Painting plastic white moulded accessories?

A bit of wisdom from a housing association maintenance contractor, it is cheaper and more effective to buy a new fitting then pay an electrician to swap it to replace a paint covered electrical fitting than it is to pay a labourer to try and clean the paint off an existing one.


Over the last few years I have been paid to replace a lot of painted electrical accessories and have never seen a plastic electrical fitting that has been improved by having been painted.


 Andy B

The answer from a manufacturer is stove epoxy on steel plates with white or black plastic inserts.


My prediction would be that if white plastic accessories are painted they will never look good and will be replaced.


I have seen some amazing attempts to turn things into “bespoke items” such as toilets painted outside and inside down as far as the waterline in black gloss, not just once, but several times, resulting in something that most people look at and wonder who thought it was a good idea.


I used to work for a high end kitchen company and have learnt by experience about touching up and making good paintwork on very expensive painted kitchens using oil and water based eggshell gloss applied by hand on “hand painted” kitchen cabinets that were actually sprayed then the brushed with a dry brush to get the brush marks; also using acid catalyst paints applied by hand and air brush.


Trying to achieve a high end paint finish on site is very demanding. Some years ago I installed the kitchen featured in this article for that customer.  who has now sold the house and moved on. All the cabinets were made and painted in the factory apart from the mantelpiece over the AGA cooker which I made and painted onsite, I also touched up the paintwork on the rest yo the cabinets as required. Given the value of the completed project there is a requirement to be very particular about the painting, because of the difference in the quality of the MDF used I had to use for that mantelpiece it required seven coats of paint to match the depth of finish achieved in the factory on the rest of the cabinets with four coats of paint.


Is asked to paint plastic electrical accessories I would just say no, it’s pointless as the desired outcome is not achievable.


 Andy Betteridge.

Actually there are many homes where the exact opposite has been done,  including one I was in yesterday. 


Rather than painting the light switches Plastic finger plates  have been installed to extend the switch plate to avoid getting finger marks on the surrounding paintwork or wall covering as well as the switch plate itself. 


Andy Betteridge

At the less glamorous end of the market, those plates (not the clear ones obviously) can be pressed into service to conceal a really bad job at trimming the wall paper round the switch,  or even  a total  absence of plaster from when a backbox was cut in. Remove with caution.

re the paint, I agree, just because it is possible, does not make it a good idea.

Jaymack:

whjohnson:

Applying paint to white moulded accessories? Sockets, switches and the like.

Been asked by an interior designer (cushion-thrower) if it would be safe to paint electrical accessories a different colour.

I said I didn't know and would guess that it depended upon the type of paint.

 

Unless the colour is moulded in at the manufacturing stage, the paint will wear and be unsightly ........ the sign of an amateur..


Jaymack

 

Hmm, I will have to remember that when I plaster a wall!

How many times a day do people touch your walls with their fingers?

In addition to installing antimicrobial coated light switches  in many homes and businesses as well as in health care premises light switches are subjected to a regular and intense cleaning regime.


Whilst trying to artistic it is important not to forget the purpose of a light switch, it is intended to be regularly operated by people using their fingers, so will get dirty and will need cleaning.


So any surface finish needs to be able to withstand such soiling and cleaning.


Andy Betteridge 

Interesting, and a new one on me. Reading further into what biocote do, and how it works on their webpages  here  I am now wondering if all the stories of copper and other metal bracelets making folk feel more healthy may actually have been just a bit more than just the placebo effect I had always assumed.

Also makes me wonder if brass doorknobs (copper and zinc) may also have some benefits in terms of not spreading infection as much as white PVC coated aluminium.

I tend to choose the MK Logic plus range of accessories for the same reasons. MK claim they are tested for ”resistance to MRSA, E.Coli, Salmonella and Klebsiella pneumoniae”. 


Regards,


Alan.

Mike mentioned copper, there is a range of Antimicrobial copper electrical accessories