Contractors not only need a paint that applies easily and looks great but one that retains its colour for years to come. So, what’s the secret behind a long-lasting and vibrant colour? Richard Palmer, Head of Trade at Valspar Trade explores this further…
Colour is extremely important to the spaces you’re working on, and as such, so is ensuring this colour remains vibrant for as long as possible. In fact, colour can have a big impact on the moods and emotions of those using a space, influencing the way we interact with and experience an environment. Used correctly, colour can elevate a room, able to make a smaller space feel larger, or vice versa.
But how can you ensure your paint colours look the best they can?
How is paint formulated for longer-lasting colour?
There are four main components that make up all paint formulations, with pigment impacting colour and its brightness. This finely ground particle is what provides paint its whiteness, colour, coverage and bulk.
Titanium Dioxide is the most valuable example of a prime pigment. It can disperse light more efficiently, providing exceptional whiteness and high levels of opacity. However, this is one of the most expensive pigments available. While 90% of paint products contain it, cheaper paint brands often reduce the proportions its products contain in order to keep costs down.
As well as the pigment volume concentration (PVC) being key, it’s also about the quality of pigments used. At Valspar Trade, the pigments we use are cleaner and finer, creating a truer colour and allowing for easier application.
How can I assure my customers that their chosen colour will stand the test of time?
There’s nothing quite like a freshly painted interior. However, life can often get in the way. Spills, knocks and scuff marks can be a common occurrence in any space, whether that’s a family home, school classroom or office space. While such incidents are perhaps unavoidable, they
can be counteracted by using a paint that is both stain resistant and scrubbable, able to stand up to the test of time.
Scrubbability, or the measure for resistance to mechanical abrasion, is broken down into five classes according to EN 13300, with Class 1 having the highest wet-abrasion resistance. By choosing a scrubbable paint, you can assure your customer that whatever happens to their surfaces, it can be easily cleaned off.
Colour matching
When it comes to colour matching, it’s all about the technology, spectrometer and database used, as well as the strength of the colourants. At Valspar Trade, as well as offering 2,000 pre-selected colours to choose from, our colour matching technology can match a sample as small as your fingernail, with 2.2 million shades on our database and 16 super-strength colourants in TradePoint’s mixing machines.
Valspar Trade
With a dedicated research and development team, we’re proud to offer a wide range of high-quality trade essentials, expertly formulated to make achieving the perfect finish easy. A key part of this is the colour. Our mixing equipment is the best in class, resulting in a truer and purer colour match that is 99% accurate.
For more information on Valspar Trade click here
