Isomat Paint, any good?

This is a review I recently wrote on Isomat Paint, a new brand to our market over here, on a forum I use. All products used were supplied free of charge, in return for me writing a review. To be as transparent as I can, I thought I would share this on here in my own blog, so others can see what I wrote. Nothing has been amended and is the complete transcript of what I wrote. Hope you enjoy!

Isomat Review

Recently I was approached by admin if I would give an honest, impartial review of Isomat products. As I’m willing to try new things (to a degree) I said yes. Normally I use Johnstones and Dulux products, never had any problems with them personally although I know others may have. The main reason for using those is the ease of just picking up in the shop rather than having paints delivered in, times are a changing and it is getting easier to have things delivered.

The job I worked on was a H/S/L, materials used was the Isomat Color in white for the ceiling, Isomat Professional Classic in Timeless for the wall and the Isolac Aqua Satin for all woodwork. The ceilings were a darker colour, gave the impression of a smoke stained one, along with the walls so I was interested to see how the white would cover. First thoughts on opening the Isomat Color, it appeared quite thin yet thick at the same time. As it was applied it looked like a vinyl silk. It did spread well enough, for a first coat the coverage and spread rate was impressive. The drying time not as much. It says on the tub re-coatable in 4 hours, I had to wait almost 6 in a warm building. Also on the second coat I found the paint began to pull a bit and felt stiff to apply. Coverage though was brilliant. Dried to a solid flat finish, which at certain stages of application I didn’t think it would do, and I had a couple of touch ups which didn’t flash or show up. I think it is only fair at this point to say I was painting on top of previously painted wallpaper and this might have had an influence on the drying time.

The Professional Classic had a different feel to the Isomat Color. It seemed like it was very thin out of the tub, even with a good stir first. The thinness helped it spread out nicely, coverage was very good once more for a first coat and that did surprise me. It says you can thin the paint down 5 to 10%, personally I don’t feel it is necessary. Again the drying time was much longer than on the tin for the first coat also found a couple of areas where the cutting in had run which is unusual for an emulsion, possibly down to not drying quick enough. On the second coat it applied better than the Isomat Color did and dried quicker and very solid. It was a flat finish again, no issues with cutting in showing or flashing.

Over the past few months I had heard good things about the Isomat Gloss and Satin so I was eager to try one of them out. In June I made the switch to water based for all woodwork but I always use an adhesion primer first, speaking to the people at Isomat they assured me it didn’t need one. Others had said to thin the paint down slightly so I did. As normal gave woodwork a good sand down and applied the satin. Fantastic coverage and you have time to play with the paint unlike most water based trim paints, had a few issues with runs nothing major though. Keep an eye on it as you work and it’s not a problem. The second coat goes on a treat, covers very solid and dries great. Passed the scratch test on the second coat, first coat it did come off slightly so if any in between sanding I wouldn’t use anything stronger than 240 grit.

I only needed to use the caulk sparingly so can’t comment too much on it, from what I used it seemed quite good, no crazing issues and dried reasonably quick, hopefully I will get to try it more on my next couple of jobs. I have the filler and block primer to try out soon too.

Overall verdicts then.

The Isomat Color, on application looks and feels like you are putting a silk on but when it dries it leaves a great flat finish. I managed to try it on a plastered ceiling on my next job as I had some left over, superb flat finish no flashing at all. The issues I had on the papered ceiling with it pulling wasn’t there and it dried much quicker too.

Professional Classic, it’s a very thin paint which has excellent coverage properties and dries to a solid, flat finish. Two coats again and I can’t complain with how it looked. I’d be interested to know if they do a durable matt product too

Isolac Aqua Satin. I might have found my go to satin paint. Closest satin I have found to oil based since Dulux Diamond Satinwood. Yes, it does run but no more than the quick dry satin and you are able to play a bit with it without drastically affecting the finish. Two coats and a good solid satin finish and doesn’t leave many brush marks either, add in you don’t need an adhesion primer first is win win in my book. Very impressed.

Looking at the price list they seem quite competitive to prices I pay elsewhere as well, I will definitely be looking at using these products more in the future.