What does Selleys make for painting work, and where does each product fit?

This page covers the Selleys products the catalogue associates with painting work. It is worth being clear about what that means: Selleys does not sell paint. What it sells sits either side of the paint job — the cleaners you use to get a surface ready, the strippers and removers you use to take old coatings off, and the fillers that make a wall smooth enough to be worth painting.

So the decision this page helps you make is not "which paint", it is which stage of the job you are at. Preparation, removal and filling are three different problems with three different products, and using the wrong one wastes the coat that goes on afterwards.

What this category covers

The product listing on the Selleys painting category page is loaded dynamically and could not be captured, so this page is built from the products elsewhere in the Selleys catalogue that the site itself associates with painting. It is an orientation page rather than a complete range listing. If you need the full current range, the category page's own product filter is the authoritative source.

How to choose

If you are preparing a surface before painting

Selleys Original Sugar Soap is a professional strength, high performance formula that powers through tough grease and grime, and Selleys specifically recommends it for cleaning surfaces prior to painting and wallpapering.

This is the product for the step most people skip. Paint applied over grease or built-up grime bonds to the contamination rather than to the substrate, and the failure does not show up on the day — it shows up months later as peeling or flaking, by which time the only fix is to strip it and start again.

If you need to get an old coating off first

Selleys Kwik Strip is the paint remover in the range, described for quick and efficient paint removal on DIY projects. Use it where the existing coating is too thick, too degraded or too incompatible to simply paint over.

Selleys Muck-Off Graffiti Remover is the high-strength option in the same part of the range, aimed at removing graffiti safely and easily. It is a different job from stripping a whole wall: graffiti removal is about lifting one unwanted coating without taking the sound coating underneath with it, so reach for it when the surrounding paint is meant to survive.

If you need to fill before you paint

Selleys Spakfilla Colour Smart fills gaps and cracks in walls and ceilings, dries white and is easy to sand — which is precisely what makes it suit painting work. A filler that sands cleanly and finishes white disappears under a coat of paint; one that does not will telegraph through the finish, and no amount of extra coats hides a proud or discoloured patch.

For the wider filling range, including flexible fillers for joints that move and rigid fillers for flat surfaces, see the putty and fillers category and its wall filler section.

The products associated with this category

• Selleys Original Sugar Soap — professional strength, high performance formula for tough grease and grime, recommended for cleaning surfaces before painting and wallpapering.
• Selleys Kwik Strip — paint remover for quick and efficient stripping on DIY projects.
• Selleys Muck-Off Graffiti Remover — high-strength graffiti remover from the Selleys painting range.
• Selleys Spakfilla Colour Smart — fills gaps and cracks in walls and ceilings, dries white and is easy to sand.

Common questions

Does Selleys sell paint?

Not in this category. The products here are surface preparation, paint and graffiti removal, and filling — the work that happens before and after painting rather than the coating itself.

Do I really need to wash a wall before painting it?

Selleys recommends Original Sugar Soap for cleaning surfaces prior to painting and wallpapering, which is a fair indication of how much the step matters. Grease and grime left on a wall sit between the paint and the substrate, and that is where the bond fails.

What is the difference between Kwik Strip and Muck-Off Graffiti Remover?

Kwik Strip is a general paint remover for DIY stripping work. Muck-Off is a high-strength product aimed specifically at graffiti removal. They solve different problems, so choose by the coating you are trying to take off and by whether the surface underneath needs to survive.

Which filler should I use if I am going to paint over it?

Spakfilla Colour Smart is the one described for painting work — it dries white and sands easily, so it takes a coat cleanly. For gaps in joints that move rather than cracks in a flat surface, look at the flexible fillers in the gap filler range instead.

Can I use sugar soap on any surface?

The description covers tough grease and grime and names painting and wallpapering preparation. For anything beyond that, check the product page for its stated surfaces before you use it — a strong cleaner on the wrong substrate causes its own problems.

Why does this page not list a full painting range?

The product listing on the live category page is loaded dynamically and was not captured in the source used to write this page. The products above are the ones the Selleys catalogue itself associates with painting. Use the category page's own filter for the complete current range.

Where do I find wallpaper products?

The paint removal products sit under paint and wallpaper in the Selleys catalogue, which is the section to check for related items.