If you are going to paint........

[Dave Lehnert]

If you were going to paint the inside of your home, what brand of paint will you use?

I have always had good luck with the Sears brand paint. Made by Sherwin Williams. Goes on good at a good price.

Purchased a Gal of Behr paint at Home Depot (premium $34) that stuff was so thin bet you could have sprayed it as is.

[Jim Rimmer]

I have good luck with Behr but sounds like you didn't. I use a lot of Sherwin Williams from their store. It depends on the store - I got 3 gallons from a store near where I work and every gallon was done wrong - wrong color formula, right formula but wrong color, but the store near my house made good on all of them.

I didn't know Sears had SW paint but then the nearest Sears is PIA to get ti.

[Jay Jolliffe]

I use to be a big fan of Ben Moore but now we use Sherwin Williams.....I painted houses for 20 odd yrs & always used Ben Moore. Oil base on the woodwork & latex on walls & ceilings......Now it's all latex which is made a lot better than 20 yrs ago. Use enough floetrol & it flattens out nicely......Sherwin Williams is a good paint

[Bryan Morgan]

Our contractor at work says always stick with Behr. Its a little more expensive but it lasts forever. Supposedly they have a new product which is paint and primer in one and he claims it works awesome. In my personal home, I just use whatever is on sale at the time. :)

[Ron Jones near Indy]

I have had great success with Sears best interior latex paint. Just the opposite luck with Porter Paints. S/W also has done well in my experience.

[John Mark Lane]

Painted many, many houses (including years feeding myself that way). Paints are much better than they used to be. As mentioned, latex these days rivals any oil base from years ago.

I have used Behr, simply because it was convenient, and had mixed results. Some of it has been garbage, but I have found some that is ok. Just today I was painting my son's treehouse with their deck and fence paint, and it seems quite good.

That said, I've always felt Benjamin Moore was the best.

[Michael Weber]

I belong to a DIY forum with a painting group. General consensus is Ben Moore or Sherwin Williams are really good. Behr has a terrible reputation among this group. YMMV

[Jim O'Dell]

I've used Behr for years. Had good luck until I tried a dark red. It would not cover after 3 coats. Got the same color in Sherwin Williams, one coat (on top of the other 3, and they were on top of primer). If you want a thick paint, go to Lowe's and get the Valspar. I don't think it is possible to thin that paint enough to spray, except out of a texture hopper!!! I've used it in my shop and it has done very well. Jim.

[Dave Lehnert]

Our contractor at work says always stick with Behr. Its a little more expensive but it lasts forever. Supposedly they have a new product which is paint and primer in one and he claims it works awesome. In my personal home, I just use whatever is on sale at the time. :)

Thats what I used, the new paint\primer stuff. Thin as water.
On a painting forum much like Sawmill Creek they bash Behr paint like Harbor Freight tools get on here.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have good luck with Behr but sounds like you didn't. I use a lot of Sherwin Williams from their store. It depends on the store - I got 3 gallons from a store near where I work and every gallon was done wrong - wrong color formula, right formula but wrong color, but the store near my house made good on all of them.

I didn't know Sears had SW paint but then the nearest Sears is PIA to get ti.

Sears paint is made by SW. They now also stock Pratt And Lambert paint. Also made by SW. Dutch Boy is also SW.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Behr = thin
Valspar = thick!

That said, I'm hopeful some of the professional painters will tell us why all these consumer-grade paints are junk, and what we ought to be buying, instead.

[Joe Pelonio]

For walls (drywall) I don't see that much difference. For woodwork I learned the hard way that Valspar, Behr, anything from Home Depot or Lowe's is garbage. Spend the money and use Benjamin Moore, or end up doing it over.

[Aaron Hastings]

My vote is for SW Cashmere. Easy to put on, accepts touch ups well, durable.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Benjamin Moore or nothing at all

[Don Alexander]

pretty tough to lump all products from any single manufacturer into a single category there are generally some good some not so good and some awful products

vast majority of manufacturers try to hit more than one target audience with a wide spectrum of product and quality , price points etc.

point being each individual model/version needs to be evaluated on its own merits not just on the manufacturer you wouldn't expect to compare a Cadillac Escalade and a Chevy Cobalt in a side by side comparision ( yet General Motors makes both vehicles) so why do it with tools or paint or anything else for that matter

if you want a useful and fair comparision you need similar level products in order for the conclusions drawn to be worthwhile

[Brian Elfert]

I like the Valspar high end latex paint. Used to sold by Lowe's as American Tradition, but Lowe's switched to just calling it Valspar. It was highly rated by Consumer Reports.

Mills Fleet Farm also carries the same Valspar. I used the high end paint when I repainted my first floor to get away from the white/beige look. I repainted my second floor when I was trying to sell a few years back and I dropped down a notch to a lower quality Valspar paint for that.

I was going to buy Sears paint, but they don't do 5 gallon buckets.

[Brian Ashton]

One of the keys not mentioned is, are you going to change the color on your walls. If you plan to keep with the same color, pretty much any paint will cover well as long as the walls are clean... You'll just need to buy a durable paint.

If you want to change color go with a quality paint that has a reputation of good coverage - not what is advertised. A cheap paint is typically thin on pigment and therefore will need many coats to hide a different color.

[Prashun Patel]

Gonna go out on a limb here and say it doesn't much matter if you are working with lighter colors in rooms that don't get lots of sun, and if yr not looking for a scrubbable paint.

I've only ever noticed differences when you go for deep colors (where premium paints can reduce the number of coats required) and in the scrubbable type finishes. I'm not talking about high sheen paints that you use in the bathroom; I'm talking about flat paints that are designed not to burnish when you rub them. BMoore has a "Matte" finish that's my personal fave.

I like dark colors and my Fam Room/kitchen get a lot of sun. For those, next time I'll go with Benjamin Moore Aura: 50% because it's an amazing product, 50% because I find their color coordination pallettes to my liking.

[Matt Meiser]

We use either the Valspar/American Tradition from Lowes or Sherwin Williams. I really don't have a preference as both have worked well for us. Lowes is a lot easier than Sherwin Williams from a store location and hours point of view. I did have a problem with a gallon of the American Tradition being too thin and Lowes took care of it (after being called a liar by the return desk clerk and then "suggesting" that she get the store manager.)

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I've been painting longer than I can remember.
I've recently discovered that these premium paints from HD, BM etc. are a real bargain. To get good color coverage I used to have to make three coats. Now two will do.
Fewer coats means less labor and less junk in the paint surface.

[Will Boulware]

Just repainted my living room. Used the Valspar signature line. It is THICK!!! We painted one wall a deep red. Turned out very nicely. I have no complaints, though I've never used "professional" level paint (SW, Ben Moore, Porter, etc.)

[Dave Lehnert]

pretty tough to lump all products from any single manufacturer into a single category there are generally some good some not so good and some awful products

vast majority of manufacturers try to hit more than one target audience with a wide spectrum of product and quality , price points etc.

point being each individual model/version needs to be evaluated on its own merits not just on the manufacturer you wouldn't expect to compare a Cadillac Escalade and a Chevy Cobalt in a side by side comparision ( yet General Motors makes both vehicles) so why do it with tools or paint or anything else for that matter

if you want a useful and fair comparision you need similar level products in order for the conclusions drawn to be worthwhile

I think this is very true. If I had paid $14.99 gal for the Behr paint I would have chalked it up to "Got what I paid for" But this was $34.00 gal stuff.
HD was very good taking it back.

[Rod Sheridan]

I like the Benjamin Moore products............Rod.

[Brian Elfert]

I painted a knee wall and over my kitchen cabinets a very dark red for effect. I used an expensive Valspar paint and it still took I think three coats to look good.

[Tom Godley]

I find that some paint is easier for me to paint with - I like to paint.

I like Ben Moore trim paint especially the "MoorGlo" for exterior doors and trim. Also like Sherwin Williams paint.

If I am painting inside --- ceiling I always use Prat and Lambert "one coat white". I normally use P&L when painting a light color on walls.

I very rarely use flat paint -- P&L has two different eggshell shines -- very nice.

The better lines of paint from HD and Lowes gets good reviews -- I just don't like painting with them and have not achieved the results that I get with the other paints.

[Jim Becker]

My interior wall paint of choice is now Benjamin Moore Aura based on the results in our addition two years ago. Flat and completely washable. Outstanding paint. Not inexpensive, however...

[Gene Waara]

Ben Moore. With paint you get what you pay for.

[Ben Franz]

I much prefer Benjamin Moore - great performance and IMO the best selection of colors of any major brand. Used to use Kelly Moore in California but switched after trying 5 different sample colors of green in our MBR, none of which passed muster with the decorating committee. I have had very poor results using Behr - darker interior colors often require 4-5 coats to cover properly.

Have some long time friends that hired me to do numerous remodels on various areas of their home. The husband usually did his own painting to save $$$. The first job involved the LR, DR, foyer and hallways. I think he painted the walls 3 different colors before his wife was happy with the look. I learned from that - NEVER offer color selection advice or even an opinion to ANY customer. Saved me a lot of grief over the years.

[Horton Brasses]

I swear by Benjamin Moore. We usually paint with color and we often do multiple colors. When I first started painting I preferred the thinner HD paints as there was more margin for error, but as I gained experience I found the Benjamin Moore works best.

[Mark Patoka]

My FIL is a painter and primarily uses SW. I've used the SW Cashmere recently and it's thick enough that you can roll it in one coat. I just got done using the SW Interior Duration and it was much thinner and required two coats, though I was painting a dark blue. I highly recommend the Cashmere and it's what I plan to continue using in the future.

For exterior I have had good coverage with the SW Exterior Duration.

I've used Behr in the past and it seemed to work well. I'm curious how the primer/paint in one combo works.

Avoid the Behr ceiling paint. That stuff is so thin and has terrible coverage that my wife wants me to go back and redo a couple ceilings with real paint.

Haven't tried any of the others as SW Cashmere is working well and the wife likes it. We get SW preferred customer mailings that offer periodic sales and discounts.

[Rick Moyer]

Well I'm no expert by any means but it seems to me that the more expensive the paint is the better it is too.
As a matter of fact, I remember reading about this a long time ago somewhere. The article basically said that the better pigments and carriers cost more so therefore the paint probably will also.
(kinda like carbide!)