 years ago
I don't really know what the glitter could be. Have you considered caulking the gaps at the baseboard instead of floating mud above them?
2ajsmama
Original Author
16 years ago
The gaps are so huge in places that when I caulked and used an artist's brush to paint, it looked like I'd painted the back part of the top of the baseboard. I have to live with it where the baseboards are already installed, but the 1/4" gaps where we haven't nailed up base yet I'm building out.