emulsion

[mint]

Is there nowadays an emulsion that works well, doesn't cost the earth and can be bought locally?

It's a few years since I have had to buy emulsion and I wonder whether the French does a decent one these days?

Thanks

[Quillan]

Got to say that it has got worse over the years with respect to covering ability. Seems to me the 'old' style emulsion has been watered down as has the single coat stuff but at least with the latter you only need two coats. It is almost like the single coat stuff is how the old 'normal' stuff used to be. The last lot of paint I bought locally from Mr Bricolage and I quite like Leroy Merlin paint. A good roller is also quite important, no need to wash between coats just wrap it well in a plastic bag so the air can't get to the actual roller. If you're painting over new plaster or plasterboard for the first time buy the cheapest white paint you can get and put a couple of coats on first before doing your colour. Some say water the first coat down but with the cheep stuff I don't bother.

[Loiseau]

The wooly one bought a large tin of Dulux brilliant white emulsion recently, in slightly upscale Monsieur Bricolage.

It was not that cheap - but in paint I think you probably get what you pay for. It is pretty thick, so could be slightly diluted. I have applied it to a wall, and can report that it has excellent covering quality.

Angela

[mint]

Thanks, Q.  It's as I feared, no improvement in the quality of the emulsion then.

Initially, I have to do a dressing room so not too time-consuming or expensive.  Then, however, I have to do a kitchen cum dining room so that could cost a fair bit.

I don't mind doing 2 coats but anything more than that would be truly punishing for me.  I use a small roller as I then have better control but hell's bells I am now several years older than when I last did any emulsioning![+o(]

[Quillan]

The problem with the 4 to 5" rollers is the actual roller. They are not really designed to cover large areas and the material they are made from is often different to the specific rollers for the type of surface you are painting. Using them to go behind radiators, there most common use normally does not require a good finish, just paint on the wall that few will ever see. My problem is 'cutting' in due to alcohol abuse in my youth probably. [;-)] More recently I have taken to using masking tape.

[Loiseau]

Mint, I snuck in between Q's and your reply to recommend one...

[Chancer]

A couple of times a year Lidl stock the Baufix German emulsion paint and it is superb, absolutely no comparison with the rubbish sold elsewhere.

Compared to them its a bargain also at €15 for 11 litres but they have got Wind of its popularity, the price had gone up last time, the same paint sold in the UK comes in a smaller 10 litre tin so is not quite the bargain it appears to be.

[idun]

Castoramas own used to be the same as B&Q's own, which is OK and

probably takes two coats. Last I used I think was Ripolin and that was

OK.

The Dulux I bought, top of the range and really

expensive, was horrible, absolutely horrible, it covered, but when

finished the finish was not nice. Drove me mad. I cannot say my

technique was at fault, because I do all the painting and never had that

problem before or since.

I suppose that I would go for Tollens, or Casto's own and give it a try. Try in the dressing room, you'll soon see what they are like before starting on the big job.

And paint, I do not think that you can even imagine how bad they used to be, and even if they are bad now, surely cannot be as bad as in the olde days. I put four or five coats on my living room walls and it still wasn't good. Looked like milky water in the tin and dripped it's way on just as badly. Was not cheap either. NOW when I complained I was told, a la francais, with their shoulders back and head held high that one got a better finish with lots of coats and that is how it should be!

Good job I was young then and had the energy to do all those coats, just the thought of it fills me with dread now.

[lindal1000]

The best paint we had recently was sourced via our artisan friend from his paint supplier, who got us the trade price. More expensive than Dulux (just) but 100 times better and covered evenly and smoothly in two coats.

[mint]

Thank you for all your responses and at least I now know that I will need to resign myself to at least 2 coats...........sigh.......

 

[Théière]

[quote user="lindal1000"]The best paint we had recently was sourced via our artisan friend from his paint supplier, who got us the trade price. More expensive than Dulux (just) but 100 times better and covered evenly and smoothly in two coats.[/quote]

Now, 100 times better but it still took two coats?  I have never needed more than two coats of Dulux but your new paint (unnamed) was still more expensive than Dulux, I am confused where the 100 times better bit is? [8-)]

[Quillan]

I bought some Dulux white satin paint last year to paint a ceiling and it just didn't cover even after four coats and this is in France with French Dulux paint.

Thirteen years ago I bought four 10ltr tins of Dulux satin white paint over from the UK as reading the forum I was led to believe French paint was rubbish. Our bathroom and toilet here were painted half way up the walls and across the ceiling in maroon (don't ask!). I used a whole 10 ltr tin on the bathroom and could still see the maroon coming through. I was in Leroy Merlins to buy a bathroom suite and picked up a can of their paint to try in the toilet to see just how 'bad' it was, well it covered the maroon in two coats. Sadly Leroy Merlin changed suppliers for their house paint a few years back and since it is not as good.

So the Dulux seems to be the same both in France and the UK. I guess if you are painting an already white ceiling you may be OK but to be honest unless painting a 'strong' colour I wouldn't use Dulux. If you look on our website at the room Lavender thats Dulux paint over a light blue paint. Supposed to be one coat and it was on what I would consider really white with a touch of blue, it still took two coats. I just painted Sauge with an almost (slightly lighter) green which I bought from Mr Bricolage for just over 23 Euros for 2.5 ltr single coat in the sale and it was OK but still took two coats.

[lindal1000]

Exactly Quinlan..the Dulux we bought recently to do the ceilings was rubbish. Nothing like the Dulux I remember of old. It took 3-4 coats to cover completely and even then it was patchy. The new stuff was like the emulsion I remember using in the past. If you're technique is good it covers in one go..otherwise you need the second coat just to cover the bits you missed.

The name of the paint we used was Aquaryl satin by Unikalo if that means anything to anyone.

[Théière]

Thanks and yes the name is always useful to others as well. I am spoilt as I use the UK Dulux trade which leaves the others in it's wake. Q you should try undercoat to obliterate the background colour, with reds there is often some bleed through, just painted out that 1980' crimson so I am feeling your pain.

[PaulT]

Angela, reading your earlier post, so WB bought it and you had to apply it.

[idun]

mint, I feel pretty sure that you have worked out that I am a bit odd. But I have to tell you this, that I have got away with one coat of casto's own paint on many occasions, the reason being that I usually paint at night. Now I have been taquiner a lot for this, but when it is dark, I simply take my time and it only needs one coat. The good thing about painting at night is that light never changes at all, and I steadily get my painting done, as I find it easier to see if I have missed a bit too.

When I was young and full of energy, I'd put all those coats on during the day, but in the last 15 maybe 20 years as I say, I paint at night, quite happily.

I don't buy dulux paint anymore, I prefer Crown in the UK.

[mint]

.[quote user="idun"]

I don't buy dulux paint anymore, I prefer Crown in the UK.

[/quote]

Yes, if memory serves, Crown used to have a range called Crown Professional and I loved using it.

And, Q, you are right about Leroy Merlin's own paint.  Lovely, thick, obliterating but I don't know about their recent changes.

I repainted every bit of our large house in Charente Maritime simply because I didn't like the nicotine yellow that the previous owner must have bought as a job lot because all ceilings and walls were in that horrible colour.

It was some task as the walls were very high and the ceilings in every room had poutres apparentes.  I was shinning up and down ladders like a monkey.

Thank goodness, this is a modern house with normal height ceilings and nice, smooth walls.  I shall do the ceilings white and use a pale primrose sort of yellow (think light and bright) for the walls (kitchen and dining and dressing).  Not doing the rest of the upstairs this year because I will have had enough by the time the fitters and carpenters have done their work and gone away.

There is a fancy deco shop in town and I have heard that they have very good (and very expensive) paints so I'll go have a look.

Will report back if I find anything really good.

Lindal, I have made a note of your paint, thanks.

[andyh4]

Well I am amazed, now on to page 3 and no mention of the dreaded L word.

Of course it has risen dramatically in price and is now only half the price of Dulux - and just as good IMHO.

[Chancer]

[quote user="andyh4"]Well I am amazed, now on to page 3 and no mention of the dreaded L word. Of course it has risen dramatically in price and is now only half the price of Dulux - and just as good IMHO.[/quote]

Page 1 posting 7.

I cannot say having never paid the price for Dulux Valentine but others who did have said the Lidl paint is much better.

[andyh4]

My apologies Chancer, I missed your post.

I agree totally regarding the quality btw, but I did not want to be too controversial.

[Daft Doctor]

Last year I emulsion painted the whole of the interior of our new house. I used Macphersons Eclipse Emulsion, a trade paint bought in the UK online and delivered to Rhone-Alpes by La Maison Shopping, a specialist delivery service who will for a quote deliver anything to certain areas of France if it can first be delivered to their warehouse in Kent (including Tesco shopping, etc, etc).

Anyway, the paint cost me approx. £30 per 15 litre tub and delivery worked out at a further £10 per tub. It has fantastic coverage and is very 'flat' so very good at hiding imperfections, uneven surfaces, etc. I remember telling the French builder what it had cost including delivery and he simply couldn't believe it. Round this way, Dulux Valentine costs nearly 100 euros for a 10 litre tub, and there wasn't anything else which was anywhere near the quality for the price.

If you either have access by car to the UK or if you live in an area of France served by one of these specialist delivery services, you might want to consider buying your paint in the UK and having it shipped over. If you've a lot to do it could save you a small fortune.

[Chancer]

Crap (and expensive) French paint came up when I was discussing N.F. marking and protectionism with a French builder friend who is always getting me to bring stuff over from the UK or more recently help him wource stuff from elsewhere in Europe.

He said it was brought in after WW2 when the French products which of all types which were unchanged from before the war were woefully Superior to better and cheaper imports, especially from the USA and notably paints and chemical products. I guess its no surprise considering the relative economics of  France, the UK and the USA after the war, teh yanks certainly had a great head start.

However the protectionism in France that resulted, 4 décades of an ingrained mindset that French is best, everything else is rubbish and above all you you must have NF marking has led to the people being conditioned that emulsion paint is weak, watery, doesnt cover and costs €10 per litre.

In latter years of course its enlightened European manufacturers like Germany that have been in the ascendance, the alliance of a paint manufacturer like Baufix and the distribution of Lidl and Aldi gives us a vastly Superior product at close to one tenth of the price.

[ventodue]

Last week, Leroy Merlin was selling 12 litres (10 litres + 2 extra) of Ripolin 'RénovExpress' Matt White Acrylic for 39.90€. 

And it's covering in a single coat (walls not painted in 7 years of tenant occupation, so you can imagine what they're like).  And it doesn't spatter. Can't say fairer than that ....[:)]

Craig

[Chancer]

Tha Baufix was €15 for 11 litres and would cover red fireproof placo in one coat without a sous couche giving total obliteration.

Cant say fairer than that either!

The last time they had put the price up significantly, cant recall how much but it stayed on the shelf, Lidl know their stuff so when it returns it will be at a saleable price.

Aldi have also stocked the paint in the past.

Their plastic floor paint is superb, I have used it on concrete window cills where the paint before could not resist damp winter freezes and also on cast iron downpipes and garde fous, that is also highly recommended, I have a lot of their paints in stock, I think I have also used an exterior metal and wood white paint that quite impressed me.

[idun]

 White paint was always always cheaper. And as I don't like white paint, I used to stick what I thought I needed in a BIG bucket and buy some paint colour and mix up the colour I wanted. In spite of some waste, it was always cheaper than buying 'coloured' paint.