Haymes Ultratrim, the enamel for doors and trims that does not yellow

Haymes Ultratrim, the enamel for doors and trims

Everybody remembers the old enamels. You opened the tin and the whole house knew about it, you were stuck in gloves and a mask with the windows open, it took most of a day to dry, and the worst of it was that eighteen months later the crisp white skirting you were so proud of had gone the colour of weak tea.

That yellowing was the solvent based enamel doing what solvent based enamels do, particularly anywhere it was not getting direct light, and it is the single most common reason people put off repainting trim work.

What Ultratrim is

Haymes Ultratrim is a water based acrylic enamel built for the jobs that used to be solvent territory. Skirting boards, architraves, internal doors and window trims. You get the hardness and the sheen of an enamel without the smell, the solvents or the yellowing.

It comes in high gloss, semi gloss and low sheen, and it is tinted to order from the stocked range, so it is not only for white trim. Charcoal doors, a soft green on cupboards, whatever the room is asking for.

Why water based is the right call for trims

• It stays the colour you painted it. That is the headline and it is the thing people notice years later.
• It dries quickly, so you can get a second coat on the same day rather than tying up a hallway for a weekend.
• Brushes wash out in the laundry tub. No turps, no rag full of solvent, no disposal problem.
• It is far easier on the nose, which matters when you are painting inside with the family still living there.

Getting a clean finish

Prep does most of the work and it is worth doing properly, which is not the same as obsessing over it. Clean the surface, sand back the gloss on the old paint so the new coat has something to hold onto, fill and sand the chips, and get the dust off.

Then prime to suit the surface, because timber, aluminium and wall board all behave differently and a primer chosen for the material is what stops you seeing the problem come back through.

Two coats. The second one is where the job is won or lost, because that is the coat people rush when they are nearly finished. Take your time, keep a wet edge, and work along the length of the board rather than in patches.

A decent brush is worth more here than it is on a wall. A cutting in brush for the edges and a wider one for the flat, and clean them properly afterwards, because a brush that gets looked after paints better than a new one.

What it suits

Freshening up a hallway without doing the whole room. Painting over old varnished trim, which is where the smell used to make people give up before they started. Getting a colour on the trims rather than living with the builder's white.

Shop related products

• Uni-pro 25mm Utility Paint Brush. For cutting in around architraves and window trims.
• Supercraft 63mm Synthetic Paint Brush. The size that suits skirting and door frames.
• Uni-pro 100mm Utility Paint Brush. For flat door faces and getting over ground quickly.
• Uni-pro 5-in-1 Caulk Tool. Scraping, filling and finishing the gaps before you paint them.

Did you know the Ultratrim range is in store and not on the website. High gloss, semi gloss and low sheen, in 500ml, 1, 2, 4 and 10 litre tins, all tinted to order from the range we stock. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf, or come in and we will sort out what you need for the job. There is more in the paint and accessories range online, and the paint mixing page has the rest of it.

Read next

• What is the difference between high gloss and semi gloss enamel?
• Preparing a room for painting, a basic guide
• Three finishes to consider when painting your bedroom

Trim work is the job that makes a room look finished, and it is the one everybody leaves until last.

Candeece

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