It’s no secret that professional painters and decorators use different paint than the average DIYer. Trade paint is typically more opaque, has better flow and allows for a much better finish, in fewer coats, than retail paint.
This benefits professionals as it means they can finish jobs in a shorter amount of time and of course allows them to achieve the highly professional finish clients expect when spending so much money on someone to do the job.
Fortunately for professionals, they usually qualify for discounts whilst buying in bulk also means that the price difference to retail paint per litre is negligible.
Nevertheless, if you’re keen to redecorate your home and want to use the highest quality paints available, you might be wondering what specific paints professionals use.
Below, we’ve listed some of the most popular paints used in the trade but bear in mind that like a lot of things in life, none of the choices is ever unanimous as different pros prefer different qualities in their paint.
What emulsion paint do professionals use?
For painting walls, professionals will generally use:
- Dulux Diamond Matt
- Johnstone’s Acrylic Durable Matt
- Tikkurila Optiva 3
For ceilings:
- Tikkurila Anti-Reflex 2
- Macpherson’s Eclipse
- Dulux Trade Supermatt
In bathrooms or kitchens, some professionals will actually use Easycare which is one of Dulux’s retail paints.
What eggshell paint do professionals use?
Professional painters tend to use the following eggshell paints on walls:
- Johnstone’s Durable Acrylic Eggshell
- Armstead Durable Acrylic Eggshell
For woodwork:
- Johnstone’s Trade Eggshell
- HMG Eggshell
- Isomat Isolac Eggshell
What satinwood paint do professionals use?
Interestingly, there are many great satinwood paints on the market but the pick of the bunch for professionals is:
- Johnstone’s Aqua Satin
- Crown Fast Flow
- Scuff-X Satinwood
- Dulux Diamond Satinwood
What gloss paint do professionals use?
Many professionals are split in their choice of gloss paint with some preferring smoother oil-based gloss whilst others prefer the non-yellowing properties of water-based gloss. Professionals tend to use the following gloss paints:
- Dulux Weathershield (exterior)
- Sandtex Flexi Gloss (exterior)
- Johnstone’s Aqua Gloss (interior)
- Bedec Aqua Advanced Gloss (interior)
- Tikkurila Everal Aqua Gloss (interior and exterior)
What masonry paint do professionals use?
Some masonry paints that professionals use include:
- Dulux Trade Weathershield Smooth Masonry Paint
- Sandtex (smooth or textured)
- HQC Masonry Paint
What fence paint do professionals use?
Interestingly, many professional decorators opt for masonry paint such as the ones above to paint fences as it typically offers more protection than retail fence paints and is cheaper than trade fence paints.
As well as the masonry paints above, professionals will also use:
- Tikkurila Ultra Pro 30 (this is super expensive)
- HMG Shed and Fence Paint
- Cuprinol Ducksback
- Johnstone’s Shed and Fence Paint
- Sadolin Superdec
What paint do professionals use on plastic?
Universal paints are typically the ones a professional would use on plastic after priming of course. Some of these paints, as well as plastic-specific paints include:
- Zinsser Allcoat
- Kolorbond
Most trade-standard glosses will also work on plastic but be sure to check first.
Final Thoughts
If you’re planning to use retail paint and some of the product names on here have you scared – there’s really no need to worry! Whilst the paints on this list are better quality than retail paints, retail paints will still get the job done but as a rule of thumb, the cheaper the price, the more coats you’ll probably need to apply.
Also bear in mind that professional decorators want to apply as few coats as possible as they won’t typically have the time available to be putting 3 or 4 coats on.