An overwhelming variety of paints are now available on the market. Even when considering a white interior emulsion from a single manufacturer the options can be extremely confusing, with little guidance in a concise form on any website I could find. One such dilemma is the choice between Dulux Trade Matt Emulsion.

A quick look around will confirm the options:

  • Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt (or as one customer called it, Vinly Slick)
  • Dulux Trade Supermatt
  • Dulux Trade Diamond Matt

There is also the non trade line but I will not bother with those as this question would most likely arise in the trades. So here goes:

Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt: Is called so because it has plastics added to increase durability, especially when surface is wiped down and cleaned in the future. Although it is not completely resistant, it will take a bit more abuse that a non vinyl paint. Extremely good opacity.

Dulux Trade Supermatt: This is paint that has the new build in mind, or at least new plaster. This paint can be applied to plaster which is still drying. Reason being, there is no vinyl quality to this paint, no plastic so to speak. Therefore it remains more porous and the plaster can continue to breath beneath.

Dulux Trade Diamond Matt: The tough one of the bunch! Have kids and painting the hallway walls? This is the one for you, advertised as being 10x tougher. I can believe it when I use it. You really feel like you are painting on a layer of vinyl. Although credit to Dulux, it goes on well and you certainly would not know.

So here is a scenario to highlight the differences: You are doing a job and its a hallway, stairs and landing. The plasterers have just finished. The chippy has been in to hang all the doors, fit skirting board and architrave etc.

Firstly you paint all the bare plaster (ceiling and walls), in Supermatt, mixed to a proportion of water. This would be more that 30% but not more than 50% depending mostly on preference. I would say that over 30% is fairly safe, as in it will soak into the plaster rather than create a layer which will just peel off. Especially important to use the Supermatt where plaster has not quite dried, due to the porous qualities mentioned earlier. We can use Supermatt or Vinyl Matt for the last two coats on the ceiling, some recommend a final coat of the Vinyl.

We then paint all the walls with one coat of Vinyl Matt. This give a great opacity and covers very well. Then a second coat where we want to finish with this paint.

The customer has specified that she has a dog and three children, they want the very best for their new home and are looking for durability, they dont want to be calling you back to touch up in 6 months because all the walls in the immediate hallway are dirty and the paint is worn where it has been wiped down so mny times. So we apply Diamond Matt on the two walls in the hallway and continue the up the stairs.

This is just an example to delineate the different qualities of the paints. Hope this provides a basic understanding of the differences. The Dulux site has extensive information on these paints but no comparative data.

Article originally published at Source by Roger C Heaton