Walk into a paint shop in Lagos and you will hear emulsion, satin, texcote, screeding, primer and undercoat used almost interchangeably. Some of those are finishes, some are products, and one of them is not paint at all. Sorting out which is which saves money before you have bought anything.
Emulsion
Emulsion is water based paint, and it is what goes on the overwhelming majority of walls in Nigeria. The binder is dispersed in water, so the paint thins with water, brushes wash out under a tap, and the smell is mild enough to sleep in the room the same night.
Within emulsion, the grades vary enormously. An economy emulsion carries less binder and more extender. It covers 6 to 8 square metres per litre, needs more coats, and is not built to be scrubbed. A better emulsion covers 10 to 12 and takes a wipe.
Emulsion is the default for interior walls and ceilings. It is the wrong product for woodwork, metal, or anywhere that needs a hard film.
Acrylic emulsion
Acrylic emulsion is emulsion where the binder is an acrylic resin rather than a cheaper vinyl. This is the distinction that matters most and the one shops explain least.
Acrylic binders stay flexible as they age instead of going brittle, and they hold up far better to UV and moisture. On an exterior wall in Lagos that flexes between afternoon heat and night cool, a brittle film cracks and lets water behind it. A flexible one moves with the wall.
Acrylic also resists alkali better, which matters on new cement render. Fresh cement is strongly alkaline and will attack a weak binder, causing the paint to soften or discolour in patches. This is why paint on new blockwork sometimes fails within months while the same product on an older wall is fine.
Our Acrylic Emulsion is the entry point at 6 to 8 square metres per litre and 3 hours to dry.
Primer
A primer is not a cheap first coat of paint. It does a different job, which is why substituting one for the other goes wrong.
Primer seals porous surfaces so the topcoat sits on the wall instead of soaking into it. It gives the finish something consistent to bond to. On bare plaster, new render or a patched wall, skipping primer means the first coat of expensive finish paint disappears into the substrate and you buy a third coat to compensate.
Prime when the surface is new plaster or screed, bare cement, previously unpainted, patchy after repairs, or when there is a strong colour change. On a sound wall that has been painted before and is in good condition, you can go straight to the topcoat.
Undercoat
Undercoat is the layer between primer and finish, and it is mostly a woodwork and metal term. Its job is to build a uniform, slightly opaque base so the gloss topcoat gives an even sheen rather than sinking in patches.
On walls you rarely need a separate undercoat. On doors and frames going into gloss, skipping it shows.
Textured coatings
Textured exterior coatings, often called texcote locally, are much thicker than paint and carry aggregate to create a surface finish. They are applied by trowel or spray rather than roller.
They hide surface defects that no paint could cover and give a durable exterior skin. They also cost considerably more per square metre, need a skilled applicator, and are difficult to change later. Repainting over texture is possible but the texture stays.
Screeding is not painting
Screeding is levelling a wall with a thin cement or gypsum layer before decorating. It is preparation, not a coating.
It is worth knowing because a lot of Nigerian repaint quotes bundle screeding and painting together, and the screeding is often the larger cost. If a wall is genuinely uneven, screeding gives a flat surface and the paint looks far better on it. If the wall is sound, screeding is money you could have spent on better paint.
A useful rule: screed when the wall is out of true or badly damaged. Do not screed to fix minor imperfection when a matt finish would hide it for a fraction of the cost.
Specialist paints
Exterior weather-resistant paints are formulated for UV and rain rather than for scrubbing. Sungard covers 18 to 20 square metres per litre and dries in 4 to 8 hours. Weather King Satin covers 16 to 18 with a 6 to 10 hour dry.
Insect repellent paint is worth mentioning because it is unusual and frequently misunderstood. Our Repello line carries an insect repellent additive in the film. It comes as a primer and as finish coats in economy matt and Ruby matt grades. It is a paint that happens to repel insects, not a substitute for treating an infestation.
Which to use where
| Surface | Use |
|---|---|
| Interior walls, previously painted | Emulsion, matt or satin by room |
| Interior walls, new plaster | Primer, then emulsion |
| Ceilings | Matt emulsion |
| Exterior walls | Exterior acrylic, matt or satin |
| New exterior render | Let it cure, then primer, then exterior acrylic |
| Doors, frames, joinery | Primer, undercoat, gloss |
| Metal gates and rails | Metal primer, then gloss |
| Badly uneven walls | Screed first, or use textured coating |
Two mistakes worth avoiding
Painting new render too early. Cement needs time to cure and to let its alkalinity drop. Paint applied too soon can saponify, going soft and sticky in patches. Give new render as long as the builder will allow, and prime it.
Using interior emulsion outside. It is the most common false economy we see. Interior emulsion has no meaningful UV package, so the colour fades and the film chalks, leaving powder on your hand when you touch the wall. The paint saved is small against repainting a whole elevation.
Storing what is left
All our products carry a 12 month shelf life, and that clock runs from manufacture rather than from the day you open the tin.
Keep part-used containers sealed and out of direct sun. Heat thickens emulsion and can break the dispersion, which is why a bucket left in a hot store room comes back lumpy even though it was fine when you closed it. If a paint has separated into a clear layer over a solid one, stirring it back usually works. If it has gone stringy or smells sour, it has gone off and no amount of stirring recovers it.
Write the colour reference and the date on the lid before you put it away. It takes ten seconds and turns a mystery bucket into something you can actually use for a touch up.
If you are not sure which category your job falls into, describe the surface to us and we will tell you. Tell us whether it is new or previously painted, inside or outside, and roughly how big. Request a quote or look through the range.