choice of primers and paints

Looking for recommendations on primers and paints for:

home interior home exterior garage/shop

Now then.. for my shop/garage/office.. I bought a couple of gals of Kilz general purpose at WalMart. I also have 3-4 gals of some Behr flat enamel leftover from another project and a couple other leftovers I'm thinking to use (maybe paint a couple different colors on the shop office walls).

CR recommends Behr mostly, but there is noise out there that BM or SW is really a better paint.

I'm beginning to think that flat is the way to go. By the time it really needs cleaned it can either be spot painted or is in need of a full repaint.

Reply to
kansascats
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For what it's worth, my kid has worked for a pro painter off & on for the past two years, and his boss has nothing but evil things to say about Behr products, especially for exterior work. He's impressed with Sherwin-Williams, and has no problems with Kilz either.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Without mentioning any particular brand, I'll offer this:

Shop at a *real* paint store, not a Walmart or big box store.

The professional, project-specific advice, as well as the quality of products, from tape to brushes to the paint itself, is well worth the extra money.

SWMBO bought shutters at Lowes and informed me that the trim and doors should match. I took them back to Lowes and asked them to custom match the color.

Three failed attempts later and the guy said "Our machine isn't very good with dark colors. I can't match it."

I went down the road to a local family-owned "chain" (5 stores) and they matched the color almost immediately. I just had them match the years-old paint in my kitchen so I could touch up around the new window and they hit it perfect the first time. When I built my shed, they suggested the correct primer and final coat combination which should get me years of service before it needs a touch-up.

I won't shop for paint anywhere else.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Thanks for the personal experience. I've been through similar but with opposite results.

I don't recall which -- either SW or BM, but I opted for their paint on an exterior window trim job (for my own house). The paint was about gone 2 years after I painted. I scraped and sanded and removed as much of the orginal paint as I could. I then primed and painted with their recommended paint. Needless to say, after only 2 years, I was not happy. I used Behr the 2nd time around with better results. The 3rd time I used Valspar.

Maybe the answer is variable -- and depends on which formulation, temp and humidity condtions, etc. I cannot say that I've been thrilled with any particular brand of paint. None seem to come anywhere close to their advertized 15-20 years warranties.

I'm just looking for some thoughts form the group..

Reply to
kansascats

use any 100% acrylic latex for all... That is the r&d cutting edge for mass market paint. - any brand will work fine. Don't need to get too nit-picky paul oman/progressive epoxy polymers, inc.

Reply to
Paul Oman

For a paint job to only last 2 years you did something very wrong, nobody here can say what you did that caused the failure, You need to get several people to look at your house to figure it out, and you need to know how it should be done. Where I live there is no question that Behr is not the best. 15-20 years is not uncommon, just looking outside my window I can see two houses I painted around 1994 that are not peeling, thats about when I quit painting. You should be able to get a company rep from SW out, Moore is a bit harder to get one over.

Reply to
ransley

FWIW I have used both Behr and Benjamin Moore for spot repairs in my kitchen, and the local Benjamin Moore place did a heck of a lot better job color matching, and the paint covers better too. Only downside is I waste so much filling up the roller to do a spot repair! I'm gonna have to start just doing repairs and then leaving them until I have 3-4 ready to go... (have a couple more spots to do, all around the house - same color though.)

By the time I get that all done, it'll be time to repaint :/ The real thing is, I don't want to leave all the work until we're ready to repaint, otherwise the sheer magnitude of the repairs needed will be overwhelming. So I'm pickin' away at them one at a time until it's mostly good.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Am I doing something wrong? I bought a gallon of the new Kilz "pro" and the last repair I did on the kitchen ceiling, I needed two heavy coats and it still wasn't a uniform white (but two coats of paint after that did the job.) Or did I just have really scungy plaster hiding under that old fluorescent light fixture? I was using a 3/8" nap roller.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

We've been using the Kilz colors for 3 years now. Probably applied somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 gallons. Brush, roller, and sprayed. We will not use another. as for the flat, semi, eggshell, satin bs, that's all subjective to what you like.

s
Reply to
Steve Barker

this is total bs. We tried the high dollar SW paint from the 'real' paint store. Hated it. We'll stick with the Kilz colors from Walmart. Been through 200+ gallons.

s
Reply to
Steve Barker

Beats me. What did the manufacturer say when you called them?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

  1. Use a brush

  1. Cut the roller in half. Or thirds. Or quarters.

  2. Wipe it on with a sponge.

  1. Dab it on with your pinky

Reply to
dadiOH

Walk into ANY home, look at the walls, then tell me what brand and quality of paint was used!

I used Walmart paint in my house and it looks the same as all other houses to me.

Reply to
Bill

Yeah.. that's kinda what I'm after. On the interior it comes down to one-coat coverage. I don't like to paint, and so want the least amount of labor to get a good job.

For the exterior -- again assuming I don't like to paint (and prep properly), if I hire it done, I want maximum lifespan.

Reply to
kansascats

Ahhh....this is the crux of the matter. I absolutely HATE the prep for any kind of painting, but I am obsessive about doing it right because I don't want to do it again for a long time. I used Sears paint many years ago...my first interior paint job...and it was awful. Sears had several price ranges for interior latex, and I used a better one. I probably selected Ben Moore for my next paint job because the only local paint store carried it. Been a Ben Moore fan ever since. My present kitchen was painted with B.M. alkyd semi-gloss about 6 years ago. Alkyd is all that I use for kitchen, bath or for wood trim. I had reason to write a message on the kitchen wall couple of years ago with a Sharpie permanent marker...to make a very definite point :o)....hubby was able to remove it with elbow grease and a 3M scrubber. Can't see that it was ever there :o)

One kitchen I painted with B.M. looked just fine after 13 years, in spite of rough cleaning...smoky, no exhaust fan. Unless you repaint every couple of years just to change color, then good paint is well worth the price, IMO. But when a paint job fails, 99% of the time it is probably due to external damage or poor prep. Cheap paint is more difficult to cover with, more difficult to apply.

I've read that for exterior appl. to wood, the wood should be painted on all sides and ends .. I'm sure it is rarely done, but sealing up end grain would probably avoid most peeling problems for exterior paint. Caulk joints after priming to avoid intrusion and moisture getting to end grain or unpainted surface.

Reply to
norminn

re: "this is total bs."

Not one word of it is "bs".

Every single word I wrote is 100% true in my experience.

Just because you didn't like the brand of paint you bought in no way way makes my experiences any less real.

BTW...by a "real" paint store I didn't mean one with the big SW sign out front. I meant an independant etablishment that can sell more than one brand at more than one price point, from basic house paints to specialty coatings.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

re: "Thanks for the personal experience. I've been through similar but with opposite results.

I don't recall which -- either SW or BM..."

Just to be clear, I wasn't talking about a paint store dedicated to/ franchised from any particular brand.

The "chain" I was referring to was a independant where they sell many different brands.

P.S. If the paint was gone after 2 years, I don't think the brand was the problem. If *any* brand of paint only lasted 2 years, they'd be out of business fairly quickly. SW and BM have been around for a long time, so I don't think they are selling paint that only lasts 2 years.

I'd start looking for the problem someplace other than the label on the can.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I haven't used ANY paint that looks perfect after only one coat.

If there's something out there that will do so, I'd be more than happy to give it a try...

nate

Reply to
N8N

I haven't used ANY paint that looks perfect after only one coat.

If there's something out there that will do so, I'd be more than happy to give it a try...

nate

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Devoe or Martin-Senour

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

I have favorite brands, but not inclined to fight over them. I am intriqued by your comment that the paint "was gone 2 years after" you painted. Can you elaborate? Type of paint? All peeled, faded, or just "disappeared" or degraded badly? How many coats? Prep?

I used SW on my daughter's house because SW was the nearest paint store and I considered it a good brand. I painted exterior trim with alkyd semi-gloss after extensive prep...torching off old, alligatored paint, sanding, priming, caulking. Just applying the first brush-full was an experience...it just went on so easily and smoothly. There were a couple of places that, after 2-3 years, began to peel because I hadn't caulked the end grain well enough at the base of the vertical trim boards where they met the sill.

I've never had a paint job, with cheap or expensive paint, that "failed". The differences I have seen have been with: 1. coverage; 2. ease of cleaning. Cheap interior latex stains easily from any oily type stuff like handprints, ballpoint ink, lipstick, etc. Don't ask how it all got on the wall :o)

My parents built a home in 1983, concrete block/stucco, Florida. Painted with BM best...can't remember name. Repainted 10 years later, just for the hell of it....there was no sign at all that it NEEDED to be repainted :o) There was no chalking, peeling, mildew, etc.

Reply to
norminn

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