Does white oil paint yellow?

Hi

I recently read on a design blog I follow that she had a terrible time with white oil paint (on her wood trim) turn yellow within a short period (less than 2 years). We are beginning to start painting next week and plan on painting all the trim with white oil paint from dulux.

Does anyone know how true this is/experienced this?

Thanks.

Can't see Dulux paint doing this, more likely that the substrate was the problem, perhaps painting on top of a stain, or untreated timber.

Ed

Some enamel paints do yellow over time... Dulux Aquanamel doesn't (but it's a water based enamel which may have something to do with it?). What Ed said may be right though also, it may be the natural colour, tannin, of the wood coming through the paint.

yes white oil paint does go yellow, water based paint doesnt. This is worse when the rooms dont see any natural light.
Can yo confirm if the rooms are naturally dark??

Also if the paint was mixed with too much turps this can also make it go more yellow apparently.

This is the information i got from my paint rep who is also the techinical rep for the region.

The whole thing came from this post - you can see just how yellow it became!

http://aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.com/20 ... llows.html

My apartment is naturally dark so this likely to be a big problem. Is there such a thing as high gloss water based paint or is there only semi gloss?

What the?! I've never seen anything like that pic. Surely it depends on the paint? And the only thing i thought would cause white paint to yellow is UV.....but that's not the case if it's yellowing in the dark. Fascinating. I have used enamel in shades of white (antique white, berkshire white etc) for at least 8 years now & am yet to see this.
Paints like Dulux Aquanamel do come in high gloss, i believe. I tried water based "enamel" once but it's just not as glossy & hardwearing & doesn't have the finish of a high quality enamel paint IMO.

Dulux Aquanamel = water based.

Yeah, i know. Used it before but it's not the same gloss level as premium oil-based.

I've been using white enamel paint on woodwork trims for over 13 years and yes, it definitely goes yellow, regardless of how well prepared or new the timber is. I have read that a way to help eliminate this is to use a drop of black pigment in it, but I'm not sure if it is true, or a myth!

Fortunately, in my old house, the walls were darker than the trim, so it didn't look obviously yellow until we painted with fresh white enamel again. Mum and Dads 4 year old unit has white enamel trim, and on the inside of wardrobes that never see sun have slightly yellowed already...

My white enamel paint went yellowish also in my other house.

I can definitely confirm that white gloss enamel will go yellow so beware. I built a new house and the white gloss enamel on our doors was yellowing after only 12 months and looked horrible! It looked like nicotine stain which was just awful! (We don't smoke.) I had a rep out to tell me that all white gloss enamels will do it, particularly if it is OUT of the UV light. Which was right because it was mainly on our cavity sliding doors which were nearly always open (therefore in the wall cavity) so not ever seeing much light. But he explained that if we closed those doors regularly and let the light get to them, that it could fade the yellow and go back to white. I can't tell you if this works though because we have now sold to build again, but he assured me that it does depend on the light that it sees. (And when we moved out, I removed my daughters name from her bedroom door which were wooden letters stuck on with blue-tac, and it left a complete shadow of her name there in YELLOW!) So when we build our next place, lesson learned - we're staying away from white to save the hassles. White doesn't look any good unless it is white.

Thank you for all commenting. I think we are going to stick with aqua enamel. The apartment is quite dark because of trees outside blocking natural light. I don't see the point in making a decision where I know the outcome will not be favorable.

Hi gugs,
Non-water based paint will yellow, no matter what room ambient or underlying timber or anything else.
Luckily, these days the water based paints are fabulous. They are also available for external use.
White water based paint will not yellow and is also easy to work (and sleep ) with (not smelly).
I used water based for all our internal and external trims, doors and windows. It was like brand new some 8-9 years after painting (and then we demolished the house). Plus, I used one of the cheapest paints available - Performer from Kmart and it's fanstastic.
I don't understand why would people even consider non-water based paints these days. Our friends did a major reno and their painter did all wooden stuff in oil based paints. After some short time, it all started to yellow and it really looks dated and spoils their clean modern look.

Of course it goes yellow!! Aquanamel wont yellow, isnt a true enamel, but will perform very close to it.

If you decide to go for a true enamel, make sure its on the exterior of your house as UV light will naturally "bleach" it and it will maintain its whiteness, inside a house UV light wont be at a high enough level to maintain its vivid whiteness.

Bet you had to dig deep for this post builderbob, it’s nearly a year old!