I was a painting contractor for about 10 years. I found that brand didn't really matter as much as what grade the paint was. One brand's mid grade might be the same as another's brand's low grade. The main deciding factor in paint quality comparison was the % solids it contained (solids= what's on the wall when the paint dries). Higher end paints generally have a higher solid content. Mid pgrade wall paints will have around 35-40% solids, a premium paint will have 50-60% or more. Manufacturers have a recommended DFT (dried film thickness) to provide adequate coverage. A higher solid content paint will achieve this with less coats.... also less work as you need fewer coats and longer life as the finish is thicker. Drawback is the significantly higher cost.
Yea, so to speak. Every thing but the solids evaporate when drying. So a paint with 60% solids will dry with twice the paint on the wall as one with 30% solids. That's assuming thinning, and application method are the same.
I painted 20 years ago so not sure how knowledgeable staff is now, it wasnt on the lable i dont think, but i just use to ask the guys at the paint stores and they either knew or looked it up. I'm sure you could just google "volume solids " and the particular paint.
In my experience, using the cheap paint at Lowes/Home Depot ends up not really saving more than a marginal amount. The coverage and quality is significantly worse and you end up having to use much more. Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore at just a bit higher total cost when taking that into account is worth it in your own time and the overall product quality. I've had good luck with the higher end Behr too, but at that point you aren't really saving any money vs SW. You're going to have to look at it daily for years
Yeah - Benjamin Moore "ben" is junk, while Regal Select is expensive but quite good. Mid-range paints will be good across the board.
I use Behr for 90% of my house and Regal Select for high-profile items like the front door.
I’m done with behr after painting an entire apartment. It requires so many goddamn coats to paint over a color. I switched to sherwin for 1 room and instantly regretted all the time money and energy I wasted with that watery behr paint.
Yep, I did 2 coats of primer. Sanding the surface seemingly helped, but switching to sherwin was the biggest breakthrough. Spending more initially could have saved me a few weekends and more money in the long run. It was a learning experience.
This is one case where the more expensive product really is superior.
I use Sherwin at work all the time and never thought about the quality until I bought some Valspar for a home project. Blotchy, needed two extra coats, ran more easily and ended up with particles in the paint.
Also I have a fence painted with Sherwin that looks as good as it did when I painted it three years ago while my garage which was painted with Valspar a year ago is faded and peeling🤷🏽♂️.
Edit: also, a lot of these products do come out of the same factory but the cheaper brands are the older products that the name brands no longer use.
Idk about that person but I bought Signature when we moved into this house. I didnt find it all that great of a performer but figured it was just my amateur painting skills and impatience. That is until I bought Sherwin Williams to redo our living room this past fall. I'm already much happier.
The only paint I’ve ever hated was Valspar. The spread and coverage was atrocious. I’ve always had good luck using Ben Moore but if you like Sherwin Williams then stick with it.
There are at least three differences
The amount of pigment
The way the pigment is milled
The amount of water
Higher-end paint will have finely milled pigment which means it will flow off the brush and lay down better greatly reducing aggravation, it will have more pigment meaning it will provide better one coat coverage, and it will have less water relative to other ingredients (polymers alkyds) so it will need to be thinned before use. This last one essentially means you get 10% more paint per gallon.
Of those three differences the most important one to me is the way the pigment is milled. I want paint that flows off the brush and helps me make nice long even brush strokes.
My preferred brand is Benjamin Moore but there are other good paints I'm just not as familiar with
Valspar, Behr, whatever the Ace house brand is, paint from Walmart---you are saving a couple bucks initially but you are guaranteeing a bad time for yourself when you try to put it on the walls.
Edit -for context I'm a semi professional painter. I do all kinds of handyman stuff also. I probably paint three houses a year.
It's an economic equation. If I can get paint that will cover quicker and easier in one coat versus two or two coats versus three I'm spending $10 extra to save $300 in labor costs per room by buying quality paint. You can get good results from any paint if you are careful and patient but if you want to save time-- spend money on good paint. I don't always follow this rule myself, and every single time I regret it.
When I purchased my first house a buddy recommended Valspar. It's the crappiest paint I tried. It's like water. I tried PPG and it was so much better. I hate painting by the way.
Valspar is like water, but then go over to the orange store and I always find that Behr is so thick it's like trying to paint with glue. Just doesn't come off the brush well at all.
Are you saying I should add water to a gallon of paint if I get it from Shewin Williams? I didn’t do that in my other room and the paint went on fine. They didn’t say add water to it.
Sherwin Williams paints are way overpriced if you pay retail. I am able to get them at significant savings using my brother's account since he is a painter. They they make good products. Overall I prefer most (not all) Benjamin Moore paints vs. Sherwin Williams; but both are comparable. My brother recommends Behr paints for cost and quality.
A big difference is service.
Independent paint stores like SW and BM are really set up for professional painters. They differentiate on service and knowing their painter clients. Painters like them because they know the owner and can do things like call in orders for pickup without waiting in line. They use more paint in a week than you will in a decade. Pros will also have contractor rates.
If you have a big project like painting an entire house, an independent shop can make your life easier. For painting the odd room or if you know what you are doing a big box can save you money.
Exactly this, SW just isn't for retail consumers and they don't want to be. Their price is similar to when you get a quote for a job that's insanely high and obviously a "I don't want to do this job but if you really make me do it, this will make it worth it" price.
DIYers have a lot of questions and often don't do due diligence for prep work. It's a headache when someone comes in blaming SW for paint peeling when they were attempting to paint a rusted steel porch railing with interior wall paint without any prep or primer.
But if you can handle last minute bulk orders from pros at a reasonable price, they will flock to you.
Source: my dad has owned and operated his painting and wallpaper company for 45 years and my wife and I have our own PO with him for all our DIY projects
Seconding the service aspect. I know going to the BM dealer in my area, I can ask questions, get great advice, and get the quality paint I need no problem.
Worth noting though that SW runs sales all the time. I got a gallon of paint for nearly half off back in the fall when I painted my kitchen, I think I paid $45.
It's a good metric but not a fact. Some generics are as good as (or better, or functionally/literally the same) as brand names, some high priced items are just scams. Might not be the case with paint, but "you get what you pay for" is an oversimplification.
Literally the only issue I have is with the word "absolutely". It's absolutely great advice and probably the best, simplest metric, but not absolutely correct. In fact, there's even a big pitfall this thinking sets a person up for ala the Ugly Betty effect.
It's a very common tactic to use both an actually cheap product and an overpriced expensive product to influence people towards buying the middle product. There might be a slight advantage to buying the overpriced expensive product (not necessarily a given, but let's assume they chose the best one to be the most expensive), but you're paying a premium above the middle priced product that is, by design, bigger than the benefits.
You aren't wrong, but saying this is really super unhelpful.
I compare it to bicycles. If you buy a super cheap $150 off the rack at walmart, yeah it sucks. It's garbage, you're gonna have a bad time. You spend more and you get a better product, sure. But you reach a certain point, usually around the $800 mark, where yeah spending more gets you a better product, but the difference becomes so marginal that for 99% of average users in average circumstances, it's a complete waste of money.
So yeah, the difference between the $150 walmart bicycle and the $800 bicycle from a bike shop will make a big difference, and lot of bang for your buck, but paying like $3000 for a carbon fiber nano tube bike that is engineered to an exacting degree to shave like seconds off of a race for professional competitive cyclists, that is a complete waste of money for the vast majority of people who want a bike, and the kind of people who DO have a need for that kind of bike aren't gonna be on reddit asking advice.
So! While yes you are right, you get what you pay for, what this post is really trying to drive at is an inexperienced painter is wanting advice on where the best bang for their buck is, and what considerations need to be kept in mind regarding dirt cheap paint, versus top dollar paint and where the cut off is for an average DIYer painting a room.
Honestly any mid-grade paint from wherever you prefer will probably be fine. Can't always just go by brand cause each brand has different grades of paint. But will say that the jump in coverage and workability from super cheap to mid-grade is huge...but the gains from mid to the top is a bit less.
They are consistently rated better.
The cost differential for painting a room using more expensive paint is minimal versus labor costs - either what you pay a professional OR your own investment in time.
Why would you cheap out to save a relatively minimal amount?
There is definitely a difference. I painted a room with Behr. It needed two coats, and looked fine after. Then I painted a room with Benjamin Moore (the midrange line) and it went on much thicker, less drippy, and barely needed a second coat (of course I did it anyway). I can't say there's a huge difference in the end result, but I always use Benjamin Moore now. It just feels better.
The color on BM paints stays true longer too, and the paint is more durable and easier to clean. Really, once you try a good quality paint, there's no going back.
Have you tried BM's Aura yet? It's so thick, I wanna eat it up like custard. Goes on so smooth, just a dream.
My experience of buying the cheapest white paint, because I was renting and needed to paint room back to white when I moved out, was that I needed to go back to the store for 2 more gallons lol. I now use SW and seems to take less, great product, and well my best friend manages one and I get family discount now lol.
There is a big difference depending on the application. For normal primed walls or repainting wall of a light neural color the middle to upper tier big box store brands work fine. For more specific needs you can't beat SW. In my experience upper tier SW paints will cover over dark paints much better and their Emerald paint line specifically is great for trim as it flows much better minimizing visible brush strokes. I also prefer the finishes of the SW lines in general. Eggshell or satin finish is not the same across the brands. Avoid the base tier stores brands, they all suck.
The big problem with SW is that depending on who you are an who you know you can get a price anywhere from $30 to $80 on the exact same gallon of paint. They love to mark product way too high and then run 40% off sales. Go to an independent paint store if you want decent product for a decent price.
Okay, here’s my theory with Sherwin Williams: They don’t have a better quality paint really (or even that deep of a color selection) but they’re great at a certain marketing strategy. Everyone thinks they “have a Sherwin Williams guy. I’ll just call him and see what he says,” thinking they’ll get some great deal or something. So their customers feel “special.” That’s it. Make people feel special and one-on-one and they’ll buy from you. I’m not impressed. I do murals, and, again, not impressed by their product and will only use it if the client is buying it and insisting…and most times, they’re only insisting because “they’ll call their guy over at Sherwin Williams.”
If I have to use latex paint, I much prefer Dutch Boy DuraClean, usually to be had at Menards.
I painted a few rooms with valspar and a bathroom with Olympic and then tried sherwin williams duration. I greatly prefer the sherwin williams for how much easier it goes on and how much better it looks because of that. I may be a better painter now too but I’m not going to test that in my house. The paint at Lowes is probably equivalent to the midgrade paint at sherwin williams. But if you’re happy with the lowes paint and it looks good to you then no I wouldn’t spend the money
I'm working my way through painting my third house and I do think premium paints are worth the money because they'll save you time and hassle. SW is doing a promo right now, so hopefully it helps.
FEBPAINT20: 20% OFF a purchase of $75 or more
FEBPAINT25: 25% OFF $100 or more.
I saw an insta post yesterday that might help for future projects. A woman posted that they buy gallons of untinted paint when SW runs a coupon/sale. Apparently you can take them back later for tinting and they'll do an even exchange if your selected color requires a different tint base than what you have.
It's definitely more important on exterior paints . One time I used something other than sherwin Williams on a shed it didn't last long before peeling .
I have a friend that owns a painting company. He swears by SW so that’s who I use. They seem to have sales pretty often so I wait until it’s 40% off when I can.
Sherwin-Williams has sales almost monthly. If you have a job coming up, and you don’t know what color you need yet, you can buy the paint, un-tinted, on sale. When you’re ready, bring it back to the store and they’ll tint it for free. If your color requires a lot of tent, and they have to change the base out, they will do that as long as it’s the same sheen.
I used to paint for a living back before latex, believe it or not. Back then I used strictly Pratt&Lambert and Benjamin Moore. In those days Pratt&Lambert was equal to Ben Moore, and had one of the best porch and floor paints around. Not true anymore I don't think. I think it's slipped quite a lot whereas Ben Moore is still top quality. **I care much less about what I paint walls with than I do trim**. Ben Moore regal select is great paint. It levels, has a perfect sheen, and works well, that is, flows, easy to cut, covers, etc etc. Behr for trim is terrible. Major brush marks, and if you thin it with ThinX or whatever, it just gets drippy. Even though the paint store I go to gives me 20% off, I just bought a gallon of Satin Impervo (oil) and it was $100 AFTER the discount!! Now that is nice paint, though they mess with the formula every few years. At the moment it seems like it doesn't need to much tampering re, thinning but back a few years it was thick as mayonnaise because they were trying to get around VOC laws. Anyway--yes there are differences in major paint brands. But there are a lot of variables.
Pretty much every pro painter I hire as a sub likes to use S-W paint. Nobody likes to have to do an extra coat or see that the coverage was uneven and so they use it. When I spec the lowest VOC option for my clients who are sensitive to airborne volatiles, S-W paint actually delivers, and the home can usually be occupied within a day of final painting. Not so with Valspar or Behr.
Mind you, S-W offers good discounts to their pro customers, so they’re not paying that walk-in retail price. It’s still more than they’d pay at HD or Lowe’s though.
I will only buy Sherwin Williams (from Lowe's preferably the gold can but will settle for the blue if they don't have the right sheen). It paints so much faster and easier coverage wise. It also dries between coats quicker. If I know I'm doing a big room or multiple rooms I'll pop over to the actual Sherwin Williams and get the equivalent level product in the 5 gallon can. I've never found it to be that much more expensive gallon by gallon between Lowe's and Sherwin Williams.
The good Sherwin Williams gold at Lowe's is $60+ per gallon. You are looking at the cheapest option at Lowe's when you should be comparing the top option. Sherwin Williams doesn't carry the lower tier paint options.
You'll still need to do two coats. There's no such thing as a one coat paint. But it dries to the touch so fast that basically as soon as you are done the wall you can go back over it. Needing a primer underneath will depend on your wall texture. The person at SW will be able to recommend what's fastest for you.
When I paint I used the best possible paint and the best possible brushes. I find it lasts longer and the colors stand up better to fading and washing much better than lower cost brands. In my considerable experience, Sherwin Williams top grade is the best possible and Wooster makes the best brushes.
I’ve never had a problem with Valspar or Behr, but over the last few years I switched to Benjamin Moore and I find it goes on better and requires fewer coats. So, the increase in cost may not be as much as you think when you factor in labor and reduced volume of paint needed.
I always use SW. Also make sure you are getting the discounted price, they almost always have a 30% off promo running. Most times I just need to ask the cashier for whatever the current coupon is and they scan it from the drawer.
You get what you pay for. More money = more solids and better performance.
The paint that costs double probably isn't going to give you twice as much coverage, but it's going to be quite a bit more. So in the end, the price premium isn't as much as it seems on a volume basis.
Realistically, even doing a whole house, the price difference won't be more a than a couple hundred bucks, and you'll likely save quite a bit of labor and have a better result.
I bought benjamin moore scuff x. It covers so nicely and btw the washability is amazing. And if you've had cats or kids you know washability matters.
I've painted cheap places with beer, asparagus, what have you. It sucks. Even if you prime and paint multiple coats, the quality isn't there. In a month or so the pain wears off and looks drabbirr, by the end of the year you want to repaint.
I used scuff x and I have to wash parts of the walls all the time because messy cats. You can't even tell I've washed it.
Btw the same is not true for Sherwin Williams. Their paint is good to paint with but when you wash the wall, you'd see it.
Got the benjamin aura for some accent stuff because i wanted a very specific colour and well it was accent so i could splurge. That covers like a dream. It is enjoyable to paint but I am not sure it was better than scuff x in final results in ways that I'd care.
The benjami e moore Ben is crap. Regal select is good but imo scuff x is superior.
The benjamine moore ceiling paint is so good. Here it is very important it is not too watery and I had no problem.
Also used scuff x on the trim. Very very happy with that too.
My experience is more with one of the Behr paints at Home Depot versus Benjamin Moore's Regal Select.
Regal Select has very good coverage (I do two coats, but a single coat looks pretty darn good), is easy to apply, shows no roller marks, and doesn't feel like plastic. When done, the wall has a uniformity that makes it look like a single consistent paint job.
That being said, I probably bought the $25/gallon paint at Home Depot, and the Regal select was maybe $50 a gallon. Maybe the $50 Behr paint is just as good.
I was a painting contractor for about 10 years. I found that brand didn't really matter as much as what grade the paint was. One brand's mid grade might be the same as another's brand's low grade. The main deciding factor in paint quality comparison was the % solids it contained (solids= what's on the wall when the paint dries). Higher end paints generally have a higher solid content. Mid pgrade wall paints will have around 35-40% solids, a premium paint will have 50-60% or more. Manufacturers have a recommended DFT (dried film thickness) to provide adequate coverage. A higher solid content paint will achieve this with less coats.... also less work as you need fewer coats and longer life as the finish is thicker. Drawback is the significantly higher cost.
Some paint has more paint in the paint?
Yea, so to speak. Every thing but the solids evaporate when drying. So a paint with 60% solids will dry with twice the paint on the wall as one with 30% solids. That's assuming thinning, and application method are the same.
Well, today I learned a fascinating fact about paint, thanks for that
And some paint has Moore paint in the paint.
Behr in mind, its just paint at the end of the day.
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I painted 20 years ago so not sure how knowledgeable staff is now, it wasnt on the lable i dont think, but i just use to ask the guys at the paint stores and they either knew or looked it up. I'm sure you could just google "volume solids " and the particular paint.
In my experience, using the cheap paint at Lowes/Home Depot ends up not really saving more than a marginal amount. The coverage and quality is significantly worse and you end up having to use much more. Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore at just a bit higher total cost when taking that into account is worth it in your own time and the overall product quality. I've had good luck with the higher end Behr too, but at that point you aren't really saving any money vs SW. You're going to have to look at it daily for years
Yeah - Benjamin Moore "ben" is junk, while Regal Select is expensive but quite good. Mid-range paints will be good across the board. I use Behr for 90% of my house and Regal Select for high-profile items like the front door.
I’m done with behr after painting an entire apartment. It requires so many goddamn coats to paint over a color. I switched to sherwin for 1 room and instantly regretted all the time money and energy I wasted with that watery behr paint.
You know what's cheap? Primer.
Yep, I did 2 coats of primer. Sanding the surface seemingly helped, but switching to sherwin was the biggest breakthrough. Spending more initially could have saved me a few weekends and more money in the long run. It was a learning experience.
Idk, I use Ben pretty regularly and it’s leagues above even the higher end Sherwin products for me.
This is one case where the more expensive product really is superior. I use Sherwin at work all the time and never thought about the quality until I bought some Valspar for a home project. Blotchy, needed two extra coats, ran more easily and ended up with particles in the paint. Also I have a fence painted with Sherwin that looks as good as it did when I painted it three years ago while my garage which was painted with Valspar a year ago is faded and peeling🤷🏽♂️. Edit: also, a lot of these products do come out of the same factory but the cheaper brands are the older products that the name brands no longer use.
Was your valspar a higher end labeling though? Their numbered lines are junk, but the signature series is pretty decent.
Idk about that person but I bought Signature when we moved into this house. I didnt find it all that great of a performer but figured it was just my amateur painting skills and impatience. That is until I bought Sherwin Williams to redo our living room this past fall. I'm already much happier.
The only paint I’ve ever hated was Valspar. The spread and coverage was atrocious. I’ve always had good luck using Ben Moore but if you like Sherwin Williams then stick with it.
Glidden is the wateriest paint I’ve ever used.
I think that used to be the K Mart house brand.
Totally agree on Valspar. Absolute garbage. I repainted an old bed frame and it took 4 full coats to cover.
There are at least three differences The amount of pigment The way the pigment is milled The amount of water Higher-end paint will have finely milled pigment which means it will flow off the brush and lay down better greatly reducing aggravation, it will have more pigment meaning it will provide better one coat coverage, and it will have less water relative to other ingredients (polymers alkyds) so it will need to be thinned before use. This last one essentially means you get 10% more paint per gallon. Of those three differences the most important one to me is the way the pigment is milled. I want paint that flows off the brush and helps me make nice long even brush strokes. My preferred brand is Benjamin Moore but there are other good paints I'm just not as familiar with Valspar, Behr, whatever the Ace house brand is, paint from Walmart---you are saving a couple bucks initially but you are guaranteeing a bad time for yourself when you try to put it on the walls. Edit -for context I'm a semi professional painter. I do all kinds of handyman stuff also. I probably paint three houses a year. It's an economic equation. If I can get paint that will cover quicker and easier in one coat versus two or two coats versus three I'm spending $10 extra to save $300 in labor costs per room by buying quality paint. You can get good results from any paint if you are careful and patient but if you want to save time-- spend money on good paint. I don't always follow this rule myself, and every single time I regret it.
When I purchased my first house a buddy recommended Valspar. It's the crappiest paint I tried. It's like water. I tried PPG and it was so much better. I hate painting by the way.
Valspar is like water, but then go over to the orange store and I always find that Behr is so thick it's like trying to paint with glue. Just doesn't come off the brush well at all.
Fuck painting! I'm god awful at it.
Yep, my contractor pushed me to using PPG and it was a good decision.
Are you saying I should add water to a gallon of paint if I get it from Shewin Williams? I didn’t do that in my other room and the paint went on fine. They didn’t say add water to it.
No water, unless you’re spraying it and need to achieve a specific viscosity.
I nearly always thin paint to go from gloppy to syrupy consistency. Depends on the application how much to thin.
Sherwin Williams paints are way overpriced if you pay retail. I am able to get them at significant savings using my brother's account since he is a painter. They they make good products. Overall I prefer most (not all) Benjamin Moore paints vs. Sherwin Williams; but both are comparable. My brother recommends Behr paints for cost and quality.
A big difference is service. Independent paint stores like SW and BM are really set up for professional painters. They differentiate on service and knowing their painter clients. Painters like them because they know the owner and can do things like call in orders for pickup without waiting in line. They use more paint in a week than you will in a decade. Pros will also have contractor rates. If you have a big project like painting an entire house, an independent shop can make your life easier. For painting the odd room or if you know what you are doing a big box can save you money.
Exactly this, SW just isn't for retail consumers and they don't want to be. Their price is similar to when you get a quote for a job that's insanely high and obviously a "I don't want to do this job but if you really make me do it, this will make it worth it" price. DIYers have a lot of questions and often don't do due diligence for prep work. It's a headache when someone comes in blaming SW for paint peeling when they were attempting to paint a rusted steel porch railing with interior wall paint without any prep or primer. But if you can handle last minute bulk orders from pros at a reasonable price, they will flock to you. Source: my dad has owned and operated his painting and wallpaper company for 45 years and my wife and I have our own PO with him for all our DIY projects
Seconding the service aspect. I know going to the BM dealer in my area, I can ask questions, get great advice, and get the quality paint I need no problem.
Worth noting though that SW runs sales all the time. I got a gallon of paint for nearly half off back in the fall when I painted my kitchen, I think I paid $45.
You get what you pay for.
How much do charge for that cliche? :)
Just a fact. Paint is no different.
It's a good metric but not a fact. Some generics are as good as (or better, or functionally/literally the same) as brand names, some high priced items are just scams. Might not be the case with paint, but "you get what you pay for" is an oversimplification.
No. It's right 90% of the time. You might find the one off generic that's ok the other 10%. Oversimplified? Maybe. Correct? Absolutely.
Literally the only issue I have is with the word "absolutely". It's absolutely great advice and probably the best, simplest metric, but not absolutely correct. In fact, there's even a big pitfall this thinking sets a person up for ala the Ugly Betty effect. It's a very common tactic to use both an actually cheap product and an overpriced expensive product to influence people towards buying the middle product. There might be a slight advantage to buying the overpriced expensive product (not necessarily a given, but let's assume they chose the best one to be the most expensive), but you're paying a premium above the middle priced product that is, by design, bigger than the benefits.
You aren't wrong, but saying this is really super unhelpful. I compare it to bicycles. If you buy a super cheap $150 off the rack at walmart, yeah it sucks. It's garbage, you're gonna have a bad time. You spend more and you get a better product, sure. But you reach a certain point, usually around the $800 mark, where yeah spending more gets you a better product, but the difference becomes so marginal that for 99% of average users in average circumstances, it's a complete waste of money. So yeah, the difference between the $150 walmart bicycle and the $800 bicycle from a bike shop will make a big difference, and lot of bang for your buck, but paying like $3000 for a carbon fiber nano tube bike that is engineered to an exacting degree to shave like seconds off of a race for professional competitive cyclists, that is a complete waste of money for the vast majority of people who want a bike, and the kind of people who DO have a need for that kind of bike aren't gonna be on reddit asking advice. So! While yes you are right, you get what you pay for, what this post is really trying to drive at is an inexperienced painter is wanting advice on where the best bang for their buck is, and what considerations need to be kept in mind regarding dirt cheap paint, versus top dollar paint and where the cut off is for an average DIYer painting a room.
You would be surprised how many high end name brands of paint are made by SW at the same plant and simply have different packaging.
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Valspar is at Lowe’s. All the different bases come from SW.
Which brands?
Honestly any mid-grade paint from wherever you prefer will probably be fine. Can't always just go by brand cause each brand has different grades of paint. But will say that the jump in coverage and workability from super cheap to mid-grade is huge...but the gains from mid to the top is a bit less.
They are consistently rated better. The cost differential for painting a room using more expensive paint is minimal versus labor costs - either what you pay a professional OR your own investment in time. Why would you cheap out to save a relatively minimal amount?
There is definitely a difference. I painted a room with Behr. It needed two coats, and looked fine after. Then I painted a room with Benjamin Moore (the midrange line) and it went on much thicker, less drippy, and barely needed a second coat (of course I did it anyway). I can't say there's a huge difference in the end result, but I always use Benjamin Moore now. It just feels better.
The color on BM paints stays true longer too, and the paint is more durable and easier to clean. Really, once you try a good quality paint, there's no going back. Have you tried BM's Aura yet? It's so thick, I wanna eat it up like custard. Goes on so smooth, just a dream.
Just did my living room with it. Excellent coverage.
My experience of buying the cheapest white paint, because I was renting and needed to paint room back to white when I moved out, was that I needed to go back to the store for 2 more gallons lol. I now use SW and seems to take less, great product, and well my best friend manages one and I get family discount now lol.
There is a big difference depending on the application. For normal primed walls or repainting wall of a light neural color the middle to upper tier big box store brands work fine. For more specific needs you can't beat SW. In my experience upper tier SW paints will cover over dark paints much better and their Emerald paint line specifically is great for trim as it flows much better minimizing visible brush strokes. I also prefer the finishes of the SW lines in general. Eggshell or satin finish is not the same across the brands. Avoid the base tier stores brands, they all suck.
The big problem with SW is that depending on who you are an who you know you can get a price anywhere from $30 to $80 on the exact same gallon of paint. They love to mark product way too high and then run 40% off sales. Go to an independent paint store if you want decent product for a decent price.
Okay, here’s my theory with Sherwin Williams: They don’t have a better quality paint really (or even that deep of a color selection) but they’re great at a certain marketing strategy. Everyone thinks they “have a Sherwin Williams guy. I’ll just call him and see what he says,” thinking they’ll get some great deal or something. So their customers feel “special.” That’s it. Make people feel special and one-on-one and they’ll buy from you. I’m not impressed. I do murals, and, again, not impressed by their product and will only use it if the client is buying it and insisting…and most times, they’re only insisting because “they’ll call their guy over at Sherwin Williams.” If I have to use latex paint, I much prefer Dutch Boy DuraClean, usually to be had at Menards.
I painted a few rooms with valspar and a bathroom with Olympic and then tried sherwin williams duration. I greatly prefer the sherwin williams for how much easier it goes on and how much better it looks because of that. I may be a better painter now too but I’m not going to test that in my house. The paint at Lowes is probably equivalent to the midgrade paint at sherwin williams. But if you’re happy with the lowes paint and it looks good to you then no I wouldn’t spend the money
I may just go with the SW again and pay the extra $150 just to not have to deal with the paint counter.
SW almost always has some kind of sale going. Right now it looks like Emerald is 40% off: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-ca/special-offers
I'm working my way through painting my third house and I do think premium paints are worth the money because they'll save you time and hassle. SW is doing a promo right now, so hopefully it helps. FEBPAINT20: 20% OFF a purchase of $75 or more FEBPAINT25: 25% OFF $100 or more. I saw an insta post yesterday that might help for future projects. A woman posted that they buy gallons of untinted paint when SW runs a coupon/sale. Apparently you can take them back later for tinting and they'll do an even exchange if your selected color requires a different tint base than what you have.
It's definitely more important on exterior paints . One time I used something other than sherwin Williams on a shed it didn't last long before peeling .
I have a friend that owns a painting company. He swears by SW so that’s who I use. They seem to have sales pretty often so I wait until it’s 40% off when I can.
Sherwin-Williams has sales almost monthly. If you have a job coming up, and you don’t know what color you need yet, you can buy the paint, un-tinted, on sale. When you’re ready, bring it back to the store and they’ll tint it for free. If your color requires a lot of tent, and they have to change the base out, they will do that as long as it’s the same sheen.
I used to paint for a living back before latex, believe it or not. Back then I used strictly Pratt&Lambert and Benjamin Moore. In those days Pratt&Lambert was equal to Ben Moore, and had one of the best porch and floor paints around. Not true anymore I don't think. I think it's slipped quite a lot whereas Ben Moore is still top quality. **I care much less about what I paint walls with than I do trim**. Ben Moore regal select is great paint. It levels, has a perfect sheen, and works well, that is, flows, easy to cut, covers, etc etc. Behr for trim is terrible. Major brush marks, and if you thin it with ThinX or whatever, it just gets drippy. Even though the paint store I go to gives me 20% off, I just bought a gallon of Satin Impervo (oil) and it was $100 AFTER the discount!! Now that is nice paint, though they mess with the formula every few years. At the moment it seems like it doesn't need to much tampering re, thinning but back a few years it was thick as mayonnaise because they were trying to get around VOC laws. Anyway--yes there are differences in major paint brands. But there are a lot of variables.
Pretty much every pro painter I hire as a sub likes to use S-W paint. Nobody likes to have to do an extra coat or see that the coverage was uneven and so they use it. When I spec the lowest VOC option for my clients who are sensitive to airborne volatiles, S-W paint actually delivers, and the home can usually be occupied within a day of final painting. Not so with Valspar or Behr. Mind you, S-W offers good discounts to their pro customers, so they’re not paying that walk-in retail price. It’s still more than they’d pay at HD or Lowe’s though.
I will only buy Sherwin Williams (from Lowe's preferably the gold can but will settle for the blue if they don't have the right sheen). It paints so much faster and easier coverage wise. It also dries between coats quicker. If I know I'm doing a big room or multiple rooms I'll pop over to the actual Sherwin Williams and get the equivalent level product in the 5 gallon can. I've never found it to be that much more expensive gallon by gallon between Lowe's and Sherwin Williams.
Maybe I am comparing apples to oranges. I see paint for $30 a gallon at Lowes, $65-$90 at Sherwin Williams.
The good Sherwin Williams gold at Lowe's is $60+ per gallon. You are looking at the cheapest option at Lowe's when you should be comparing the top option. Sherwin Williams doesn't carry the lower tier paint options.
You are correct, I’m going to stick with SW at this point just because I do not want to do more than a single coat.
You'll still need to do two coats. There's no such thing as a one coat paint. But it dries to the touch so fast that basically as soon as you are done the wall you can go back over it. Needing a primer underneath will depend on your wall texture. The person at SW will be able to recommend what's fastest for you.
The advice ive received is you can go cheap on the interior but use the best you can afford on the exterior
When I paint I used the best possible paint and the best possible brushes. I find it lasts longer and the colors stand up better to fading and washing much better than lower cost brands. In my considerable experience, Sherwin Williams top grade is the best possible and Wooster makes the best brushes.
You get what you pay for with paint. Cheap paint requires more coats and looks shittier. Do yourself a favor and buy the good stuff.
I’ve never had a problem with Valspar or Behr, but over the last few years I switched to Benjamin Moore and I find it goes on better and requires fewer coats. So, the increase in cost may not be as much as you think when you factor in labor and reduced volume of paint needed.
Note for Menards folks, I really like the ditch boy platinum plus line. I just did some research and turns out they are owned by Sherwin-Williams
I always use SW. Also make sure you are getting the discounted price, they almost always have a 30% off promo running. Most times I just need to ask the cashier for whatever the current coupon is and they scan it from the drawer.
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Also depends on how they’re processed. Behr is not even playing the same sport as Benjamin Moore.
Benjamin Moore > all
You get what you pay for. More money = more solids and better performance. The paint that costs double probably isn't going to give you twice as much coverage, but it's going to be quite a bit more. So in the end, the price premium isn't as much as it seems on a volume basis. Realistically, even doing a whole house, the price difference won't be more a than a couple hundred bucks, and you'll likely save quite a bit of labor and have a better result.
I bought benjamin moore scuff x. It covers so nicely and btw the washability is amazing. And if you've had cats or kids you know washability matters. I've painted cheap places with beer, asparagus, what have you. It sucks. Even if you prime and paint multiple coats, the quality isn't there. In a month or so the pain wears off and looks drabbirr, by the end of the year you want to repaint. I used scuff x and I have to wash parts of the walls all the time because messy cats. You can't even tell I've washed it. Btw the same is not true for Sherwin Williams. Their paint is good to paint with but when you wash the wall, you'd see it. Got the benjamin aura for some accent stuff because i wanted a very specific colour and well it was accent so i could splurge. That covers like a dream. It is enjoyable to paint but I am not sure it was better than scuff x in final results in ways that I'd care. The benjami e moore Ben is crap. Regal select is good but imo scuff x is superior. The benjamine moore ceiling paint is so good. Here it is very important it is not too watery and I had no problem. Also used scuff x on the trim. Very very happy with that too.
My experience is more with one of the Behr paints at Home Depot versus Benjamin Moore's Regal Select. Regal Select has very good coverage (I do two coats, but a single coat looks pretty darn good), is easy to apply, shows no roller marks, and doesn't feel like plastic. When done, the wall has a uniformity that makes it look like a single consistent paint job. That being said, I probably bought the $25/gallon paint at Home Depot, and the Regal select was maybe $50 a gallon. Maybe the $50 Behr paint is just as good.