Load of Brolacs

[cocoots100]

Hi
Does anyone know of a brand of paint called Brolac? A client has supplied me with tins of the stuff but I have never heard of it let alone used it. It is called PEP Silk Emulsion. Would be good to hear of any comments relating to the product.
Many thanks

 

[Hotwire]

Never thought i would hear that name again (Brolac) last time i heard it i was a kid, many moons ago. My dad had used it on the bedroom wall, a very strong smell as i recall and it took forever to dry. I never knew it was still being made. I cant give you any details other than above but here,s a snippet of info that may lead you to another link

http://www.jensonnicholson.com/hpaints1.htm

 

[Zampa]

That link is for the wrong stuff...PEP emulsion is indeed made by crown brolac which is part of the akzo nobel group.

You can get it from all crown trade outlets.

But you better be quick,Crown have made a very unwise decision and are phasing a lot (if not all) of it out and replacing it with Mac Phersons.

As for quality......in my view many of the paints under the Brolac badge are far better than crown and Dulux products.

All decorators have their favourite paints in the same way that most paint companies have weaker and stronger products...ei IMO Dulux make a good gloss.....but a crap masonry paint...Crown do a good matt emulsion but a poor gloss...Jonstones acrilic eggshell is good...but their silk is poor.....and so on...thing is a lot of these findings are based on the particular surfaces people are painting........but I have found that most agree that Brolac is a good steady product across the range.

Crown have made a ridiculous decision to replace brolac superflat emulsion with mac phersons eclipse emulsion...which had a pretty crap name in the industry...they say that the new eclipse is in fact the formular for superflat.....strange move, thats like kronnenberg scraping 1664 and selling it in cans of skol (for those who dont remember....skol was a particulary nasty tasting lager)

 

[Thermo]

i completley agree zampa, even down to colours! johnsons emulsions are great, often covering in one coat and very workable, but their white emulsion is lacking compared to dulux. ditto with their oil based silk. i was in johnsons centre the other day and the gut offered me some leyland, which i alays stay clear of. i said to him, whats the actual difference between the two? he looked around then leaned towards me over the counter and said in hushed tones.....the leyland paint is absolute **** but we have to sell it! from the mouths of babes so to speak!

 

[Zampa]

I must admit I odnt like eyland, never have..their undercoat os ok for new work because its thick...(crown isnt very good for new work) but the rest of the stuff I dont rate...especially the gloss....yuk.

To me its cheap contrators paint...used by people who arnt really bothered about the quality.

But the worst thing about Leyland/Jonstones is the Mangers sundries range.....I hate the stuff...all of it, its nothing but DIY grade...the filler is like gravel the caulk is dry and hard to apply, whenever I have had to use the wallpaper pste I have lumps in it ..and the brushes are up to much either, thats the reason I dont use jonstones paint, because I know id still end having to go to another place to buy my sundries.

 

[Hotwire]

Zampa, you mean the link i gave isnt to the Brolac paint that permanently robbed me of my sense of smell as a child and had a 3 week drying period .


Seriously what was that stuff made from, the job i spoke of was in the late 50,s or early 60,s.

 

[Zampa]

No that stuff is, by the looks of it, an american paint using the Brolac name, or maybe its own name but possibly a copyright of its own

The stuff made over here is entirely different, well it is these days, the stuff you are talking about, like all paints of that era probably did stink to high heaven, that was mainly because of the high lead content and differnet types of pigment used then...but paint has moved on a hell of a lot since and there are strict guidelines on the VOC content in paints nowdays.

The modern Brolac really isnt bad at all...certainly no worse than Dulux trade emulsions...which to me are quite strong.

Note the difference though between trade and retail paint...the retail stuff tends to smell quite nice,..it is also easier to apply because of the false body it has....but they sacrifice the covering power.

It was far worse if you go back even further when paint contained arenic and sulphur etc....

Thats how the old painters thing about drinking a pint of milk before you began working started....back then there was a illness called 'painters colic' which was down to all the gunk that went into paint in those times....

And you still come across painters who say...."you cant beat the old paint"!!.....no thanks!

 

[Thermo]

my dad was a builder from just after the war. He says he can remember when the painters used to mix up the colours, using lead tints and all sorts. I think ill stick to the modern day stuff, but even some of the emulsion paints leave my eyes feeling really heavy and tired after a day of using it

 

[Hotwire]

Thanks for the info Zampa, i remember being told about painters colic and the need for milk drinking, which was supposed to line the stomach. My mum always insisted on me drinking a glass of milk if i done any household painting. It was a marvelous stuff milk it could also perform this stomach lining feat before a drinking session or so they liked to believe. I dont know if it did or didnt but me old mum was always trying to foister a bottle of the stuff on me before i went to the pub. And who could forget the half an onion in a saucer by the fire to dispel the evil smells the paint gave of then .

 

[Zampa]

my dad was a builder from just after the war. He says he can remember when the painters used to mix up the colours, using lead tints and all sorts. I think ill stick to the modern day stuff, but even some of the emulsion paints leave my eyes feeling really heavy and tired after a day of using it

Perhaps you should stick to ordinary eye shadow then..

 

[Thermo]

no its nice and cheap!

 

[cocoots100]

Funny how a question on Brolacs can evoke so many memories of the past. Must say the paint is an absolute joy to work with. The coverage is on a par with the Dulux trade emulsions, and it had a very high pigment content. As you say Zampa, if they are phasing this product out it will be a real shame - especially if they are replacing it with an inferior product. I can only say that whoever makes these decisions is ultimately sacrificing quality for the sake of saving a few short term pennies.

RIP Broclacs