Gourmet or fast food paint?

Not all house paint is created equal.

“Gourmet” paint can do more than a functional job, like gourmet food. Feed your home what it, and you, really deserve.

Most Paint Not "Good" At Everything

Just ask ConsumerSearch.com. “In its June 2007 issue, Consumer Reports published the best comparative review we found on interior paint. Editors tested over 60 different interior paints, concluding that no one paint does everything well.” My buddy and go-to paint guru guy Doug Wilson at PaintSource.net said the same thing. “Paint can be rated to be the best, but on what criteria?”. Out of the 60 paints rated by Consumer Reports, it only took 3, three votes, to be ranked the “best”.

A while ago I was wandering through the SpecialChem4Coatings web site looking for additives that I could put in paint to make it dry slower. I signed up to have a rep contact me for a particular additive with some long chemical name. A few days later he calls. Turns out to be an industrial account rep for BASF. Yeah, that really big chemical company that makes the stuff that makes all our stuff better.

Anyway, I find out I’m in way over my head because I got nowhere to put a rail car of corrosive chemicals. But this rep starts telling me stories of going to visit the guys in the paint lab. Turns out that they can experiment with small batches of paint that are really phenomenal. The kind of stuff that really will last a lifetime. ‘Course, it would cost a hundred smackers or more per gallon, but who sweats the small stuff, right?

I’m just saying that real performance is difficult to find. What can you expect from a film of paint no thicker than a plastic shopping bag (1 mil)? The guys at Master Painter’s Institute have been setting performance standards for the paint and coatings industry for a long time. They recently took exception to a recommendation by Consumer Reports.

4 of top 5 “quality” interior paints recommended by consumer reports in "Best for high-traffic areas" category and receiving "high scores for staining and scrubbing, and resisted gloss changes" failed MPI testing.

Here are Consumer Reports’ 2007 top five.

• "Behr $24 CR Best Buy"
• "Kilz $19 CR Best Buy"
• "Valspar $27"
• "True Value $23 CR Best Buy"
• "Dutch Boy $15 CR Best Buy"

The MPI article states: “Only 1 of the 5 passed qualification tests for performance contained in the test standards and protocol for MPI #138. MPI’s minimum number of scrub cycles for this standard is 3000, but 1 of the 5 Consumer Reports "Best for high-traffic areas" products actually failed by film breakthrough observed as early as 319 cycles. Some failed cleansability or burnish resistance, or scrubbability, etc. MPI approved products for high traffic areas are only marginally more expensive and can give results up to 9.14 times better”.

These results, according to MPI, “do not indicate that the products tested are not good paint products, but it does indicate that the performance and durability standards needed for commercial projects are somewhat more stringent. Until accepted performance test methods are adopted by any consumer product testing, perhaps professional specifiers of commercial products should avoid DIY paint recommendations for commercial and institutional projects.”

This just brings home the point that there are wide variations in quality from manufacturer to manufacturer. Here are some ideas on how to know you are getting what you are paying for.

Fast Food Paint

Most of us end up hoping the “top rated” paints are “good enough” at doing what we need them to do so we can overlook their weak side.

A general rule of thumb in buying paint is similar to going out for dinner. Our choices fall to many providers in three different categories; fast food, nice sit – down and gourmet, with variations, specialties and overlaps. Food quality, like paint quality, is all about the ingredients. The biggest difference between nice sit-down and gourmet is usually the presentation and the ambiance, with less difference in ingredient quality. But for those who know the difference, it’s worth it.

The same is true for paint (and painters too, I might add). But many settle for fast food thinking it’s the best value. My definition of value is better products + better application = real value. You get better looking longer lasting results. Gourmet paints hold their color longer, are more wear resistant and go on more easily. You get more enjoyment from the hard work it took to get your room painted.

There are four basic ingredients to paint, all with quality variations. Depending on the recipe you get either white wash or a gourmet product.

1. A vehicle, which is usually water or mineral spirits

2. Filler or solids, which is often talc and titanium dioxide

3. Binder or glue such as acrylic and

4. Pigment or colorant

Paint, as with most other things, is made to hit a balance between price and performance. The higher the price the better the performance. Take the binder. Acrylic comes in two basic grades; vinyl and straight acrylic. Any paint claiming to be 100% acrylic can use either of these and be accurate, but vinyl acrylic is a lower grade and comes off more easily. If you add urethane to regular acrylic you get a super sticky highly adhesive paint with maximum durability. Add high amounts of titanium dioxide, which provides coverage power, and you get a gourmet paint. How do you tell the difference? Read the label. The ingredients are listed on the back.

Not very part of your house gets the same kind of wear or experiences the same conditions (like the kitchen or bath vs. the dining room or a room with a lot of direct sun light). So the paint companies now make their paints perform differently to accommodate different conditions to keep things affordable. Now there are specialty paints for cabinets, bathrooms and ceilings. Not to mention the decorative paints and oil or water base paints. Each has their purpose. You will make your choice depending on what your purpose is.

Recommended minimum characteristics of interior paint provided by the Rhom and Haas Paint Quality Institute (www.paintquality.com) are:

1. Goes on smoothly and evenly, without showing brush or roller marks.

2. Minimal spattering during application.

3. More hiding power, so it will require less touch-up and, possibly, fewer coats.

4. Surfaces have less tendency to stick to each other, so windows, doors and other freshly painted surfaces won't bond to one another.

Follow this checklist of things paint is supposed to do well and see how it matches up with the things highlighted on the paint you are thinking of buying.

Paint Characteristics	Paint 1	Paint 2
1. Better resistance to dirt and stains, which facilitates cleaning and maintenance.
2. Spreads Easily and Works Well
3. Covers Well (High Hiding)
4. Retains Sheen
5. Low Spatter
6. Touches Up Easily
7. Resists Fading
8. Durable (Cleaned easily)
9. Resists scrubbing
10. Good Adhesion
11. Extra Additives (Anti-mold or mildewicide, etc.)
12. Environmentally Friendly (Low/No VOC)
13. Price

4.