Valspar paint: is it any good?

[Fuckedoffat48b]

We need to repaint a whole house we have just bought. There is a B&Q 15 minutes walk from the house which does Valspar paint mixing and colour matching. The only option for Dulux paint mixing locally is the notoriously expensive decorators merchant or a Homebase quite a lot further afield.

Is Valspar really ok, or is it worth doing Dulux? And if so is it worth paying for their V700 over their V500 (we are expecting our first baby in November)?

I rate valspar. I took in f&b sample colours to match and they did them lovely. We’ve gone for v700 in toy room and dd bedroom and v500 everywhere else. Tbh I’m not sure it’s worth the extra for v700 as I’ve wiped marks off the other walls no problem.
It’s decent, covered well with just 2 coats of a light paint over a dark wall.

Valspar is known problem paint due to B&Q denying responsibility for the cat piss smell and blaming customers on shody work and improper wall priming.

Search valspar paint and cat piss in any Search format you like and read the trade and public reviews of a horror paint.

Just Google Valspar reviews. It gets terrible, terrible reviews. It is the worst paint I've ever used. Don't waste your money, just do some research.

I did have the cat piss problem with Valspar but to give them their due, they
Offered compensation straight away.

We didn’t have the cat piss smell issue (but decorated before we actually moved in so may not have noticed it) but the quality was very poor. Wouldn’t use it again

I think valspar is great personally. I’ve never used top of the range paint but would definitely rate it above Dulux. We’re currently repainting our house using it.

Just used v700 and it is very good!

And we have used V500 in all but the heaviest use areas where we have used V700, and the quality and finish of both seems the same. It’s just that the V700 is supposedly better for wipeability.

I used valspar, I thinking was the 700 one. I have used it in 3 different areas of our home, one of which is the busy hallway. I did all this having not read any of the reviews. My paint had no smell, certainly no bad odour. It was gorgeous paint to use, went on beautifully. I always used dulux or crown, then in later years used f & b foe a while. But for durability and what I call scrub-a- bility I can't fault valspar paint. I don't know whether they make different sorts? Or whether the formulations have changed, but I've honestly never had any problems. I'd definitely choose it again. And at my local store they were so fab at mixing paint to mat h other colours and other brands. Its not cheap though ( the premium one) if you compare it to duly or crown.

I've repainted our house using the v700.
It goes on well. Needed two coats only.
Cleans well and I preferred the range of colours it came in. I also had a colour specially mixed to match a wallpaper and it's beautiful! And definitely no strange smells.

I've never had a problem with smell.
However it's not as wipable as it cracks itself up to be. It's easy to wipe light smudges and marks off, but deliberate pen or pencil scribble doesn't come off that well even with a magic eraser. I think it was tested on well behaved kids.

My honest experience? It’s shit!

I wanted 5 litres of paint to do a small room. I knew I could do it easily with that amount as I had painted it three times over the years.

Picked up a tin of Dulux Heritage 2.5 litre in B & Q but it was the only one they had, and I really wanted that colour.

“Oh we can match that” says the assistant and it will work out a lot cheaper, so I get talked into buying 5 litres of Valspar.

Not only did it stink, the coverage was terrible and I had to do three coats so ran out of paint.

Had to go back to buy more but they hadn’t kept a record of the mix/sale (an error apparently) so they ended up taking the dregs out of the tin, painting it on a bit of paper and drying it with a fucking hairdryer (I kid you not) then matching that.

Buying another 2.5 litres meant it worked out way more expensive than if I’d bought the smaller quantity (much better quality) Dulux Heritage. So much for saving money!! Not to mention all the to-ing and fro-ing!

Then when I got it home and finished painting the room it was a noticeably different shade! It annoys me every time I look at it!

Finally, it is not at all durable. Ever the lightest knock, scratch or scrape will remove paint.

It’s not been a year since it was done and I’m going to have to redo it.

No. Go to decorators merchant tell them you are doing a whole house and ask for a discount card. Valspar is expensive and horrible, after the third or fourth streaky thin coat you will be kicking yourself.

Tried it when we did the MN test, then DH was mugged into buying it again to paint dark blue, it was beyond awful.

Don't homebase still mix dulux? Or try a cheaper trade brand eg Leyland, Albany, Johnstone, or ready mix Dulux, well anything that's not Valspar. Cheap paint is a false economy if there ever was one.

I've used valspar for a few different rooms, in light and dark colours. It didn't smell bad and it covered really well, though I don't think it went as far as some other brands as it's quite thick. Obviously it's not a patch on F&B, but I much prefer it to Dulux, etc.

I typically find it much easier to apply than farrow and ball and the coverage of imperfections is much better. I did one side of a door in Valspar and the other in Farrow and Ball and the Valspar is much better. I have had a problem recently, but think that is due to the very hot weather, or trying to apply with brushes that are not 100% dry. I have certainly not had a problem with smell.

I’ve used it in a child’s bedroom and I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s doesn’t apply well, it’s thick and plasticky but needed 3 coats at least and that was a dark colour.
Prefer Crown, Dulux or F&B.

Ok, Ive been warned! Will look at Dulux and the other more expensive ones if they have a particular colour I want. What is the best type of Dulux paint then, for walls that may face some wear and tear in coming years?

We’ve just done most of our house in matt v700 colour matched to F&B. Impressed so far. Brinjal, Inchyra Blue, Hardwick white and Pigeon have all matched beautifully and the finish is pretty indistinguiable. Can’t comment on durability as only a few days in but took only 2 coats to get a good coverage, and decorators seemed fine with using it. In contrast, the Dulux kitchen paint we’ve used I’m less impressed with as the colour seems much less rich in tone and depth. That said, the finish is fine.

I think you'd better get a few tester tins to try out after all this conflicting advice! Most ranges do an extra durable paint.

The decorator centre will mix you a decent 200ml tester of Dulux and Valspar testers are mixed to order anyway.

I just felt the Vslspar was kind of insubstantial and plastic, although thick in the tin (presumably to reduce drips) it didn't really cover. Like fat free artificially thickened yoghurt vs full fat creamy yoghurt.

See here.....

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/aliceinscandiland.com/2018/04/04/living-room-update-from-almost-finished-to-totally-undone/amp/

Strange isn't it, how we all have such different experiences.

After the Valspar incident - I painted an entire massive hall and landing with the same amount of Dulux trade paint, as it took of Valspar to do a small bedroom.

The difference is quality was not imagined - from consistency, coverage, how it went on, to the finished article.

Maybe I was just unlucky. Maybe they didn't mix mine right or something, maybe I picked the wrong colour - but the difference between the two painting projects was night and day. And I bought the premium version on the assistant's recommendation.

I can only go on my own experience, and would never use Valspar again, but others here seem to have done ok with it, so who knows?

We did one room in it and I was quite impressed with the coverage - we were going over a wall painted basically a very dark brick red and it only took a couple of coats - I was expecting to be there forever doing it.

Covers carpet nicely as well after DH spilt 1/3 of the tin of it onto the kids' bedroom carpet! Took bloody days to get the worst of it off and there's still a strategically positioned rug hiding it!