Evening all. I need to buy paint to do up the house, and would be grateful for any recommendations. I've found Italian paint a bit odd in the past. It doesn't seem to behave quite like UK emulsion. In my view it's a false economy to skimp on paint, so what would the Italian equivalent of Dulux be?

Always found Max Myer (?) to be very good, but you need to know what kind you need.

Thanks very much both. I've bought some Max Meyer and it does the job. I couldn't get my head round the choice of four or five different types, but decided to follow my own advice and pick the most expensive. Which is actually cheap compared to Dulux in the UK. So thanks again

Hi, we’ve used max meyer in the past and found it good - why would you water it down though?

I think that all the paint we've bought in Italy needed to watered down. It said so on the tins. You are expected to buy/have another pot to pour the paint into,add water and mix and then paint from that pot. UK paints don't normally need this unless you are painting a 'mist' coat onto new plaster. I'm guessing that UK paint comes ready mixed??

And do not forget that the walls need to breathe to let moisture out as most houses do not have a damp proof course

I think we were told it was because of the tin size i.e. it would be too heavy to carry!

It obviusly depends what you are painting - and whether the substrata need to breathe. If its what you'd bung Dulux on in the UK, a due cotone standard breathable/washable/scrubbable/anti mould will be fine. When given the chance I buy Lidl because its thick and takes one (max two coats) and I dont necessarily dilute it. Most Italian paints are like throwing a bucket of milk on a wall. This is because (as far as I can see) the regional prezzari are calculated by time and not result so you will pay a painter 14 euros psm per coat for painting - which means the more watery the paint the more coats you need. Even if they are to dilute, you can use much less water than they suggest for a better covering, unless you're using a roller.

At the risk of making this thread about as entertaining as talking about paint drying (see what I did there?), I'm going to sort of agree with Modicasa:

Yes, you CAN use much less water than it says on the tin...but in my experience it's horrible to use and doesn't give a good finish...but yes, it obviously depends what you are painting. :-)

On the exciting subject of paint, has anyone tried using an airless sprayer with Italian exterior quartz-based paint? If so, which sprayer did you use? Or is there an alternative exterior paint that doesn’t have quartz in it? I can’t find anything in Bricoman and we’re fed up of painting the outside of the house with a paintbrush!