Is One-Coat Paint Right for You?
Learn the pros and cons of one-coat paint and if it’s right for your next painting project.
One-coat paint contains up to 20-percent more paint solids than conventionalpaint.
The Spruce / Margot Cavin
Ordinary acrylic-latex paint usually requires two or more coats of paint.
Only in limited conditions can you use one coat of ordinary acrylic-latex paint.
However, one-coat paint increases the possibility that you only need to use one coat.
Usually, these specialty one-coat paints are available only in a few variations of white.
Some brands do offer a limited number of tints.
Zinsser Perma-White and Kilz 2 are examples of specialty one-coat paint brands.
Decorative Coatings
One-coat decorative paint isn’t aimed at disaster repairs.
Instead, it’s about reducing painting time.
Unlike the one-color-only whites of the specialty coating paints, one-coat paints offer a broad selection of colors.
Behr Marquee and Sherwin-Williams Infinity are examples of decorative one-coat paint brands.
Limitations
One-coat paints have a specified range of colors.
With conventional paints, the color palette is practically infinite.
One-coat paints have a limited roster.
One-coat paint is not guaranteed to be one coat, even in favorable conditions.
However, sometimes time or budgetary limitations do not allow for more than one coat of paint.
Conditions that make one-coat painting possible include:
Top Brands
Is It Right for You?
One-coat paint speeds up your painting project by eliminating the need to wait between coats.
With its thicker build, one-coat paint aids in hiding imperfections.
Brush marks on the previously painted surface can often be covered up with one-coat paint.
For conventional paints, you’ll want to wait an hour or two before recoating.
Matte or flat paints have shorter recoat times.
Professionalpainters tend to recommendrolling out two or more coats of paint.
Multiple coats help to obliterate overlaps, smears, and lines.
Extra coats deepen the color, making it richer and closer to the paint manufacturer’s intended color register.
Multiple layers also strengthen the paint, and this is highly important for exterior painting.
One-coat paint cannot substitute for this.
