PAINTER & DECORATOR: 
Nigel Wilkinson

PRODUCTS: 
Johnstone’s Trade Smooth Masonry

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When embarking on a new build housing development project of 63 detached properties, painter and decorator Nigel Wilkinson needed a performance coating that would live up to the high standard expected from both his client and potential homeowners.
Nigel, from Northern Ireland, was awarded the contract to complete the internal and external decoration at Farm Lodge in Magherafelt. The development boasts an exclusive collection of eight different house styles, all finished to a turnkey standard.
To ensure he was delivering a durable and high-quality finish across all properties, Nigel turned to Johnstone’s Trade paints. As well as using a number of internal coatings from the range, Nigel used the new and improved formulation of Stormshield Smooth Masonry for external work.
Johnstone’s Trade recently conducted a survey and found that 71 per cent of decorators would say bad weather is the biggest problem when working on masonry jobs, with a third needing to postpone a booked job because of the threat of rain. Johnstone’s Trade listened to this feedback and made changes to the popular water-based Smooth Masonry paint – equipping it with new Quick Rain Resistance technology, making it rain resistant after just 20 minutes. It can also be applied from temperatures of 2ºC and rising, to allow for all season application.
“I’m extremely impressed with the new Smooth Masonry – the paint is very workable and a great improvement,” said Nigel. “It looks a lot thicker than before and initially we thought this might make it difficult to apply. Despite its thick appearance and consistency though, the paint was a dream to apply and flowed well from the roller onto the new, bare masonry.”
With standard masonry paints, rain showers can often cause run-outs which can ruin the finish. However, the new Smooth Masonry paint from Johnstone’s Trade works by improving the binding process to ensure new paint work quickly becomes rain resistant and delivers a smooth result.
Nigel continued: “When we decorated the first house, the weather was quite cool and there was no warm sunshine on the day. Usually, water-based masonry paints will ‘hang around’ in cool weather and take longer to dry, but we had no problems with this new formulation. It was touch-dry in less than an hour, but it doesn’t dry so quickly that the paint then becomes difficult to apply.”
“One of Nigel’s primary concerns when using standard masonry paints has been the opacity,” explained David Baines, Principal Technical Specification Consultant at Johnstone’s Trade. “He’s often had to spend additional money to achieve a good finish, but he agreed to trial the latest formulation of our Smooth Masonry paint on this project. It has been developed with an improved opacity and spread rate of up to 17m2 per litre, making it ideal for this job.”
“The results speak for themselves,” said Nigel. “The paint is really strong and the matt finish is a big improvement because a lot of other masonry paints have a slight sheen on them that show any faults in the masonry. We trialled the Johnstone’s Trade Smooth Masonry against a competitor brand and there’s a remarkable difference between the two after just one coat. The Johnstone’s paint is a lot more solid compared to the other, and we didn’t have to thin it down. The new product is a real game changer.”