Undercoat before painting ...

[mrssmooth]

We are slowly redecorating our "new" house (been in 6 months) which is mainly consisting of repainting walls at the moment. I am currently repainting dd1's room a light grey (let's not mention the one orange wall), which was previously a pale yellow colour. I've done two coats of the light grey already, and it needs another coat! Couple of questions:

1. If I had used undercoat before the colour, would it have made any difference?

1. Does everyone use undercoat?

1. Is using undercoat any different from using white emulsion?

(I realise I'm a bit late in asking, but we have plenty of rooms left to paint, so this research may prove very helpful!)

undercoat is used under gloss or other topcoat on wood or metal. It is not usually used on walls. Emulsion is not correct to use on wood or metal.

You can use matt white emulsion, which is fairly cheap, to level the colour and absorbency of a wall, and obliterate the underlying colour, before you apply your finish colour, which may be more expensive.

it depends if your using quality paint and how you apply it.
we use crown matt white on new plaster walls before finishing in f&b ,we use a roller and get a good finish with 2 coats.

Thanks for the replies! I know you have to prime/undercoat wood and metal but I wasn't so sure about walls. I suspect that B&Q paint isn't quality paint then! We have also used Crown and Dulux, but never tried Farrow & Ball (not yet, anyway )