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Smooth or textured masonry paint

Updated: October 2026

You are looking at a pebbledash gable, or at render with a few hairline cracks, and the tin names seem to settle the question. Smooth or textured masonry paint is a choice about the film you add, not a label for the stones already on the wall. If that texture should stay, smooth masonry paint is the usual film. Fine textured paint earns the extra litres only when you need to soften hairline cracks or the edge of a scraped patch. It will not flatten pebbles, and its pits hold dirt. The [white masonry paint comparison](/hub/paints-and-varnishes/white-masonry-paint) lists the amazon.co.uk tins in this set.

You are looking at a pebbledash gable, or at render with a few hairline cracks, and the tin names seem to settle the question.

Our top picks

Leyland Leyland Granocryl white 2.5 litre

Best overall

Leyland Leyland Granocryl white 2.5 litre
8.4/10about £15.17
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Leyland Leyland Granocryl brilliant white 5 litre

Best value

Leyland Leyland Granocryl brilliant white 5 litre
8.8/10about £20.95
View offer
Sandtex Sandtex fine textured brilliant white 5 litre

Alternative

Sandtex Sandtex fine textured brilliant white 5 litre
6.8/10about £27.93
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.The wall's texture is not the paint's texture
  2. 2.When fine textured earns its keep
  3. 3.The litre cost
  4. 4.The one textured tin in this set

The wall's texture is not the paint's texture

Pebbledash and roughcast already have a coarse surface. Textured masonry paint does not copy it. It lays a pitted film over whatever is underneath, so the stones and the gaps between them stay put. Sandtex names pebbledash as suitable for its smooth masonry paint and quotes 12–16 m² per litre, though the top of that range is not a promise for every dashed wall. Fine textured paint can still go on, though it will not flatten the dash. Loose stones, hollow render, or a crack that takes a coin are a repair, not a film choice. Litres and tools for that wall are on the masonry paint for pebbledash page.

When fine textured earns its keep

Fine textured masonry paint earns the lower coverage when the unevenness is small and visual. Sandtex positions that film for uneven walls with hairline cracks. A hairline is a line you can see and cannot drop a coin into. The thicker film can blur it. It is not a filler for a widening crack, a moving joint, or anything structural, which need an exterior filler or a builder first. Paint over a live crack and both films can open again. Picture a rendered side wall where a patch was floated almost flush and the old paint was scraped back about 150 mm around it. In low evening sun the repair still reads as a flat island. A smooth coat may leave a ghost. A fine textured coat can soften it, at the cost of a lightly pitted finish across the whole bay.
Leyland Leyland Granocryl white 2.5 litre

Testsieger

Leyland Leyland Granocryl white 2.5 litre
8.4/10about £15.17
View offer

The litre cost

Sandtex quotes 3–6.5 m² per litre for fine textured masonry paint and 12–16 m² per litre for smooth. On those ranges the textured film covers about a quarter to a half of the smooth film. Dulux Trade's textured sheet is in the same band: 6–8 m² per litre on smooth render, and 3–4 m² per litre on pebbledash. A 20 m² gable needs about 1.4 litres for one smooth coat at 14 m² per litre, and about 4 litres at 5 m² per litre inside the fine textured range. Two coats roughly double both, so the smooth job can stay in a 5 litre tin and the textured job needs a second. Substrate and pack size are in the white masonry paint buying guide.

The one textured tin in this set

This comparison's amazon.co.uk set has one fine textured listing: Sandtex fine textured brilliant white, 5 litres, ASIN B004R21C4U. In the display used here it is £27.93, rated 4.2 from 33 reviews, and listed at 7.41 kg. The coverage field is not usable, so you cannot check the 3–6.5 m² per litre figure on that page. If the wall is sound and the existing texture should stay, use a smooth tin whose spreading rate you can read. Buy fine textured paint only when hairline cracks or scraped patch edges are the point, and buy more litres than the smooth rate suggests. If the crack is wide, moving, or damp, repair the wall before you open either tin.

Common questions

My wall is pebbledash. Do I buy textured paint?
Not because it is pebbledash. Sandtex lists that surface for its smooth paint, and a textured film adds pits rather than copying the stones. Buy fine textured only to hide hairline cracks or patch edges, and expect fewer square metres per litre.
When is fine textured the better buy?
It is the better buy when the defect is small and visual: a hairline, an uneven film, or a scraped repair that still shows in low sun. It is the weaker buy when you already want the wall's texture, because you spend extra litres on a surface that holds dirt. On bare common, Fletton or engineering brick, Sandtex excludes both films, so this choice does not come first.
Will textured paint fill large cracks?
Fine textured paint can blur a hairline. It will not fill a crack that takes a coin, a crack that is opening, or a gap at a joint. Fill those with an exterior masonry filler and let it cure before paint. A damp crack, or render that sounds hollow, is a repair rather than a choice between these films.
Does a textured film stay cleaner?
A textured film tends to look dirtier, because soil settles in the pits. The Decorators Forum gives that as the downside of hiding defects this way. Smooth paint still weathers, especially beside a road, though the soiling is usually more even. Coat a whole bay and that dirt pattern comes with it.
Is ultra smooth a different product from smooth?
In this set, ultra smooth is Sandtex's name for the smooth range, not a film between smooth and fine textured. It leaves dash and render texture in place, and it is not sold to bridge hairline cracks. Satin or gloss wording on two smooth amazon.co.uk listings is a clash on the page, not a reason to switch to the textured tin.
Can I put smooth paint over old textured paint?
You can, when the old film is sound, clean and firmly stuck. The new coat recolours the pits. It does not sand them flat. Flaking or dirt-packed texture needs washing and scraping first, and another textured coat would only add a further rough layer.

Related pages

Best white masonry paint

White masonry paint

White masonry paint: what to settle before you buy a tin

How to apply masonry paint: prep, weather and coats

Masonry paint for pebbledash: litres, tools and gaps

Sources

Public UK sources and maker sheets for the VOC cap, coverage bands, weather window and the withdrawn BBA certificate. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk lines in these eleven listings from 15 October 2026. Prices move.

  1. SI 2012/1715, Schedule 2 — VOC limits (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  2. BS EN 1062-1:2004 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  3. BS 6150:2019, painting of buildings (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  4. Dulux Weathershield smooth masonry paint (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  5. Dulux Weathershield FAQs (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  6. Dulux Trade Weathershield smooth masonry data sheet (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  7. NBS on BBA certificate 97/3383 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  8. Leyland Granocryl smooth masonry, technical data (retrieved 15 October 2026)