I need to do some interior touch up interior painting and I want to get a good result . Lowes and Home Depot are a lot more convenient thatn the nearest Duron or Sherwin Willians Paint store . Can HD or Lowes do a good job with their " computerized " matching systems
Can they yes, will you get it done right ? If you get the right person. Always dry out a large say 5x5 sample , not the 1/4 inch they will want to show you. But thats why real paint stores are better, a pro has an eye for adjustments.
The best luck I had was with an independent paint store (after having a disaster with the Home Depot match). They insisted that it was more than "mix while you wait". I had to drop off the sample (in this case a laminated drawer of the cabinets we wanted matched) and leave it for at least a day. They apparently took the computer analysis and then tweaked it to get a better mix. They also had better quality paint than the &^%$#! at Home depot, but it was more expensive
My house was painted with Duron paint. Would never use it again so I would not bother with their paint matching service. Outside mildew lovers it, inside semi gloss whites yellow after a couple of years even without sunlight on it.
You seem to be implying that you're going to find a pro behind the counter at a 'real' paint store.
Not likely.
I found that it all depends on the person at the paint department. Some have good experience, others none at all. A paint store will match up your paint color in a more predicable manner--well worth a few extra bucks.
All the HD-bashing on this newsgroup notwithstanding, I've had good luck with HD paint matching, altho it helped that I had the name and number of the original Benjamin Moore color I was trying to match. HD has an extensive paint color database, with formulas, of competitor brands. Once they mixed to the Moore formula, I had them dab, and blow dry, some of the HD paint on the BJ paint chip sample I brought in, just to confirm. This approach worked for us - and we have not tried the computer match. That may be more iffy result, as dried and aged paint, depending on whether it is acrylic or alkyd, could frustrate the effort to match with a new HD paint, which itself darkens at unknown rates, with time.
Well Truitt you don know much about Paint , Painting , the Paint business, Paint stores, or the volume of Paint Sherwin Williams does , or what kind of people they hire or how they promote personel. I have purchased over 300,000 $ in Paint . So I have a qualified opinion on Paint. Box stores are not where you get the best of everything.
They all use good equipment to read the sample The skill of the mixer makes a difference. Sort of a crap shoot at any store if you don't know who is doing the work.
I use an independent paint dealer and get excellent results, good prices, and good service, If you find one, stick with him. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
This is true to a degree, but it's like saying that there hasn't been an independent paint store that hasn't hired the clueless. But you're right
-- box stores aren't even where you get the least expensive of everything. It's usually where you get the *cheapest* of just about everything, but "cheap" and "inexpensive" are two different matters entirely. Eh, screw it all; no matter -- this forum seems to be popular with more misers than should be allowed to exist ;)
BUT -- it's not completely unheard of to find guys who do in fact know a world about paint and mixing and matching working at the big boxes. Everyone's got to work somewhere, right? Big boxes do in fact employ people with the silly notion that if you do things right in the first place with a product that doesn't suck, customers will keep coming back looking to them for intelligent service.
All in all, IMO if you do a little research and asking around, you might get a starting-point idea of what makes for a good paint guy or not, no matter where he's working.
AJS
Computer reads the sample, computer determines the mix, computer dispenses the pigment. The only thing the employee does is put the can in the shaker. Where's the skill? (At least, that's the way it was done last time I had a paint colour matched a month ago).
Mike
I have two local paint stores who have excellent, full time employees who seem to have been there forever. I've been a customer for over seven years, and the same folks have been there all along.
Do they apply paint full time? No. Do they mix and sell paint full time? Heck yeah! That makes them "pros" in any book I've checked.
Barry
Holy Christ, man! When do laggards like these ever find time enough in their day to replace window screens and sell screws?
AJS
Ransley, I'm not trying to suggest the box store don't suck. I hate them.
As for my qualifications I've been in the industry for 30 years. Last 25 as a paperhanger, prior to that I had 5 years in painting & drywall....started out working in a paint store.
I buy my supplies from a paint store where they know & respect me. From people I know & respect. I've seen the turnover cause most of them pay so little.
I hate going into a store I don't know. Usually I'll end up with a kid behind the counter that doesn't know dick. Just as I was thirty plus years ago.
Training? HA! I never learned anything about paint till I got in the field. MOST of these guys in the paint store know only what they've been told.
Recently I needed some whiting. I went to home Depot, Sherwin williams, & another local paint store. At the Sherwin Williams store I talked to the manager Three of them! NONE OF THE THREE HAD EVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!
You are right, Truitt , I guess ive been lucky dealing with a few guys, and even then when I started they would try to pull a " Lazy " , not match it and show you a little half inch smear so you really couldnt tell, Color matching takes alot of experiance , its an art.
We needed to paint our porch the same color as our new sidings and took the sample of siding to Lowe's for them to match. The clerk waved the sample in front of whatever little scanner they use and it was mixed in about ten minutes. He then smeared a sample of the paint on to our siding sample. In five minutes when the paint dried you couldn't tell where the paint had been daubed on.
I'd say it was a good match. <g>
Linda
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* "...What they say, don't believe; Every hope needs room to breathe. Show me where it says I can't keep dreamin'. Ain't no law that says I can't keep dreamin'..." .....Rupert Holmes, "Show Me Where It Says"
I've tried a similar procedure. I believe it was at Sears. The scanner was basically useless and I had to get a good match by searching their chips with the old cranial scanner.
Just from experience, I've noticed that what looks like a good match indoors under fluorescent lighting and outdoors on a sunny day aren't always the same thing. Especially after the paint has dried or aged or whatever it is after a few weeks.
I have found a Porter paint store closer to the job than I thought . I will probably give them a try .
The computer just spits out the formula to start with. (it's close but not a 100% match.) At that point a good paint store will tweak the formula until it's perfect. Sherwinn Williams will even create a custom color code for you and store it on their computer system in case you even need more!!
Home Crapo will likely just tell you that's close enough becasue that's what the computer says. They also carry crappy quality paint and the tinting machine has probably never been calibrated.
You definately get what you pay for when it comes to paint.
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