Latex, Oil, or Lacquer?

Though there are many brands and sheens of paint, the three main types of residential coatings commonly used in this country are latex (water based), alkyd (oil based), and lacquer (solvent-based). Each of these three different types of paints has very distinct and useful properties that make them widely used. Professional painters certainly know the different applications but for homeowners the choice can sometime be difficult.

Latex house paint is probably the most commonly used type of paint for residential applications. Most interiors & exteriors are finished with latex primers & paints nowadays. The main reasons for this are cost, clean, up, and environmental. All things being equal, latex paint is the cheaper of the three main types of house paint. And, being water-based, it is also the quickest & easiest to clean up after using (i.e. rollers, brushes, drips, spills, etc.) And, compared to alkyd paints & lacquers, it is the most environmentally friendly and has the lowest VOCs (volatile organic compounds). For painting walls, ceilings, and siding, latex paints are hard to beat.

There is one application where alkyd enamel paints are still more commonly used residentially, and that's for painting interior trim & doors. The main reason for this is that alkyd paints tent to "wear" harder than latex paints--meaning they take a bit more abuse before fading or failing. They are more "washable". And they tend to hold their sheens better. So, in new residental construction today, it's typical for painters to prep the house completely, spray the trim & doors (and sometimes cabinets) with an oil-based alkyd semi-gloss paint, then cut & roll the walls and ceilings in using latex (usually flats, egg-shells, and satins).

Lacquer coatings are more commonly used on cabinetry, though even in that application they are fairly unusual unless the cabinets are factory made & finished. The main reason for this is that most residential house painters are not trained to apply lacquers and the application requires special equipment--mainly an air compressor and a conventional-feed spray gun. (Latex & oil paints, when sprayed on, are most commonly sprayed using "airless" spray rigs, which most professional painters have.)

Lacquer's primary characteristics are super fast drying times, very hard and ultra smooth finish (when applied by an experienced pro). Lacquer has some cons as well--mainly cost (100% more expensive than oil-based paints for example) and difficulty of application. It also has a very strong odor and must be properly vented--which makes it unsuitable for some situations--namely when painting in a house or apartment this is occupied.

As a paint contractor I am fortunate to have subs that competently work in all three types of paints. So, depending on the particular application, I might spec out any or all of the three on a job. Recently we worked on a renovation of a 1930s garage apartment where we sprayed the interior trim & doors with alkyd paint, rolled the walls & ceilings in latex paint, and stained and sprayed the kitchen cabinets with clear lacquer. So, we used all three types on the same job.

http://www.medusaproperties.com/details.php?id=30

For most of my paint materials I use ICI. But for lacquer coatings I have to go to Murphy Brothers here in Houston.

Wikipedia has some interesting info on paint as well. You might want to check that out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint

What Are Some Good Ways to Find a Good Painter for My Project?

Should I Hire That Guy in the Home Depot Parking Lot?

For as long as I've been painting--and for many, many years before that I am sure--there have been guys hanging out in front of the paint store looking for work.

These guys range from the amateur just off the boat to the seasoned professional, who will usually be wearing the standard issue white painters pants and white shirt and carrying a satchel of some kind bearing the tools of his trade (and often his lunch!)... his 5-in-1 scraping tool, his paint brushes, and some mineral spirits and rags for cleaning up after a days work... and sometimes a even small radio to while away the work day on the job.

The questions for the homeowner is: "Is it safe to hire one of these guys to work at my house?"

Most people have heard the story of Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her home by Brian David Mitchell--a homeless man that had been hired by Elizabeth's father for a few hours several months earlier to do odd jobs around the family's home. Fortunately Elizabeth was found alive 9 months later--only 18 miles from where she was taken--still with Mitchell.

That is obviously and extreme example but one should be mindful of all possible outcomes--even the extreme ones--when making any decision in life. I've had mixed success over the years with hiring "the guys on the corner". Some have been excellent painters, some so-so--but they all had a story--there was always a reason why they were unemployed (and sometimes unemployable). Sometime it was attitude. Sometimes it was alcohol or drugs. I've found that they always start out on their best behavior, all smiles, willing to do anything for the chance to work. But usually within a day or two--often only a few minutes or hours--their true colors would show.

For the most part, the only risk you take with the guys on corner is having to repaint something that was done shoddily. But most of the guys hanging out at the paint store have at least SOME basic painting skills--and some of them are actually very, very good at their craft. And with the tougher economic times and the collapse in the housing & construction industries nationwide, I see more and more guys out there on the corner looking for work--many of them familiar faces. I feel for these guys--especially the ones I know--but the age old fable of the grasshopper and the ant is as true here as anywhere else. You can't fiddle all summer and rely on the kindness of stranger in the cold winter months. Or you may find yourself out in front of the paint store looking for day labor.

To be safe, if you are going to use a guy that's hanging out at the paint store, don't use that guy on a project INSIDE your home (if you are living there). If the house is empty (i.e. before you move in or after you move out), sure, why not, what's he gonna steal? Or if he's painting the outside of the house or the garage... again, fairly easy to contain the damage if something goes south. But you don't want a guy who you don't know rummaging through your jewelry box or your medicine cabinet when you're not looking.

If something were to go south after you pick up a guy on the corner to have him do work for you (painting or otherwise), the main thing you want to do is stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, don't argue about pennies, just firmly but politely tell him that he isn't doing the type of work that you need done and that you'd like to just pay him for whatever hours he's worked so far. No hard feelings. Don't get into an argument with the guy and get shanked over $20. It's not worth it!

Of course, hiring a "professional" doesn't guarantee that some of the same things won't happen--but at least you'll have an easier time finding the guy if it does. Assuming you are smart and you got a firm bid and a contract for the work he's doing you should now have a phone number, a full name, a business address, an email address, a website, etc. Many professional painters are bonded and/or insured as well--and some are members of organizations like the BBB or Angie's List and don't want to risk getting negative feedback from customers--so they'll typically do anything within reason to make you happy and protect their good name.

So, think carefully before picking up that guy in the white pants at the paint store... you never know what his story is... but you can be pretty sure that he's got one.

(If you've had any positive or negative experience hiring day laborers for your projects, please share them with us!)

Sherwin Williams vs. Home Depot

In an earlier posting I talked about how important COLOR is--more important in many cases than preparation or the quality of your materials. In this post I'm going to assume that you've got your colors picked out and that they are amazing--the "perfect" colors for your project.

I also wrote an earlier post about PRIMERS and how important they are--so, for the sake of this posting, let's also assume that you've got your prep done also--and it's perfect. (I'll write more about the various steps and stages of a great paint job in a future post.)

So, with those two assumptions out of the way, lets talk about BRANDS for a minute.

Sherwin Williams, ICI, Monarch, Ralph Lauren, Pratt & Lambert, Behr, Benjamin Moore, Olympic, Valspar... the list of choices (like the varieties of toothpaste and underarm deoderant) seem endless.

Obviously I'm not a scientist or an expert on the chemistry of the various paints. And, to be fair, though I've used hundreds--if not thousands of gallons of various brands of paint over the years, I've never done any "side by side" comparisons or any scientific long term studies (I'll leave that to the propellerheads over at Consumer Reports--who've done various excellent studies of paint brands over the years). But I have learned a thing or two about paint over the past 18 yrs and I'm going to try to organize them coherently and share them with you here.

First, brand doesn't really matter.

I'm sure that will raise the hackles of many Mercedes driving, Starbucks drinking, Versace wearing folks out there--to whom brands are their raison d'etre. And of course there's no question that some paint formulas are better than others and that certain types of paints are better for certain specific applications than others. But for the average consumer, painting the average house, under average conditions, brand is pretty much a non-issue.

If you've got the color right, if you've got the prep right--just about any ol' paint will do the job effectively. Ralph Lauren isn't better paint than America's Finest just because it costs 4 times more per gallon. They are both made by ICI (now Azko Nobel), the largest coatings company in the world. And They are both sold at Home Depot--along with their Glidden / Ultra Hide brand (http://www.akzonobel.com/brands_products/global_brands/decorative_paints/glidden.aspx).

But at the end of the day, Ralph Lauren is just a BRAND (http://www.akzonobel.com/brands_products/global_brands/decorative_paints/ralph_lauren_paint.aspx)--just like Martha Stewart (http://www.akzonobel.com/brands_products/global_brands/decorative_paints/martha_stewart_living.aspx) and Dutch Boy (also Sherwin Williams)--and Levi's and Coca Cola. And people buy them because of MARKETING, not quality.

There may be small differences in formula but if you've every bought a "designer" shirt or jacket that cost a fortune, looked great for about a week--then fell apart after a few uses--you've experienced exactly what I'm trying to convey here. "More expensive" does not always equal "better".

"Designer", in life--as in paint--usually means only "expensive" with the implication of "exclusive". I promise you that if you hire a house painter and tell him that you want a paint job that is warrantied for ten years and that you're willing to pay a little more for that warranty--and you let him choose the brand of paint--he's not going to show up with Ralph Lauren or Martha Stewart paint.

So... which brand of paint will the painter choose...? The answer that really depends on the painter and the region--but in Houston, where I live and work, more often than not the answer is going to be either ICI or Sherwin Williams. (And the reasons for that aren't just "quality" of course.)

*Part of that choice is convenience: There are Sherwin Williams and ICI stores all over the city.

*Part of that choice is PRICE: Sherwin Williams and ICI give paint contractors special, flexible pricing that the big box stores can't always meet or beat. If you are buying 5 gallons of paint for your DIY home improvement project, you might not think twice about paying $10/gallon more for a brand you saw on TV. But if you buy 1000 gallons of paint a year, even $1/gallon savings really ads up!

*Part of that answer is consistency: Sherwin Williams and ICI have been around for a LONG time and have the same basic product mix--in a much wider variety of options--than the big box stores. Home Depot & Lowes have a finite number of square feet in which to cover all the home improvement bases. ICI's entire warehouse & storefront is devoted to coatings. So, they are more likely to carry a few gallons of an odd or low volume product for a customer that buys it from time to time.

*And part of that answer is quality and service: Sherwin Williams and ICI (like many if not all paint specialty stores) have above average quality paint and great service. Go into a big box store once a week and you never know who'll be behind the counter mixing paint. They won't know you and you won't know them. Go into an ICI or a Sherwin Williams (or any other specialty paint store) every week and it's usually the same guys behind the counter... they get to know you and you get to know them and you get treated like a real mensch instead of just another weekend nameless, faceless customer in a long line that never ends.

Second, the right sheen is more important than the grade (quality) of paint. When I first started building and remodeling I obsessed about which grade of paint to buy... should I splurge and get the "top of the line" or pinch pennies and get the "builder" grade. Foolishly, for many years, I did the former, wasting thousands of dollars on bells and whistles that I didn't really need. Paint an apartment with really expensive, high-quality paint, and two years later, when your tenants move out, you're probably going to have to repaint most-if-not-all of that apartment again anyway--and you'll probably hate that color by then. So who cares if it had a "lifetime warranty"? (The lifetime of most paint jobs isn't really that long when you think about it.)

I also obsessed a quite a lot about the SHEEN (flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, etc.)--too much so. After wasting a ton of time, energy, eye squinting, and money, trying to pick "the perfect" sheen for every single application, this is what I've boiled it down to:

90% of the walls, closets, and ceilings in your house should be plain old flat, latex paint. (I ALWAYS paint closets and ceilings flat, un-tinted white. More on that below.) The shinier the paint, the more attention it draws to every flaw on the wall or trim. So, unless you've got perfect walls, flat's the best call. Also, flat paint is the CHEAPEST paint at the paint store. So, if you end up changing the color in a week or a month or a year--the cost for the paint both times will be minimal. (A typical bedroom takes about a gallon of paint to cover all four walls.)

Trim, doors, and cabinets should be painted with an oil-based (alkyd) semi-gloss paint whenever possible. Gloss is usually way too shiny (see flaws above) and can appear almost plastic-like. Satin works in some applications but all paints are going to "dull-down" a bit over time as they get dirty and worn--so semi-gloss starts looking more like a satin in a few years... and satin starts looking more like eggshell or flat. So, I've found that semi-gloss is the best trade off for trim, doors, and cabinets. (Oil-based paints are harder wearing and more scrubable than water-based (latex) paints, so they're more suitable for trim, door, and cabinets--particularly in the kitchen & bathroom.)

Now for the exception: Bathrooms (which tend to get exposed to a lot more humidity). In Houston--which has ultra-high humidity--I use EXTERIOR, satin, latex paint for the walls and ceilings in my bathrooms (that have tubs and/or showers). Most exterior paints (in the south at least) have a mildewcide in them (from the factory) that resists mold & mildew. And a satin paint is not going to absorb as much moisture as a flat paint on a day to day basis, so when you shower and steam up the bathroom, if you use a satin, exterior paint, you'll be less likely to develop a mold or mildew problem.

Of course, you can paint your bedroom walls gloss purple and your kitchen cabinets flat pink if you want to--it's your house after all. But unless you are VERY rich or VERY stupid, RESALE VALUE should be important to you. So the colors and the types of paint you use can and WILL make a big difference to your bottom line down the road.

I mentioned above that I ALWAYS paint ceilings and closets white. Here's why. As a general rule of thumb, the darker the color, the smaller a room feels. I was restoring a house in the Heights once that had an 80s addition on the back with a huge, out of scale living room with 10' ceilings and a concrete floor. (The rest of the house was a typical 20s bungalow with 9' ceilings and wood floors on pier & beam.) There were only a couple of small windows in the entire room so I replaced those and re-framed the back wall for a set of four 8' tall French doors that really opened up the space. But before we had paint on the walls it looked cavernous in that big white box. So I painted the room with three shades of chocolate-y sepiatone colors--and put a dark slate floor with a dark hardwood inlay in the middle--and once we got the furniture in the room actually felt a little small-ish. The dark colors had visually brought the room down to scale.

Generally, you never want the ceiling to feel like it's coming down on your head. Colors on the ceiling--particularly dark colors--really pull the ceiling down visually. Also, if you just stick to flat white ceilings with colors on the walls only, it's a lot quicker and easier to change the color of the room later. And painting the ceilings is no fun... taping up light fixtures and ceiling fans, covering furniture, removing can light trims and a/c registers... drips and sprinkles of paint all over your head, arms and the floor... so, just paint 'em flat white once and forget about it as long as you live there. I promise you that you'll never lay in bed at night and look up and think, "I hate that flat white ceiling!"

Closets have similar logic behind the flat white color choice. They are small spaces by nature so darker colors make them seem even smaller. And since you only see them when you open the door, there's really no reason to have any color in there. And if you want to change the room color you don't have to empty out the closets and repaint them, too. Just paint 'em flat white the first time & forget about them. Spend your energy, time, and creativity on the rooms and spaces that you can actually see and enjoy every day.

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As I've said many times before, paint COLOR is way more important in most cases than paint QUALITY. If you could have a perfectly executed, horrifyingly ugly living room--with a lifetime warranty--at $35/gallon--or a slightly sloppy, gorgeous living room with a sumptuous color--for $8/gallon... which would you prefer? I've had both and I can tell you, the right color trumps quality every time.