I wonder how you got on with the Dulux flat matt, jonm01?
As discussed here a couple of months or so, I have been having the most terrible problems with the ceiling of a large study with sloping sides and an open staircase in the centre going downstairs. I haven't been doing it myself (too old and disabled to tackle such a job anymore) but 3 so-called professionals have had a go at it. The plasterboard has been well skimmed, no visible join marks and although it was a bit grubby was in good condition. The first chap claims to have done it four times, 2 coats with Dulux Walls and Ceilings (looked stripey) and then 2 coats with Dulux Trade Vinyl Emulsion (the environmentally friendly one) - still looked stripey, though not in the same places. Just looked as though some bits had been missed, some bits more shiny than others but if you stood underneath completely white. Had various decorators in to have a look and quote. All said the paint hadn't been evenly applied. Picked one of them who gave it another 2 coats, this time Dulux Trade Matt Emulsion but bought from Homebase rather than a Dulux shop. Much worse than before, quite shiny (especially in elec. light) apart from the bits which weren't! I thought I'd better find me a Dulux Select Decorator who came today and applied 2 coats of a new improved Dulux trade vinyl matt which claims to have reduced sheen. Maybe it is slightly, but you can still see stripes which look as though they have been missed and they are not in the same places as before. He says it will probably look OK when it has cured, in about 2 weeks. I don't think it will. It looks just like the first time. You can see where he has cut in with a brush round the hatch etc. although he said the paint didn't need thinning and the tin talks about 2 full coats or even one on a surface the same colour.
I had had some conversations with Dulux previously and they suggested using flatmatt but this decorator doesn't like it. Said it would look worse as it is too thick. He prefers Gliddens but as Dulux had sent me some vouchers for either Flatmatt or Vinyl matt (they said Gliddens was inferior) and this one claimed to be reduced sheen and the cat's whiskers, he got it.
I give up. All these decorators criticise their predecessors' work but then don't do any better. I'm not going to have it done for a 4th time and will just have to put up with an unsightly ceiling but I'd like to know for next time whether Dulux Flatmatt is any good. It seems to me that Dulux are mucking about with their paints an awful lot and not getting it right. Probably due to some EU ruling. I used their Rich Matt for a large ceiling a few years ago and it looks perfect and no sheen, stripes or patches whatsoever. Very difficult to know how much is the paint and how much the painter, who seemed a nice enough chap. It is obvious that he has painted in straight lines rather than Vs and Ws. Dulux suggest the latter but he says they don't know what they are talking about. Before I took him on, he claimed to have painted a similar but even more tricky room successfully, but he used Gliddens.
Incidentally, I am pretty sure that Dulux told me that their flatmatt wasn't wipeable but I think I'd settle for that rather than have all the stripes.