It has been said before that the quality of your paint job will be judged by the quality of your trim enameling. A smooth spray-like finish, without brush marks, on the trim that has nice clean lines, is a job that stands out.
The smoothest finish is applied by the spray gun. For house paint trim enamels, the HVLP sprayer will apply a finer finish than an airless sprayer. An airless equipped with a fine finish tip will do a better job than with a standard production tip. Oils spray better than latexes. Lacquers and shellac will spray even better than the oils, with the added benefit of being good finishes for rubbing out. The most flawless enamel job (in house paint) will be a lacquer or shellac finish that has been built up and rubbed out with progressively finer rubbing compounds.
You can even get a fine finish without spraying
Spraying is not always an option. There may be to much masking involved, or as in a residential repaint environment, too much risk with paint drift and containment. All is not lost, you can still do a professional job - without spraying, with “ordinary” paint application tools with good technique.
Enamels
You need to use a trim enamel paint. Wall paints are not made to level out the same way that enamel paints do. Trim enamels are hard, wash-able paints that level out smoothly.
Oil
Generically speaking, oil enamels will level out better than latex paints. The first choice for trim enamel for many painters is oil. But, not all oils level out equally well. One of the best leveling oil paints for years has been Benjamin Moore’s Satin Impervo, it was the standard for a fine enamel - until the government regulated the VOC content to a point where a formula change was required. The current “compliant” version of Impervo yellows too much for my liking. It still levels out well. It works where you are not using a white trim paint. Off whites and yellow “antique” whites are fine. The problem is with white.
Sherwin Williams ProClassic (satin alkyd version), looks and feels very much like Satin Impervo, and it can be had in a non-compliant version (in some parts of the country) that doesn’t yellow very much at all. This is currently my favorite alkyd trim enamel.
Waterbased
Don’t use a standard semi gloss wall paint for your trim if you want a fine sprayed-on-like finish. Wall paints are made for rolling and hiding the previous paint. Leveling is not a high priority. Hide, spatter resistance and price are more important with a wall paint.
There are true enamels in waterbased formulas. Muralo was the first to come out with a waterbased paint that had the look and feel of an oil based enamel. They ground the pigment finer and changed a few other things and came up with a product that had superb leveling, without the yellowing inherent in oil based enamels. The new generation of latex enamels arrived with Muralo’s Ultra.
Not to be outdone, Benjamin Moore (waterborne Impervo) and Sherwin Williams (waterborne ProClassic) both produced a new version of their famous oil based enamels that were similar to the properties of the Ultra enamel. These waterborne enamels are true enamels, in that they level out nicely, have good hardness and wash-ability.
Recommended Enamels
- Oil: Sherwin Williams ProClassic, Satin Impervo (non whites only)
- Waterbased: Sherwin Williams ProClassic, Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo, Muralo Ultra
Low Sheen Enamels
Low sheen paints look better in terms of hiding the application method (and other imperfections in the substrate as well) than high gloss enamels. The higher the gloss, the more perfect the application will need to be. The best compromise for a good smooth-to-the-touch feel and a good appearance is a satin sheen or lower luster semi-gloss. This gloss level will have a nice enamel “glow” to it, and still not accentuate the imperfections in the substrate or highlight the application method. Don’t go too low with the sheen or it will not have the smooth feel to the touch , and will also pick up dirt more easily than mid sheen paints.
Recommended Sheen:
- Oil: ProClassic Satin, Satin Impervo
- Waterbased: ProClassic Semi-gloss, Satin Impervo, Muralo Ultra Sem-gloss
Applicators
Rolling enamel for a fine finish -The dense foam roller
You can get a very fine spray-like finish with the newer dense foam rollers. These rollers are made to apply enamel smoothly. You can tip off (see below on brushing enamel) the very fine roller stipple if you wish, but it is very fine and levels out almost totally with a good leveling paint without tipping. These foam rollers come in the mini roller size. Wooster makes a good one (you must use it with their jumbo koter frame), as does Whizz and Sherwin Williams. Apply the paint with the roller in the usual way, then finish it off with very light roller pressure.
Brushing enamel for a fine finish.
Your enamel brush must be a high quality brush. I like to use a 2” flat sash Purdy brush for brushing enamel. Use black china bristle for oil enamels, and a synthetic brush with good flagged bristle tips for waterborne enamels. You can apply a smooth spray-like finish with a brush. The key to a fine finish is to lightly “lay off” or smooth out the initial brushing with the tips of your brush. Apply the paint to the substrate in the direction of the wood grain, then using only the tips of the brush, lightly smooth out the initial brush marks diagonally across the grain (in about a 30 degree angle to the initial brushing), then do the same “tipping” lightly in the direction of the grain. This brushing, cross tipping, and re-tipping in the direction of the grain will give you a absolutely smooth brush mark free finish
The key to “tipping” is to use light strokes, and to time the tipping for best results. Depending on the paint and environmental conditions, you may need to wait a minute or two before tipping off the paint, sometimes you will do it immediately after application. Tipping is very similar to the “softening” with a badger brush that faux finishers are used to doing. See also Paint Brushes: Selecting the best brush for the job.
Spraying enamel for a fine finish
This is how most think you must apply enamel to get a fine finish, and of course, you can with a spray gun. There are two types of spray guns used for house paint enamels: airless sprayers and HVLP sprayers. The HVLP is a finer finish gun with less overspray, the airless is a high production gun.
Spraying waterborne enamels
The airless sprayer is the best way still for waterbased enamels. You don’t need to thin them to spray with the airless, and the finish is good if you use a fine finish tip with a good leveling waterborne enamel. See Spraying with an Airless Sprayer
Spraying oil based enamels
You can use either an airless or HVLP with oil enamels. My choice is the HVLP for oil enamels. The HVLP is much faster to clean up, has less overspray and gives a finer finish than the airless. You will “waste” a bit of paint in the paint hose also if you use an airless. Depending on the HVLP gun and the enamel itself, you may not need to thin the paint for HVLP spraying. If the spray is too coarse, thin with a little bit of mineral spirits to reduce the viscosity enough for better atomization. See How to Spray with a HVLP Sprayer
Laying off direction
done with the tips of the brush
Lay the paint on - Lay it off diagonally - Lay it off again straight
How to Paint Trim & Woodwork With Enamel
Tools and Techniques for Applying a Smooth Sprayed-On-Like Paint Finish
With or Without Spraying
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