This is a fully water-based acrylic satinwood and is suitable for interior woodwork. As it contains no alkyd at all, it will never discolour or turn yellow. Available in white and in 2.5 or 5L from verious suppliers. Click here to see latest prices.
WRX Trade Satinwood is touch dry after an hour and recoat after 6 hours, meaning it is possible to apply more than one coat in a day. As with all products of this type, it will carry on curing for a week or so after you’ve applied the paint. This is my WRX Trade Satinwood review, I hope you enjoy it.
Application
No need to dilute this product as it is already loose. Just make sure you give it a good stir before you start. You’ll find WRX Trade Satinwood flies on!! Very quick and easy to apply. Another bonus is you don’t get pesky ninja runs (if you’re used to water-based paints, you’ll understand). The only downside is the paint is a little tricky to cut in with, but this is true of almost all products of this type.
Spraying WRX Satinwood
I thought I’d do a separate section for spraying, which I do on around 60% of my domestic jobs. I honestly don’t think there is an easier satinwood to spray than WRX. It’s very forgiving when you apply too much in one pass, and it atomises particularly well. I think this is down to its high acrylic content. You can even use WRX with a very cheap sprayer and still get great results.
The Performance and Overall Finish
I can honestly say WRX Trade Satinwood is one of the best water-based satins I have ever used. You can apply it directly to old oil-based gloss (with proper prep) and it will pass a scratch test within a couple of hours. Opacity is alright for a water-based satin. Two coats is all you normally need over previously painted surfaces, but sometimes you need a third. Just get it on nice and thick.
The product doesn’t sag or run too much, so you can get away with being generous. It goes for miles too! Another plus point is the finish; The colour is a proper brilliant white which looks awesome!! Oh, and WRX satinwood is it is tough!! I mean very tough!! You can have every confidence the finish will stand up to scuff marks and constant cleaning.
The only real negative is it does craze over caulk, so you need to spot-prime before you start. If the surface is heavily discoloured, you will need a primer of some description for opacity reasons. I tend to use a coat of water-based undercoat to start, followed by a coat of WRX satinwood.
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Review Summary
WRX Trade Satinwood Review - Decorator's forum UK
A water-based satinwood designed for use on interior woodwork and other trim.
Product Brand: WRX Trade
4.5
Pros
- Fully water-based (contains no alkyd oil at all).
- Very easy to apply.
- Great adhesion.
- Amazing durability.
- Short cure time.
- Sprays better than almost anything.
- Self-undercoating.
- Doesn’t sag.
Cons
- Opacity isn’t the best, so an undercoat may be required when trying to achieve a colour change.
- It crazes over caulk, so spot prime first.
Best Tools to Apply WRX Satinwood
WRX Satinwood is easy to apply providing you use good quality tools. There are several brush and roller options you could go for. The trick to applying a paint like this is to load it on, so you need a brush with a relatively thick stock and a roller that will apply a generous coat to large flat areas. I’ll give you my recommendations.
Purdy Monarch Elite XL is my ‘go to’ brush for WRX Satinwood. You’ll find it holds loads of paint, strikes a sharp line, and ‘lays off’ very nicely. Available online here.
As for the roller, the Hamilton Perfection mini roller (Green) take some beating. You can match it up with the standard size mini roller arm. They hold loads of paint and seem to go for miles. Available online here.
If you liked this blog, why not check out our full WRX Trade paint review.
FAQs
What does self-undercoating mean?
Self-undercoating just means that you can apply a paint to a previously painted surface without the need to first apply an undercoat. A lot of satinwood products, including WRX, are self-undercoating.
Why does satinwood paint crack?
Satinwood can crack if you have painted over a contaminant, or if there’s poor adhesion between satinwood and surface. Sometimes it can crack over decorators caulk too.
What are the disadvantages of satinwood?
There are none really. It leaves a contemporary finish, and most modern satinwood products don’t discolour.
What paint do builders use for skirting boards?
Usually a water-based satinwood of some description, but builders are a law unto themselves. They can use a real mix of products.
What Other Decorators Think About WRX Satinwood
WRX Satinwood in Action
Mike Cupit explains his favourite satinwood.
After being sent this WRX satinwood to try from The Decorators Forum UK, I thought I’d give it ago. I had much trepidation because it was a brand I’d never heard of.
WRX Trade Satinwood is a fully water-based acrylic satinwood which is suitable for interior woodwork only. It contains no alkyd in it at all so, it should never turn yellow. Available online and several other paint outlets. Click here to see online prices.
This satinwood is self-undercoating over old oil-based coatings, touch dry after an hour and recoat after 6 hours, meaning it is possible to apply more than one coat in a day. As with all products of this type, it will carry on curing for a week or so after you’ve applied the paint.
Application;
I was asked to try this out by spray and rather than using my airless, Idecided to put it through my Qtech Q5.
I found it quite thin straight from the tin. Almost like Caparol NAST Pu Satin, if you have tried that? I was worried that because it was thin, I’d have difficulties with runs like I do with products like Aqua Guard from Johnstone’s. However, this wasn’t the case. I didn’t get a single run with the WRX satinwood. I was very impressed.
I did add 5% water to it anyway, although the tin didn’t mention anything about spraying.
The WRX also dried to touch within 45 minutes.
It recommends 6 hours between coats, but with it being a warm day I only allowed 4 hours.
I did a scratch test after the first coat on top of Caparol Haftprimer in one section and Teknos Futura Primer for the main staircase. The WRX was absolutely solid after one coat!!
I did a further coat, and the whiteness is astounding.
Toughness is on a par with Scuff X Satin in my view, but at a much cheaper price.
Would I use it again? Yes is my answer, although I do like the ability of paints lately to be used inside and out, so I can keep stock to a minimum. However, this is a premium product for a reasonable price. The finish is spectacular, as is the durability. It just flies on too!!
Thanks for the review Mike.
Look forward to your update regarding durability.
Great gear this, knocks spots of main brands which are all pretty poor coverage. Dulux Diamond satin is absolutely terrible coverage and small runs just seem to appear out of nowhere…
This goes on nice n quick too.
My go 2 satin now.
Leyland trade Satinwood is also a nice quality product! My go to for water based 👍 but will give this a go!
I found that 2 coats, over old yellowed white, definitely was not enough. There’s no way I could have left it with only 2 coats and put my invoice in. I would have been ashamed. It definitely needed 3 coats.
Is it good enough to paint over pre-primed skirting?
Or is a undercoat still recommended?
WRX product information says, “For first-time painting on raw surfaces, consider using a wood stain as a base coat.”
Err whaaa?! 🤯
haha, I think there’s an issue with the translation there.