Dulux Once - any good?

shaftesbury76 · 3 May 2006 at 8:32AM

As a professional decorator of 25 years my best money saving tip is this when buying materials for decorating,go to your local Dulux Decorator Centre and purchase all you need from there.This is because of the following reasons,for a start the paint you buy there eventhough it is still made by dulux it is of better quality because it is trade paint and it is thicker ,because it is thicker it covers better and it is nearly always cheaper than any retail store.Eventhough it is a trade depot anybody can purchase from there you do not have to be in the trade,and you also get nectar points.If you are lucky to have an ex decorator working in your local store you also get free advice if not ask any decorator who happens to be buying while you are there,most decorators are more than happy to pass on tips etc

jayne_just_learning · 3 May 2006 at 9:30AM

Just add my piece to this debate. Over the last year I've decorated virtually all my house. First rooms were done with wickes Trade paint which was very thin and needed doing 3 times .... won't make this mistake again.

have used Dulux Once on several occasions. Like other posters I have found this to be quite thick and gloopy. I had to be very careful in application to get good coverage and found that the cutting in bits to skirting and coving etc usually had to be done twice. For the last room I did I finally bought a new roller as the others had seen a lot of action. It was a better quality one with a thicker pile and I got far superior results.

If you do go for dulux some of the larger sizes have a floating palstic tray in them so you can use a roller straight into the pot which is very convenient and helps on the clear up time afterwards and wastage too.

Hope this helps

sillybean · 3 May 2006 at 9:47AM

always use an undercoat, esp if your going to put it onto raw plaster! and that expensive plaster undercoat as far as i can tell is watered down emulsion, ive used normal emulsion watered down and its been up for years without flaking or anything. I think because the plaster is so dry and dusty it needs a much more liquid coat to push the dust down and give the next coat something nice to stick to, the water binds the dust on the surface and the 50% emulsion sticks it to the wall, leaving a nice layer for you to paint on.

rubix_76 · 3 May 2006 at 10:01AM

sillybean wrote:

and that expensive plaster undercoat as far as i can tell is watered down emulsion

I have been reliably informed by my non-proffessioal painter sister that using cheapo B & Q value or similar emulsion as an undercoat on walls works well, and is of course much cheaper.

This works particularly well if you are trying to cover a dark colour, I saw a post about a dark RED halway earlier

.

pault123 · 3 May 2006 at 12:58PM

Having just used Dulux once over the bank holiday weekend to paint my blue back bedroom. It took 2 coats, but the first coat covered it very well. Used a roller and a paint brush for the edges.

It does state on the back thought "takes one less coat than other leading brand paints" so i'm not sure if this was the same stuff, it was dulux trade high cover emulsion, without seeing the tin i'm sure it had "once" written on it. Cost £10 for 5 Litres, the room looks great!

Ive been told by a lot of decorators dulux is the best stuff to use, the extra cost gives a longer lasting better finish.

claireak1 · 3 May 2006 at 2:00PM

Dulux Once emulsion is not enough if you would like a proper finish.

It may cover better than a normal paint, satisfying a sloppy-jo, but not your average house-proud decorator

coolsteel · 3 May 2006 at 2:33PM

Regards painting bathroom walls, correct me if im wrong, i did some research on the net and found an oil based paint is best as mould spors cant grow and attach to the surface. Dulux do a paint for bathrooms and kitchens but it is still water based?
Your veiws please
Coolsteel:cool:

claz · 3 May 2006 at 3:24PM

We have just done our front room, OH dad is a builder and we managed to get loads of paint for FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! now thats money saving,:money: go to local building sites and ask becuse a lot of the time they just through them in the skip as it costs to much to move everything

we used it as a base coat but had to give it 3 coats as it was new plaster and then we bought the colour we wanted and that will probably be another 2 coats by the looks of it at the moment

WARNING we used homebase own brand in the hall and it took loads of coats of paint as it was really watery and its still not right

not tried dulex one coat or whatever coz as the saying goes if its too good to be true then it proably is!

sunshine79 · 3 May 2006 at 7:41PM

Yep, Dulux one coat is too good to be true. Used it once (first and last time) Because of the size of the room I needed 2 pots of the stuff, and although I bought the same colour, the two were slightly different shades, when I done some touch ups (because it did not cover in one coat) It looked absolutely awful!
Have moved house since so don't have to look at the distasterous paint job anymore!!:o

agric90 · 4 May 2006 at 6:59AM

I used Dulux Once Gloss (brilliant white) to paint 14 new (primered) doors.
The paint covered OK, but after about 4 months I noticed that 2 doors which were rarely opened were yellowish on the inside. I eventually realised that this was because they were not exposed to light. I confirmed the theory by opening up the part-used tin: the inside walls where the paint had dried were yellow. I closely checked all the doors and found varying shades of yellowish/white, corresponding to how much light fell onto the door. I contacted Dulux and they admitted that this happens. I pointed out that I would not have bought the paint had I known this i.e. it was not of merchantable quality. All they would do was offer vouchers for the paint used - not interested that I had spent hours painting the doors, which now needed repainting.
I also contacted local cosumer protection/trading standards, but they soon gave up.
I have repainted some doors now with Crown - much whiter to start with and much more durable. Don'y waste your time and money with Once.

Dulux Once - any good?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free