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Paint for handrails / high traffic surfaces

Sheffield Tony

Sheffield Tony

Nordic Pine
Joined
Nov 25, 2020
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Location
Bedfordshire
I'm still struggling to find a paint suitable for a stair handrail.

The most successful so far has been traditional, oil based gloss. The drawbacks being that it yellows (I'm not greatly troubled by this) but more importantly the fumes indoors, especially at this time of year. I used some gloss I picked up at Jewsons for an internal door and it stank of solvents for a fortnight !

As I've probably said before, I've been less than impressed by the water based gloss paints. I used one last time, can't remember the brand, that went sticky with handling and mostly washed off ! The remainder was a nightmare as it clogs abrasive paper almost immediately.

I've tried Bedec MSP, which flows terribly and still goes sticky on handling, and I bought a can of Bedec "Aqua advanced high gloss" - which I now see in the small print explicitly says NOT to use in on handrails or other high traffic areas. I presume it responds to handling like the previous one did.

I've seen Farrow and Ball water based full gloss recommended for handrails ... should I trust them ? Or is there a better way ?
 
Agreed. My experience has been similar. Water based gloss of any brand is hopeless on high touch areas.

What's the rail made of? In our present place it is oak and we ended up stripping it off and just waxing. Easy to clean and top up if needed.
 
haven't used farrow and ball but I have noticed oil based paints are definitely superior in terms of how they wear, I go out of my way to prime things properly as well, it's becoming harder to get oil based gloss paints.
 
Unfortunately it is just Hemlock, not oak. And the newel posts have a scarf joint part way up as some twit cut the originals off, probably in the name of "modernisation".
 
How about oil paint of your choice then a coat of polyurethane floor varnish. the water based version of that is very hard wearing and no risk that it will fight with the paint underneath. I use the Screwfix no nonsense version for most varnishing jobs these days.

Bob
 
We used the bedec aqua satin wood on our handrail, was still fine when I repainted after 5 years.
 
I still rely on Dulux but have never painted a handrail.
I was always taught that there is little pigment in gloss. Decent primer and two or even 3 coats of undercoat and then gloss is what I do on doors and frames here.
 
I painted the handrails in the flats i built in 2004, with the water based paints , recommended by Leylands at the time. Acrylic primer undercoat and a satin topcoat. The only yellowing has been where i’d not knotted properly in a couple of areas , it’s worn really well, admittedly its only a small block , 4 flats one on each floor. Certainly does’nt look as good as when first done , but it’s not getting done anytime soon.
Gets wiped down and dusted every 3-4 months. I don’t use anything else in my flats, oil based paints just take way too long to dry and won’t survive a careless / grubby tenant much better than the water based paints.

Must be said that my properties are aimed at the lower end of the rented sector, so the aim is good clean tidy properties not high end to price offerings. I can do a lot of touching up with 2 pack easy sand filler and water based paints in a day.
 
Confession time. Remember my wreathed staircase? Decided not to pour gloop over it. Au naturel.
 
One thing I've picked up on is a preference for eggshell over full gloss. I know it was an option for those who disliked yellowing, before water based gloss was a thing. I've chatted with the painters here at work (an EH site) and the indoor guys use eggshell or satin to avoid smell and the poor flowing of the gloss. The guy who does the outside uses oil based, can't get on with the water based.

But F&B describe eggshell as their most hard wearing finish. I'd try it if I hadn't got so much done in gloss already.
 
If you are happy to spend F&B money, then try Mylands. I find it goes on better than F&B, requires fewer coats and is a lot more hardwearing. They apparently use powdered marble along with the pigments to make it hard wearing (eggshell and flat matt.

It is washable and withstands hand smears etc on walls and goes on very evenly.
 
Just to report back. I went with the F&B water based full gloss. I also bought their recommended primer/undercoat. With one coat of the undercoat and one of gloss, it looks OK. Not as smooth as oil based gloss, but flows a lot better than those I've tried before. Also, after just those two coats it is opaque - with the Bedec I was wondering if 3 were enough.

So far, it has not yet become a sticky mess where subject to handling, but it has only had a few months. Will need to report back again I think.
 
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