Buy it if the walls get touched. UltraLast is the most washable paint Home Depot sells, and the matte is the point: crayon, grease, and chair scuffs come off with a damp rag and mild soap, with no burnished halo left behind. Coverage is honest at 350 to 400 sq ft a gallon and a Home Depot limited lifetime warranty comes with it. At $50 to $70 it is the priciest can in the aisle, one coat is conditional, and Emerald still scuffs better.
Spec Sheet
- COVERAGE
- 350–400 sq ft / gal on smooth, primed surfaces
- SHEENS
- Matte, Eggshell, Semi-Gloss
- RECOAT
- About 2 hr per PPG
- FULL CURE
- About 14 days
- VOC
- Low-VOC; GREENGUARD Gold certified (near-zero after cure)
- TECH
- Clean Surface Technology — stain and scuff release, color and gloss retention
- PRIMER
- Self-priming on coated, prepped walls; separate primer or an extra coat on bare, glossy, stained, or drastic color changes
- SURFACES
- Drywall, plaster, primed wood and trim, previously painted interior walls
- SIZES
- Quart, gallon, 5-gallon
- WARRANTY
- Home Depot limited lifetime warranty
- PRICE
- $50–70 / gal at Home Depot; deep bases sit at the high end
Dry Times and the First Month
Plan the job around two numbers. PPG lists recoat at about 2 hours, so two coats fit comfortably in one day, and full cure lands around 14 days. The part people trip over is touch-up. Inside the first month a dabbed-in spot blends cleanly, so fix your dings early rather than saving them all up. After the wall has aged and faded a little, a matte or eggshell touch-up flashes at a different sheen and the only real fix is re-rolling the wall corner to corner. Keep a labeled quart from the job and use it in the first few weeks, not next year.
When It Goes Wrong — and How to Fix It
One coat did not cover the way the can implied
Why it happens: The one-coat claim is conditional and PPG's own can carries the asterisk. It holds up on a similar tone over a primed, evenly colored wall. It does not hold going dark-to-light, into a deep base, or over patchy repairs — and most painters do two coats anyway to get the full color and the full washability.
The fix: Budget two coats from the start on any real color change, any deep base, and any wall with patched repairs. Treat one-coat as a best case, not a guarantee, and price the job on two gallons where you were hoping for one.
The paint sits patchy or will not stick on bare or glossy spots
Why it happens: Self-priming is a convenience claim, not a magic one. It applies to sound, previously coated, prepped walls. Bare drywall, glossy surfaces, and stained areas are outside that, and the paint-and-primer body cannot seal them on its own.
The fix: Prime the problem area first — a bonding primer on glossy substrates, a stain-blocking primer over water or tannin marks — then paint. Skipping that step on bare drywall just costs you a third coat.
A touch-up spot shows as a different sheen
Why it happens: Normal for a matte or eggshell wall paint once the film has aged. The dabbed spot dries at a slightly different sheen and thickness than the surrounding wall, and it reads sideways to a window even when the color matches exactly.
The fix: Do touch-ups inside the first month, when they still blend. Past that, re-roll the whole wall to a natural break — corner to corner — rather than spotting it in.
Application Settings That Work
- PRIMER
- Self-priming on sound, previously painted, evenly toned walls. Prime separately on bare drywall or plaster, glossy surfaces, water or tannin stains, and drastic color changes — or plan on an extra coat instead. The body is thicker than a budget acrylic, so it takes slightly more push on the roller and holds a long enough open time to keep a wet edge.
UltraLast vs Behr Marquee vs Sherwin-Williams Emerald
This is the super-premium wall paint question people actually run. Two of these sit in the same Home Depot aisle; the third means a different store and more money. They win on three different things.
| PPG UltraLast | Behr Marquee | Sherwin-Williams Emerald | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washability | Best in the big-box aisle. Crayon, grease, and scuffs wipe off at matte as well as semi-gloss, no burnished halo. | Good, but cannot match UltraLast's matte at the same sheen. | Strong, but UltraLast out-washes Emerald's matte. |
| Scuff durability | Strong, a hair behind the benchmark. | Good; UltraLast edges it on stain shedding and color retention. | The benchmark. Resists scuffing slightly better than anything here. |
| One-coat hide | Conditional. Similar tones yes, dark-to-light and deep bases no. | The most aggressive one-coat hide in the store, on its listed colors. | Strong, but not sold on a one-coat promise. |
| Price per gallon | $50–70 | $48–58 | About $90 |
| Where you buy it | Home Depot, in-store and online. | Home Depot, every one in the country. | Sherwin-Williams store — a separate trip. |
| Sheen choice | Three: matte, eggshell, semi-gloss. No satin, no high-gloss. | Wider sheen range on the shelf. | Wider sheen range at the counter. |
| Warranty | Home Depot limited lifetime | Its own lifetime warranty | Not the selling point here |
| Where it wins | Kitchens, hallways, kids' rooms — anywhere you would rather clean a wall than repaint it. | Price, and the hardest one-coat hide in the aisle. | Outright toughness on a high-traffic wall. |
Pick UltraLast when washability is the priority, Marquee when price is, Emerald when durability is. That is the honest three-way split. The washable matte is the thing you cannot get from the other two, so a household with kids or pets gets real value out of the premium. If the room takes ordinary living-space traffic, none of these three is the answer — Timeless at the same Home Depot counter handles it for $20 to $35 less a gallon.
What It's Good At
- +A matte you can actually wash — crayon and fingerprints come off with no shiny rubbed patch
- +Shedding stains and scuffs instead of absorbing them, from range splatter to marker
- +Holding color and sheen on a high-traffic wall, so you repaint less often
- +Honest coverage at 350–400 sq ft a gallon, hiding a similar-tone change in one pass
- +Home Depot access — any PPG color tinted at the counter in about fifteen minutes
- +A Home Depot limited lifetime warranty on a paint you can buy on a Saturday
What It's Not Good At
- −Value — at $50–70 a gallon it is the priciest can in the aisle and brushes Emerald money
- −Guaranteed one-coat, which the can itself asterisks
- −Outright scuff resistance, where Emerald still edges it
- −Sheen choice: three options, no satin, no high-gloss, no flat-vs-matte split
- −Deep saturated colors, where Aura still reads richer at three feet
- −Pro features — a trim-heavy job wanting a self-leveling enamel has to look elsewhere
Honest Alternatives
The brand UltraLast was built to beat in the same aisle. Wins on price and on the most aggressive one-coat hide in listed colors, with its own lifetime warranty. UltraLast's matte still out-washes it.
Behr's stain-and-scuff-repellent super-premium and the closest head-to-head to UltraLast's washability pitch. Call it a toss-up if you trust Behr's color counter more.
The durability benchmark UltraLast trails. Resists scuffing slightly better and holds up on a high-traffic wall as well as anything, for $20–40 more a gallon and a Sherwin-Williams trip.
The value rung below at the same Home Depot counter. You lose Clean Surface Technology and the washable matte, you keep the zero-VOC base, easy rolling, and one-coat hide in listed colors, for $20–35 less.
UltraLast Questions, Answered
Is PPG UltraLast worth it?
Yes, if the walls get touched. UltraLast is the most washable paint Home Depot sells — including a matte you can actually wipe clean — and that is the whole reason to pay $50 to $70 a gallon. Skip it for quiet bedrooms, where PPG Timeless does the job for $20 to $35 less, and skip it if outright scuff durability matters more to you than cleanability, which is Sherwin-Williams Emerald's strength.
Is PPG UltraLast better than Behr Marquee or Sherwin-Williams Emerald?
It sits between them. UltraLast's Clean Surface Technology gives it the best washability in the Home Depot aisle, including a matte Marquee cannot match at the same sheen. Emerald still edges it on outright durability, for more money and a separate trip. Against Marquee in the same store, UltraLast wins on stain shedding and color retention; Marquee wins on price and on the most aggressive one-coat hide.
Is PPG UltraLast really one coat?
On a similar tone over a primed, evenly colored wall, usually yes. Going dark-to-light, into a deep base, or over patchy repairs, plan on two coats. PPG's own can carries the asterisk that a separate primer or multiple coats may be required, and most painters do two coats to get the full color and the full washability. Treat one-coat as a best case, not a guarantee.
Can you really wash the matte?
That is the differentiator and it holds up. In wipe testing the Clean Surface matte took crayon, fingerprints, and a food smear off with a damp rag and mild soap and left no shiny rubbed patch behind. Most paints only become scrubbable at satin and up, so a flat wall smudges the moment a hand drags across it. This one does not.
Where can you buy PPG UltraLast?
Home Depot, in-store and online. UltraLast is PPG's super-premium consumer flagship for that aisle, so you will not find it at Lowe's or at a PPG dealer counter. One naming note: PPG sold its US architectural paint business to AIP in late 2024 and the company behind the stores is now The Pittsburgh Paints Company, but the shelf brand at Home Depot is still PPG. It carries a Home Depot limited lifetime warranty.
Does UltraLast need a primer?
On a clean, previously painted, evenly toned wall, no — the paint-and-primer handles it. On bare drywall, glossy surfaces, water or tannin stains, or a drastic color change, prime first or plan an extra coat. PPG's own label spells that out. Self-priming is a convenience claim, not a magic one.
What sheens does UltraLast come in?
Three: matte, eggshell, and semi-gloss. There is no satin and no high-gloss, and no separate flat-vs-matte split. That is thin next to the rest of the tier, and it is the main reason a trim-heavy job or a specific satin spec has to look at another line.
UltraLast or PPG Timeless?
UltraLast for kitchens, hallways, kids' rooms, and any wall you would rather wipe than repaint. Timeless for bedrooms, living rooms, and rental repaints that do not take daily abuse — it costs $20 to $35 less a gallon at the same counter. What the extra money buys is Clean Surface Technology: the washable matte and the strongest stain shedding in the aisle.
Is UltraLast low-VOC?
Yes. It is a low-VOC formula and GREENGUARD Gold certified, which puts it near zero after cure. That is the certification that actually matters for indoor air quality. Full cure runs about 14 days; ventilate the first day the way you would with any paint.
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