Just seen a mate who is a decorator for the first time in ages, and...

[whiskyowl]

... he told me Dulux Diamond Matt paint (which I have been heartily recommending on his previous say-so) has gone right downhill since the company was sold, and Valspar is now the stuff to get.

Oh good whisky, just after I’d decorated my entire house in the stuff! Hopefully I got an old batch from when it was still decent! Did he tell you what changed??

Oh, we’ve used that recently. Seemed ok.

He's probably organised a deal with the Valspar suppliers. Dulux Diamond is great.

Eh, ok. Sure.

Hmm. Our decorator said he wouldn't do our house if we insisted on Valspar!

Valspar isn't that great tbh. Not half as kid proof as it likes to think it is .

Isn't that the one which smelled Ike cat wee in the summer and people had compensation?

Google Valspar, and all the bad reviews, customers claiming compensation, etc. Really bad stuff. We are currently negotiating a compensation claim with Valspar at this very moment.

I can't honestly believe it myself. I have bought a tin of Dulux diamond matt and I'm going to try it out for myself and see. I really, really don't fancy a house that stinks of cat wee.

I googled and it seems that Dulux in the USA has been sold but not in Europe, so maybe it hasn't changed at all?

Clearly he likes whatever B&Q seem to be stocking.

Dulux have just recently had a product recall for a problem with their paint smelling of cat urine. It's he valspar issue all over again

It seems like the sale happened way back in 2008!! ICI was bought by Akzo Nobel.

I can't find anything about the Dulux recall - do you have a link prusik? What on earth is going on with modern paints??

I’ve used the diamond matte in large quantities in the house a few months ago. No smells of cat wee.

Also I’ve repainted kitchen units with it recently too. Seems to be fine.

windy - is it washable as advertised? One thing this guy said is that he'd used it in his hall and you could really see where it had been washed down!

I haven’t tried yet. But it didn’t wash out of my clothes like normal paint does. Also it took ages to wash off my skin. I’d say it’s pretty tough. It was thicker, more solid going on.

I'm sure there was some sort of eu changes of regulation in the ingredients that meant paint quality has deteriorated.

We’ve used both and we did the entire house in trade diamond matte. But more recently valspar (last night I painted using it and a match of inchyra blue) and have no complaints at all it actually the cover was very good I don’t require a second coat. Perhaps I’m not that fussy!