On Sep 17, 8:53*am, "Tim W" wrote:

You must _not_ buy your paint from a
retail/diy outlet because even if it is labelled Dulux Weathershield (for
instance) it is water based and a totally different paint to the oil based
trade paint from the trade supplier. The quality of diy paint is always
compromised in order to give it 'marketable' qualities like easy brush
washing or non drip consistency.

You could do a lot worse than seeking out your local trade paint
supplier -- which may be a more difficult exercise than you'd think.
Around here a lot of the painters and decorators actually use local
retail stores to buy their paint,presumably on attractive terms. That
allows them to direct individual clients to the retail store in
question to see wallpaper patterns etc. And significant numbers also
use the paint manufacturers' "trade centres" -- where increasingly
they sell to the public as well -- at an exorbitant price.

I was asked today to pick up an order at the local Dulux Trade
Centre. Almost £50 for five litres of emulsion paint. All I can
say is that I certainly would not even think of buying there for
myself.

Running a caravan site we have trade accounts with a number of
suppliers of various sorts. Our fire extinguisher contract is with a
company who also (interesting combination of interests!) run the best
trade paint centre in the area. I've been dealing with them for
thirty years. Their fire-extinguisher maintenance charges are
approximately half the cost of the big "national" companies and the
whole exercise is trouble-free. Their paint prices are about a third
of the price of the big names and the materials they supply are always
fit for the job. And they do the whole range -- automobile and
agricultural as well (just in case you want to repaint your little
grey Fergie in exactly the authentic shade!). No fancy showroom -- no
showroom of any sort. Just a trade counter. And they're quite happy
to supply over it to anyone -- though we obviously have an account
with them anyway. Companies like that are worth their weight in
gold.