Undercoat for gloss paint not available in Poland?

I had this problem ten years ago. Was told 'there's no such thing'. Thought things might have improved but no, went shopping today and was told that such an idea is 'bez sensu'. Apparently the Polish way is to simply paint the gloss on to bare wood......now that's bez sensu. I call upon all expats here present, especially anyone from the British Isles, what have you done about this?

I'm not keen on using an exterior primer on interior wood because of what I imagine are additional chemicals. I had wondered if water based emulsion would do the trick as an undercoat, but apparently the gloss won't adhere well to it. It would need to be water based gloss, is it widely available here? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated, thank you.

They also use only one coat on walls with the result that it quickly looks dreadful. Domestic Polish paint products also tend to be quite low quality so (remember that even with Dulux 1-coat you still really need at least 2 coats) the results are bad. Plus (and I've seen this often) people use two brands of white paint sometimes without realising that the chemical composition is different and the result sometimes ends up as a blotchy two-tone!


We bought some across the border in Germany.


It's usually OK to do that

Jon I knew you'd come to the rescue, may I say that in this instance you are my fairy godfather :) So basically I suppose the best option is to go for the exterior primer. Fabulous though my decorative schemes are, I can't quite see myself and Mr A heading over the border on a quest for undercoat. Interesting though that you can get it there. Thanks very much for your help.

As far as I know (which is only a bit) the main difference is that exterior primers have fungicide etc to cope with outdoor conditions and yes they can be used indoors. One problem is that indoor primers are low-odour and outdoor ones not necessarily so. It might be worth checking that the one you want to use is low-odour (the manufacturer's website should have this info) or it may take a while for that 'new paint smell' to go ;-)

From an American pro Atch..........
Preparation is EVERYTHING.
First determine if what you are painting has been painted with an oil based paint or a latex water based paint.
To find out put some rubbing alcohol on a rag and wipe over an area that is not conspicuous.
If paint comes off or you get a white residue on your rag it is latex, if nothing comes off it is oil based.
Then wash the surface of the paint surface with TSP (which will actually etch the surface for a better bond) or spic and span even works.

Then lightly sand the surface and wipe down again.
Now you are ready to prime with the correct primer as not all primers are made for gloss paint.
In America it is very hard to even find oil based paints anymore.
Get a primer that is designated for a gloss latex paint.
If going over bare wood I would use a BIN or some other sealer first to seal up the wood and make it as smooth as possible.

Then sand lightly and apply the latex primer for gloss paints.
Walla, now you are ready for your finish coat of latex gloss paint.
They make additives for the gloss finish paints like Floetrol that you add that make the gloss paint slippery so it spreads easier and lays down flatter.

But again, those are American products.
Good luck in your project.
Post picture of the before and after. :-)

Thanks Johnny. I've done quite a bit of painting over the years. If I was in Ireland or the UK I'd know exactly what to do but in Polska it's a different story. I haven't seen water based gloss here. I don't like it that much actually because I find it's not as hard wearing as the oil based variety but it's lower odour and of course brushes can be cleaned with water instead of using spirits which again is very whiffy. Satinwood paints and eggshell paints are my favourite (don't know the American equivalent) but I don't know what the Polish version of those would be, if any.

The staff in the paint shops here are not that helpful/knowledgeable in my opinion. There is still that tendency in Poland to take the attitude that if they haven't heard of it, it doesn't exist. Their faces just shut down and they're not even interested in trying to suggest some alternative from what they have available. Also they're staffed largely by men who clearly think women have no business meddling in this sort of thing.

There was an Irish candid camera show years ago where they errected a sign in a hardware store 'Unaccompanied ladies will not be served'. Oh God, it was funny. A woman came in and wanted to buy something. The man behind the counter then directed her attention to the sign and suggested that she ask a male customer to request the item on her behalf. This was the Ireland of the 1970s where that kind of thing might just have happened for real. Would you believe I found it on YouTube:

youtube.com/watch?v=l4mp_MFr7qc

In case you don't catch everything the second customer says, when her patience finally runs out (the Dublin accent you know), it includes 'would you go 'way and get stuffed' and a few invocations of 'Holy Jesus'.


Not sure it's worth it Johhny. It's only a couple of doors, not very exciting!