One-Coat Paint Review: Pros, Cons, and Top Brands

One-coat paint promises to end the time and labor commitment of priming or of applying two or three coats of paint. Designed for both interiors and exteriors, one-coat paint has a thicker consistency and high-build nature that is designed to eliminate multiple primer or paint coats. Learn the pros and cons of one-coat paint and if it's right for your next painting project.

What It Is

One-coat paint is a term used by paint manufacturers for heavy, thick acrylic-latex interior and exterior paint that builds up high. One-coat paint contains up to 20-percent more paint solids than conventional paint.

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.

Types

One-coat paint is generally divided into two categories: specialty coatings for emergency repairs and difficult surfaces and decorative coatings for all other purposes.

Specialty Coatings

Specialty coatings are designed to repair severe problems such as stained or water-flooded walls that have been dried out and put back into use. 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.

Manufacturers' one-coat paint guarantees often exclude repaired surfaces, porous surfaces, surfaces that have previously been uncoated, surfaces that contain tannins (such as cedar), and surfaces with aggressive stains.

Design

With one-coat paint, you typically must stick to a color palette that is specifically geared toward that one-coat paint series.

Installation

It is always best, if conditions permit, to apply two or more coats of paint. However, sometimes time or budgetary limitations do not allow for more than one coat of paint. Conditions that make one-coat painting possible include:

• When matching the existing color and that coat is still in good condition both physically and from a color standpoint, you can sometimes paint just one coat and achieve satisfactory results.
• Similarly, when painting over pre-tinted primer that is close to or matching the eventual room color, you can often get by with just one coat of paint.
• Interiors, especially clean, low-impact areas such as living rooms and dining rooms, are more forgiving environments for one-coat paint jobs than high-impact surfaces such as bathroom ceilings (due to mold and mildew), trim, hallways, and kitchens.
• When painting a ceiling, unless the ceiling is especially stained, a single coat is often all that is needed. Ceiling stains are common in basements and bathrooms, especially poorly ventilated bathrooms.

Top Brands

• Sherwin-Williams Infinity
• Behr Marquee
• Pittsburgh Paramount
• Glidden One Coat
• Wilko One Coat
• Zinsser Perma-White
• Dulux NeverMiss One Coat
• Kilz 2

Is It Right for You?

While some brands do have limited color offerings, other manufacturers of one-coat paints have palettes of hundreds, even thousands, of colors.

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.

Professional painters tend to recommend rolling 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. For door and window trim, it's still best to add two coats or more because those areas experience heavy use and particularly need durable paint. One-coat paint cannot substitute for this.