Review of Dunlop Pro Decor Flexible Acrylic Filler caulk

I recently received a tube of Dunlop Pro Decor Flexible Acrylic Filler to try and review, there has been a bit of a buzz over this product from professional decorators like myself, why, you ask, well because of its claims not to crack and its anti crazing properties. Now unless you use caulk daily like us decorators you may not know the ongoing problem we have when we use caulk and paint over it.

I have written about this problem before on this blog, Tips on using decorator’s caulk, also on Rayfields Interiors, How to use decorators caulk and also Fillers – knowing which one to use and on the Improving Your Property blog, What is decorators caulk / filler.

So when I got this opportunity to try this product and give a review I was very keen to do so, could this really be the end to cracking and crazing filer?

The tubes are filled with a white acrylic filler and come in a 310ml tube, allowing easy application by using a caulking gun.

I have tried the product and here is my review.

My review of Dunlop Pro Decor Flexible Acrylic Filler

On the Dunlop Decorators website it says this about the product:

FLEXIBLE ACRYLIC FILLER™

A high performance gunnable filler which can be used internally and externally for filling skirting boards, window and door frames as well as repairing cracks and damage to walls and ceilings.

• Paintable in 60 minutes
• No Crazing
• Ultra smooth
• Anti-Crack

I was very keen to test the no crazing and anti-cracking claims.

I tried the acrylic filler on my last two jobs, I have used it around skirting boards and ceilings, and painted over it with different types of paint, including water based primer /undercoat, gloss, satinwood and emulsion. I also noted the drying time and smoothness once dried.

The result

I was pleased to be able to try this acrylic filler and see if it met all of it’s claims, which for me it did. It seemed to dry fast allowing me to paint over it quickly. For the normal troublesome emulsion crazing / cracking issue I can say I didn’t come across any of this issue so was really impressed. Once dry the filler left a smooth surface that didn’t show once pained. I also didn’t see any cracking once it dried, I tried this product in both small and large gaps and had the same results.

In conclusion

I was very please with this acrylic filler, and from a professional decorators point of view the fact it stand up to it’s claims and doesn’t crack or craze like many other brands of decorator caulk, this is something we have been waiting for for years.
Now that I have used this product I will certainly be changing over to use this acrylic filler all the time and will certainly be wanting to try Dunlop Pro Decor’s other fillers such as deep hole filler and fine and lightweight fillers in the future.

Buy Dunlop Pro Decor Flexible Acrylic Filler caulk

You can buy Dunlop Pro Decor Flexible Acrylic Filler caulk from My Paintbrush.

Colour trends for 2015

Dulux Colour Futures™ from AkzoNobel have come up with the upcoming trends for colour for 2015, through their international research they have selected a range of colours they think will be in trend throughout 2015, and have picked a dominant colour for the year.

Colour palettes and colour trends for 2015

“2015 is about that added refinement: putting the + into the everyday.”

“Everyday + Finding the wonderful in the normal”

Quote from ColourFutures™

As a paint translation of this trend, our research all points to this orangey copper tone. Great on its own, the colour also combines perfectly with pinks, neutrals, whites and other orange hues, as well as metallic colours such as gold.

The theme consists of the following five colour palettes and colour moods:

• Big nature + small me
• Layer + layer
• + unseen spaces
• Him + her
• Friendly Barter +

What is to colour for 2015

The colour of the year 2015 is……. 50YR 36/263 (also known as Copper orange).

“It reflects and complements all of the major trends that we have identified for 2015: a warmth in attitude and a renewed emphasis on sharing; the natural palette of the earth, from clay tones to sunlit highlights of yellow; the skin tones that reflect human interaction and the sepia hues of the past.
It is a colour of depth and currency that combines wonderfully with the everyday”

Quote from ColourFutures™

You can see more of this years colour schemes here:
Dulux Trade website or here:
http://www.colourfutures.com and download the Colour Futures book(PDF).

Paint Calculator

If you would like to use the colour of the year (50YR 36/263) or any other colour you need to buy and need to work out how much you need to buy, use our FREE Paint Calculator.

Recent listed building exterior job summer 2014

As the summer draws to a close I thought I would post about a recent job I have completed. The job was a 17th century Grade II listed building property in my local area. I viewed the property in mid April 2014 with the intent to do the job late summer.

The property required some repair work to woodwork but was also in need of two new windows, a box sash window on the front elevation and a small window to the side elevation. These windows were made by a local joinery company and fitted by a local builder.

The building is timber framed that originally had weatherboard on the exterior but was rendered some year ago. The roof has a catslide style, this means one side is longer than the other.

Decorating the exterior

The rendered walls had algae growing on them so the first job was to treat this with a algae and anti fungicide wash, this was applied, left for a while, and then thoroughly washed and scrubbed off.

Once the walls were dry I could apply the masonry paint, two coats were applied to the walls of a Dulux smooth masonry paint in Magnolia. Once this was done it was time to do the windows.

There were nine windows in all to paint, the frames were painted in Sadolin Superdec Walnut, and the windows themselves in Sadolin Superdec Magnolia, the front door was also painted in the same Walnut and magnolia.

The guttering and downpipes were painted in a black gloss, the plinth was painted in a black bitumen to finish off the bottom of the property.

The customers were very happy and as you can see by the pictures below, there is a big difference between the before and after shots.

The before and after pictures