Professional Review of Emerald Designer Flat

Is Emerald Flat worth It?

Before you drop $92.00 for a gallon of paint, shouldn’t you know, is Emerald Flat worth it?    That is a lot for a single gallon of paint.  First, let’s review some quick facts:

Emerald Flat gallon of paint

Is it:

  • Zero VOC
  • Low Splatter
  • Water Clean-up
  • Can it be matched to any color?
  • Mildew resistant
  • Primer and paint in one
  • Smooth finish

 

 

At $94.00 retail, is Emerald Flat worth it?

 

Is Emerald is worth it?  Let’s check out the coverage!

The Emerald Designer series is known for three things:

  • coverage
  • washability
  • unique color selectionSmooth

 

Coverage Grade 10

If Emerald is going to be worth it, it better cover well, and it does. 

I gave Emerald Flat a challenge by having a dramatic color change from white to dark blue.  

I found the coverage of Emerald Flat to be excellent.  At $92.00 a gallon, it better cover well, and it did. 

Workability of Emerald Flat

The workability of the paint is an important factor.  I good painter can spend 8 hours brushing a single gallon of paint.  If it is difficult to work with, meaning:

  • short working time
  • paint doesn’t spread smoothly
  • doesn’t like to bond or make firm contact 

it can decrease productivity, and increase fatigue.  

The workability of Emerald Designer Flat was none of those things.  

Workability grade: 10

I found the coverage of Emerald Flat to be excellent.  At $94.00 a gallon, it better cover well and it did. 

Is Emerald Flat worth it? How about Touching-up

Emerald Flat did not touch-up wellFlat paints have two distinct advantages over all other sheens.  First, they hide imperfections. Secondly, the touch-up well.   Therefore, if you are not likely to wash your walls but prefer to break out a can of paint to touch up walls flat paint is your paint.  

 

 

Touching-up Grade: 7 

Unfortunately, Emerald Flat did not touch-up well using this dark color.  Perhaps a lighter color would have touched up better.  

Washability: Is Emerald worth it? 

How well a paint can clean-up determines its washability.   Since we ask the question “Is Emerald Flat worth it,” it better has excellent washability.

I stained the walls with:

  • crayon
  • red wine
  • pencil
  • coffee
  • mustard and catsup

and allowed the products to dry on the wall.  I then cleaned it with Krud Kutter, Simple Green, and bleach/water mixture.

I want to determine if either the stains or the paint come off.  

 

  

 

Washability Grade:

All stains came off except a slight bit of mustard stain.  It seems that the Tumeric could not be removed even with all those cleaners.  With that said, this is exceptional washability for flat paint.  Only PPG Manor Hall Flat paint had better washability.

Durability

Emerald flat wall after it has been cleanedDurability refers to how does the paint hold up to the cleaning.  Is there burnishing?  Did any paint come off?  

Typically when walls are cleaned and rubbed by a cloth, even a micro-fiber cleaning cloth, it can burnish the paint.  

There was no burnishing or altering of either the sheen or color after cleaning

Durability Grade 10 out of 10

Is Emerald Worth It? Determining the Value  

Is Emerald Flat paint worth it?  To answer this,  we need to take the positive and negatives grades and compare them to other comparable paints, such as Ben Moore Arua or a much cheaper paint PPG Manor Hall Semi-gloss.

 

House Painted with PPG Manor Hall

 

The short answer is, I prefer Emerald flat over Arura because of the workability.  Arura is very thick and spreads like cake batter.  

PPG Manor Hall Flat is about $50.00 a gallon and has only slightly less coverage and workability than Emerald Flat.  However, PPG Manor Hall exceeds or is equal to Emerald Flat when comparing washability and durability respectively and touch-up.

Because Emerald Flat retails for $92.00 and PPG Manor Hall retails for $50.ish I would say Emerald Flat is not worth it. 

If you watch the video, I say it’s the best flat I have ever used.  This is true, but it only a hair better than Manor Hall yet twice the price. 

If you can get the Emerald Flat on sale for the $64.00 price tag, I would be much more inclined to buy it over PPG Manor Hall for the coverage and workability alone.

Additional Blogs Below 

PPG Manor Hall Flat 

PPG UltraLast Matte