Is 'trade' paint that much better?

N9eav

Yesterday I bought white vinyl Matt for the walls. Dulux was £11.99 on sale and McPherson 'Trade' was £26.99. Some trade paints were almost £50 for the same amount.


Both stated they covered 13-14 m2 per litre.


Why is Trade paint better and would I notice the difference. Dulux looked fine to me now its done.

Ebe_Scrooge

Sorry to hijack, but I'm interested in this as well. I'm looking to paint all my exterior woodwork on the house soon, and was chatting to one of my neighbours who's just done his. He used some stuff that was about £50 a tin, but it claims to last for ten years without any further treatment required. If that's true then I reckon it's worth it - not having to get up on ladders again to do the soffits etc. for another 10 years :-) But part of me is also a bit skeptical. Any experience / advice would be useful.

London50

http://www.duluxdecoratorcentre.co.uk/advice/trade_retail_paint.jsp

phill99

I run a property maintenance company and we doa lot of decorating. We have stopped customers supplying their own paints now as they end up buying shops own brands or retail paints. These are designed for the DIY market and are made down to a price and not up to a quality.

Trade paints are much thicker, have higher opacity and better coverage. Retail paints are always thinner and will require 3 or 4 coats to cover rather than the typical 2 coats of trade paints.

When a homeowner is doing his own decorating, it doesn't matter how many coats he has to apply as his time is free. But if you get a pro in and they have allocated 2 days to a room but end up having to do 4 coats of cheap paint, then sonebody will end up paying.

Furts

N9eav wrote: »

Yesterday I bought white vinyl Matt for the walls. Dulux was £11.99 on sale and McPherson 'Trade' was £26.99. Some trade paints were almost £50 for the same amount.


Both stated they covered 13-14 m2 per litre.


Why is Trade paint better and would I notice the difference. Dulux looked fine to me now its done.

I would not be buying the MxcPherson simply because of the availability of Leyland trade paints. There are local decorator depots for these in competition with the same product in Screwfix, Toolstaion and B&Q Tradepoint. Hence keen prices and promotions.

A 12 litre of contract Matt was £16+vat at Tradepoint when I last looked. This makes it vastly better value than retail Dulux at £11.99 for what was probably 10 litres, but may have been only 5 litres.

sk240

The answer to your question is yes, trade paints are better than DIY quality paints.
with Dulux trade if you do a proper job, you can do it in only one coat.


I wont buy DIY quality paint again.

Sheldor

Agree with the above post all the way. Dulux trade on bare plaster did it in one coat plus a watered down plaster wash coat. Dulux from hombase did it in two coats plus the wash coat. Valspar from b&q was so awful - it comes off right to the plaster even if you put the gentle glue blue masking tape on it and it reacts with the metal reinforced corners and doesn't cover them properly even though they're under the plaster!
Plus remember every coat you add to the wall adds texture too. I have completely bodged my white kitchen by not using dulux trade in the first place. The only way to improve it is to sand it back to the plaster again. You live and learn!

daveyjp

As regards cost of trade paints, the trade account holders get discounts not generally available to members of the public.

We have Dulux trade and Leyland throughout our property and i would happily use either again.

N9eav

Thanks for the information. I would never buy the cheapest paints, but wondered if it was worth the extra for trade paint. The Dulux covered magnolia in 2 coats, but I would be sceptical if trade covered it in one.

sk240

The trade paint will cover in one coat, as long as your methodical with the painting.
I did in no problem at all.

Xeorix

Don't forget their trade gloss either. We're using that and you can get away with one coat. Lots of people how said how crisp white it is with a deep shine when compared to the standard DIY stuff.

It's probably worth a mention that the lesser known paints compare to the branded trade stuff and not to their DIY range. For example, Little Greene paint is of an exceptional quality. I'd probably put it up there with the trade diamond stuff from Dulux