Eico Nordfarg Vagg Review – by a decorator

Eico Nordfarg Vagg is a durable matt emulsion for interior walls and ceilings. This is a water-based paint with a very low sheen level. Touch dry in 2-3 hours, but you should wait a minimum of 4-hours before recoating. Available online in a small, but desirable range of colours, you can apply Eico Nordfarg Vagg via brush and paint roller, or airless sprayer. You can apply this paint directly to bare plaster.

My Eico Nordfarg Vagg Review

As a decorator in the UK, Eico isn’t a brand I’ve used a lot. Their Grepp-V primer is ok, but their emulsions are something special.

The first things that strikes you about Nordfarg Vagg, is how easy it is to apply and how good the opacity is. This paint comes condensed, so add a little bit of water before you start to apply it. You’ll find it flows lovely from your brush, making it easy to create crisp lines. Even diluted, you can almost achieve a colour change in a single coat.

One issue with some durable matt emulsion products is the sheen level. This type of paint is polymer rich, which is what makes it durable, but it also makes the paint slightly shinier, which leads to defects like flashing. This isn’t the case with Eico Nordfarg Vagg. The sheen level is below 5%, which is extremely low.

You’re left with a luxurious, ultra-matt finish. You’re never going to get any defects like flashing or picture framing with this paint. Even imperfections in the plaster are masked to some degree.  Oh, it even touches up without issue, which is another massive win.

 The price for 5L of Eico Nordfarg Vagg in a tinted colour is almost £100. That puts it in the “designer paints” bracket. I don’t mind paying a premium price if the quality of the product warrants it, which Nordfarg Vagg does.

I’d put it way ahead of Farrow and Ball and Little Green in terms of quality, performance, and finish. So, if there’s a place in the market for those brands, then Eico shouldn’t have an issue breaking the UK market. Unfortunately, as with a lot of designer brands, quality of product isn’t enough. I think they’ll need to go hard with marketing to make any headway.

However, I’m here to assess the paint. Eico Nordfarg Vagg is a quality product, and one I’d happily recommend.

Review Summary

Ican Grepp-V Primer Review

Ican Grepp-V is a water-based adhesion primer designed to stick to difficult substrates such as roof tiles, wood and metal.

You can use it on wood, metal, plaster, gypsum board, hardboard, tiles, glass, walls, bricks, lead, PVC, concrete, fibreglass, wallpaper, Formica and much more. Coupled with the fact you can use Grepp-V both internally and externally, you have a very versatile adhesion primer on your hands.

Drying time is roughly an hour in good conditions. Re-coat time is 4 – 6 hours, but it does carry on hardening over the next 12. You can purchase this product in 750 ml, 2.5L or 5L tins and it comes in white. You can order Grepp-V online from the Colour Centre, where you’ll find it with the rest of the Ican range. Click here to see online prices.

So, is it Any Good?

OK, let’s get down to talking about how good the product is. Application is ok, you can apply Grepp-V straight from the tin, however I find it slightly stringy on completely smooth surfaces. The other thing is you can’t overwork the primer, or you really do get a stringy finish. Adding a touch of water helps and remembering not to go back over your work while it’s drying, It does go on brilliantly with a sponge roller.

Ican Grepp-V is far from bullet proof once hardened, which is a massive drawback for an adhesion primer. I’ve used it on bare timber, melamine, uPVC and old oil gloss paint. It is awesome on melamine, looks like a spray finish when rolled and stands up well once cured.

You can scratch Grepp-V off uPVC, even after it has had time to cure. It does take a little bit of effort, so I’m confident you could use it without failure, but there are better products out there for this type of substrate.

You can’t apply Grepp-V to old oil-based paint and expect it to stand up. To be fair, Ican do not claim it can. However, as it is a universal adhesion primer, I thought it should.

It makes a great primer for bare timber, or as a first coat on pre-primed MDF. I know you’d normally use a cheaper product for bog standard timber priming, but if you have it in your van, Grepp-V will work brilliantly.

Conclusion

Grepp-V from Ican is fine. It will do a job for you, but it isn’t going to set the decorating world alite. There are better adhesion primers out there which are easier to use and lay off flatter. Click here to see online prices.