If you were to use only one brand of paint, what brand would it be, and WHY?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding's editorial director has some fun news to share.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
I would use a brand that is carried locally. I would want a line with a slough of options from low end to high, oils and latexes, enamels, acrylics, epoxies. I'd want it from a place that could color just about anything they sold and did the color matching for free. I'd want paint from a place where I had a sales rep who was there for those occasions where I really needed to ask a boneheaded question and the guy could give me the straight dope on it. I'd want it on a charge account.
Here, that's Sherwin. They make some very good stuff. But ask guys from out east, lots of them are going to say Ben Moore. West coasters have their picks too. The thing is, no one brand has got the market cornered on every product on the shelf. All the major companies put out stuff that's good for apartments, and stuff thats just plain good. I settled on Sherwin years ago, and I've been happy. They keep me happy, I'll keep giving them my business.
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
I don't like Sherwin Willians because they don't do quarts !
On a hill by the harbour
I like Ben moore paint for several reasons,
1. its a good quality paint
2. customers like to know im using good paint , and some dont want anything else.
3. It doesnt smell bad, I just did a job with sher willmans and it smelled like amonia.
4. the guy at ben moore store gives a 20% discount and flat cost me 14.00 a gal. semi cost me 17.00 sherwin willims cost 18.00 flat 22.00 semi. big difference.and thats with a discount.
check same brands at different stores for discount. where I live we have two ben moore stores and one over prices his paint flat is 21.00 and semi is 31.00 ill never go back to his store.
dogboy
"I just did a job with sher willmans and it smelled like amonia" You know, now that you mention it:, I've noticed that too. Anyone know why that is? Matt
It should not smell like ammonia. In a latex paint, that is a sign that it has frozen and started to separate.
But t6hat might not be the case in this instance. Some of the SW paints ( A100 comes to mind) are extremely vaporous with strong chemical smell. It is simply part of the formulation in that commercial line. Shouldn't be used in a residence where anyone is living.
I prefer Ben Moore but also see plenty of SW
I choose Ben Moore first but my priome painter likle the SW for exterior paints the last few years since BM changed their formulas last time
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Benjamin Moore is the best paint available !
On a hill by the harbour
Sorry everybody, but I'm about to endorse a brand from a big-box. I have to though. I've painted with SW, and don't deny it's good paint, the selections they have in product line, and support technically from reps is great, for a professional, painter only type person, I could understand going there. However, after painting with Ben Moore, Pittsburgh, Glidden (water based pigment), and years ago, Sears, Montgomery Wards, Mac-O-Lac, Mercury, etc, Behr takes them all hands down. Behr paint (I concede to be talking stricly latex now) is 100% acrylic, it's thick, gets onto your brush, get's onto your surface, protects really well, stays mixed forever, not terribly priced either. When rolling, it's not spattering everywhere else either.
I've also heard good things about California Paints, but haven't used them myself.
Behr Interior Premium Latex Enamel is the top choice by Consumer Reports.Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
For exterior latex in a challenging situation (150 year old house with a bit too much physical texture now in the siding) I found Pratt & Lambert worked better than Benjamin Moore. The downside was that I could not find it at the same price as Moore.
Got to go with you on this one - always fresh paint on the shelf; they seem to be able to mix up about any colour; the colour analyzer software matches very well; and the paint really works well enough for me.
And the store stocks a huge aray of related goods..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Hey, you misspelled color and I bet you think Zed means Z. :-)
You guys are crazy, health care for everyone, what a stupid idea. --------not
that 407 is a problem for us yanks though, they just send an invoice.
Actually Phil is using the Old English spelling, for 'color' and 'colour' is still considered an antiquated but acceptable spelling.
:)I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
Actually, "colour" is the current English spelling of the word; "color" is an American variation..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
'Colour' was also popular in America in the 19th century.I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
When I was working in California I used Dunn-Edwards(their top-of-line) and Behr Premium paints. Both were great! Now I'm in an area where neither are available ; North Dakota; brrrrr! I have been using SW and it seems to be okay! (Superpaint; interior) Whatever the brand, always get their best; it's worth the extra!
That's because they used to have better English skills in the US in the 19th century..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Phil
Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We agree on something!I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
As a victim of more classical education, I learned to spell it colour here in the twentieth century.
I also write lettres
and eat potatoes
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Color = American
Colour = England and Canada and the rest of the world
Nobody mentioned yellow. I hate painting yellow. I tried several brands of yellow paint and they all take about four coats to do seamless job.
Is Ralph Lauren line of paint any good? Using it this week to do friends (kids) bedroom.
Edited 2/15/2004 2:18:43 PM ET by ASENNAD
I did a hall and stairs in yellow (Behr "Rising Sun" 1A7-3) in two coats, great coverage over Behr enamel primer. A lighter yellow benefits from a bit of brown tint added to the primer..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Ralph Lauren tested bad according to consumer reports, you are just paying an extra 20 bucks for his name on the can. Ralph should stick with overpriced clothing.I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
Yeah, it is a weird combination. I wonder if Ralph gets his paint on his clothes like I do..... ;-)
-- J.S.
John,
Hopefully you're bright enough to use the same clothes. I'm to lazy to look for my ruined stuff, so I keep wrecking new t shirts all the time!I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
I do have one complete set of paint clothes, and others for crawl space work --- but my wife hates them and keeps trying to get me to throw them out. I have to argue that if I throw out my painting clothes, I'll have to ruin some other clothes next time.... ;-)
-- J.S.
I've used Behr and Ben, but I prefer Ben. Behr seems to leave lap marks on the ceiling, which I've had no trouble with Benjamin Moore.
I think the best thing I ever did regarding painting is buy (and take good care of) quality brushes, like Purdy. Once I used a Purdy brush with Benjamin Moore paint, I was hooked.
Ditto!
I have some news for you, Benjamin Moore is owned by Sherwin W.
But I still like the Benjamin Moore paints, as well as P&L and Pittsburg. I may be off a bit but I like to buy my paint at the local paint store, not the big box. They give me wholesale and I can call the order in for a quick pick up and I am just lowly homeowner/rehabber.
Edited 2/13/2004 2:29:02 AM ET by rjgogo
I was just catching up with the thread.
Benjamin Moore is a Berkshire Hathaway company since 2000. Sherwin Williams is its own corporation.
SW owns/manufactures Dutch Boy, Krylon, Martin Senour, Red Devil, Thompson's (as in waterseal), Pratt & Lambert and Minwax. They also do a lion's share of the Sears lines.
Edited 2/18/2004 9:33:26 AM ET by BruLew
Edited 2/18/2004 9:38:32 AM ET by BruLew
Oh now you tell me about the red paint shhheeeesh Im on my 3rd coat onna brick red bedroom. well this should do it. Im gonna have to buy another gal. Since its a custom color Im hoping they can make make a exact match. I told the wife to take the can wirth the formula to the paint store that sells the same paint to get it mixed. its the same company just another location. But it does look nice. After I finsh putting the final coat on the base and caseing it'll be the bomb....
Darkworksite4:
Gancho agarrador izquierdo americano pasado que la bandera antes de usted sale
my mistake, I have had so many people tell me that was the case I figured it was true. I alway check the internt stories, Guess I should check the verbal ones as well.
I sell to that industry and it's a job just keeping up with who's bought who.
You guys have got it all wrong. My favorite brand is whoever makes the paint used by Sports Illustrated!.
It's not the paint you like, it's the architectural details.
;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
My paint store has a new service for fifteen bucks. You give them a picture of your house and they make you a software where you can change the colors.
I've ordered it. I'll let ya know.
Be back
andyMy life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
There are a couple of online sites that do it for free. I think SW is one of them.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Dunn-Edwards. High quality, a wide variety of products, and it's a local company here in LA. Exterior gloss latex is $21/gal. The studio painters recommend them.
-- J.S.
I wouldnt use just one brand of paint . That would not be smart at all.
Tim Mooney
So long Bee, It was good knowing ya.
The censors will have you hanging by your bristles in a painter's version of Chinese water torture.
LOL
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
ahh, it's just wee cartoon.
Maybe they will just get a kick out of it, laugh out loud and stick it in the folder of stuff that we have given them to enjoy.
Then again, maybe not.
Ran across that some time ago and was just waiting for the right time to post it.View Image
Pretty fond of Benjamin Moore. I've heard good things about SW as well. For exterior wood Sikkens is good but pricey.
I exclusivly use BM. Although on my living room this past cpl of weeks I scored some deep maroon color to paint some book cases and moldings. It took three coats to cover completely.....hmmmmmm.
BM also sells "contractor grade" paint for less money (Moore guard) hmmmmm, again.
I use SW when painting outside in colder wheather.
they sell a good paint for that application.
Be well
andy
My life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I kinda like that Blond paint that bee recommended..:>)
actually I like Evergard. Its a very good paint durable and covers well. Its sold locally here by Smiths paint. I gots to get some today.
Now there is another brand Vista paints. Some painters I know really like it. I get it at a good price. but to me there is nothing really special about it. But it does a good job.
BTW i was talking to the coiunter monkey at Smiths Paints and I was going to buy some alkyd primer. He told me tha some regulating agency is making it tougher to produce it/sell it here at least in its present formula. they have to sell the stuff on hand then they cant get anymore. wwwaaazzzzuuuuuppp with that????
Darkworksite4:
Estamos ganando detrás el estado de Calif. Derrotando a un #### a la vez. DESEA VIVO LA REVOLUCIÓN
"It took three coats to cover completely.....hmmmmmm."
Same problem here with Ben Moore on some new drywall. Three coats barely did it, but it was a dark color.
mine was a dark color as well. Maroon semi gloss over an off white.
A good tip for new rock is to have the paint store tint the primer the same color as the paint.
Be well
andyMy life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Would have done that but the wife could not decide on the color and I needed primer on the walls before some other things got done. I still don't kinow if it would have covered however. Thanks, Rob.
Don't knock the paint in these cases of multiple coats for deep colors, especially with reds, maroons, etc. It has to do more with the chemisty of the paints, and all the bases made to take these deep colors have the least amount of titanium in them, which makes them need more coats to cover. Also, it has to do with the wavelength of red, and the nature of light, I could try to remember the exact color theory from school, but that's worthless now.....my point is just that it's not the quality of your paint that was the problem, just the color picked and what it takes to reach true rendition.
scott
It should be so noted by the salesperson and on the can. Too bad it isn't.
My life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
you just missed two painting threads mentioning how the reds always take more coats because of less solids for pigments. best to primer in flat black or heavy dark grey first
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
best to primer in flat black or heavy dark grey first
Best to have the primer tinted to the color of top coats.
On the shelves I'm doing I don't need primer
Be well
andy
PS.....I'll wave as I pass Maine on my way to Canada....catch ya next weekend...think of me high in the mountains (you take from that sentence what you will.......lol)..... ; )My life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
"you just missed two painting threads mentioning how the reds always take more coats because of less solids for pigments. best to primer in flat black or heavy dark grey first "
That's an interesting recommendation to remember for reds. I painted our bedroom a deep red using Behr and what a bear! (drum fill). I had the primer tinted to match and it still took either 4 or 5 coats (I actually lost track it got to be so many).
Thanks for the tip thar perfessor piffin. One more slip of paper in the "things I gotta remember" brain folder - Love this place!
(note: Vernacular intentionally "coloured" - rules were made to be broken!)Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
That's one I learned here first. It's because even if you tint the primer with red, it is still pink and doesn't have dark pigment to hide the white. And if you actually get a red primer, instead of a white primer with red added to it, it is lacking pigment too.
Ever notice that reds show up as a black colour on B&W prints?
I don't know all the science, but I know it works. I puzzled over this for years after having to paint the walls in a bedroom for a limp wristed guy with FIVE COATS! I thought I'd be ion and out in a day. Wife was giving me sideways glances when I kept going back day after day.
;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
> Ever notice that reds show up as a black colour on B&W prints?
Monochrome film sensitivity doesn't match the human eye, particularly at the red end of the spectrum. Silver halide crystals are sensitive mainly to blue and ultraviolet, and so the first films were blue sensitive. In the early 20th century, there were additives put in film to extend sensitivity into the green, which was called orthochromatic. Then in the 1930's, they got somewhere into the reds and called it panchromatic.
Over 70% of our perception of brightness comes from green, which in part is why film editors used b&w copies of the green record as work prints on separation technicolor shows. This also helped a lot when they squeezed color into the existing b&w TV system in the early 1950's.
-- J.S.
It really makes a lot of sense when you think in terms of hue and saturation instead of tint - the primer thing I mean, not the return trips to the limp wristed feller's house, although I suspect he's more of a hue and saturation type of guy so if you were thinking in those terms it would have made more sense that you would enjoy hanging out with him...
Anyway, thanks again for the tip. It will come in handy for the color pallet I've got planned for the new digs. I can remember really good tips for about five years so I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for paint before I forget it.Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
LOL
Oh, hue phunny guy, hue!
Now that we're back on topic, Cag mentioned flow. I have seen some good colours and finished jobs with Pratt and Lambert Paints, but I hate to use them because they seem to drag so bad. I'd have to plan to use Flotrol if I ever buy theirs aggain
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Andy,
I read that deep reds, are the hardest color as far as covering go. I don't think it would have mattered what brand you used you would have needed at least 2 coats. My sisters dining room took two coats, and that was with a coat of tinited primer put on first. My buddy's dinning room was a deep colonial red, and it took 3 coats also.I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
I was using Ben Moore for everything. I don't think anyone is going to want to hear this but Consumer Reports rated Home Depot's newly formulated Behr Premium Plus as the best paint, in nearly every catagory. The interior paint line beat out everyone, and the exterior line beat out most others in nearly ever catagory, (durability, adhesion, scrubability, and mold resistance.) I tried a few gallons on one of my kids bedrooms and I think it looks good, although I had to add a little paint conditioner to get it to spread better. Time will tell how it holds up.
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/content/display_report.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=343461&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=333143&bmUID=1076763287721
I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
Edited 2/14/2004 8:05:12 AM ET by Manroot
Just rereading these and thought I would share. My dear pregnant daughter wanted her kitchen painted a deep red called ripe currant, a Behr chip. To top it off it was over a mostly black wallpaper. I was waiting for her to find a third strike but finally figured out that it must have been the fact that there was about as many feet of cutting-in as square feet of area to paint.
I faithfully read all I could find here and decided to not do battle with hormones. She went to HD and the young girl there tinted her Behr primer to a Pepto-bismol pink. I was skeptical but it covered fine. The wallpaper turned out to be a non-issue (until someone tries to take it off, instead of a paper tiger they will need their golf shoes). It took five coats but was worth it as it is beautiful. After the third coat I went back for the second gallon and asked for advice as it sure was looking blotchy. Usual advice, nore coats. Called Behr tech support to see if I needed to do anything different. A very helpful Jack Eastland was super, even offered to help out with the extra paint and went the extra mile. I like the product, I was a Ben. Moore fan (still am too).
He explained that this color range uses their deep base which is almost clear with no solids as was said before.
Just thought I would share.
Daughter was so grateful she let me off the hook to paint her popcorn ceiling in bonus room.<g>
I've heard similar stories about the suede paint. Trouble with it "scaping" off. Interesting though that on our last trip to the HD that they are now making room to market a Behr brand of Faux finishes, I wonder if there's been too many problems with Ralph, and maybe he should stick to clothes. As a matter of fact, my last time through the nearest department store, and the people standing there ready to spray me with fragrance led me to believe he shouldn't lend his name to that line either.
Scott
Benny Moore, because their paints seem to flow better for me and locally the customer service is much better than S&W. Sherwin Williams seems to dry to fast, or at least flash at the tip of my brush and streak at least in their latex but I do not have much experience with their top of the line Duration exterior just their super-paint in interior and exterior. For enamel I like satin impervo from Ben Moore, the pro-classic at S&W didn't impress me. No real experience from porter paint so I can't comment.
Nothing from Ben Moore has ever disapointed me except their water borne satin impervo, the oil based works very well for me.
For laquer though I use S&W.
what exactly are you painting.
I have to say, I'm a Pittsburgh Paints fan. I just am :) It has never let me down for coverage, ease of use, color and clean-up.
That said, I sneak and use the Ralph Lauren paint chips to get some PP's in those RL colors. Rice! Now that's neutral you can't find just anywhere.
And lately, Devine Paints has some pretty cool interior product...nice coverage, a little pricey but the colors...ooh la la! Gotta love 'em.
have had very good results w/ Porter and Duron exterior paints.
The undisciplined life is not worth examining.
Behr!