Painting the inside of house. What paint.

[Dave Lehnert]

Like everything, There comes a point where you are just spending a lot more money for little benefit.

Need to start repainting the interior walls of the house. What brand and type of wall paint do you find the best for the money? Do I really need to spend $50 a gallon?

[Art Mann]

I have painted and repainted my houses and several Habitat for Humanity homes. My favorite paint is the Home Depot store brand Behr Premium. It covers better and holds up to washing better than any of the name brands I have used. It is easy to roll or brush and goes on silky smooth. If you can trust Consumer Reports magazine, they rate Behr tops.

[Jim Becker]

I generally use SW Emerald or BM Aura for walls. Yes, it's not inexpensive. But it's very durable and very washable, even for the "flat" and "matte" finishes.

[Mike Null]

I am a Sherwin Williams fan. I've been using them for years and have never been disappointed. When it comes to house paint I am not a price shopper.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I have painted and repainted my houses and several Habitat for Humanity homes. My favorite paint is the Home Depot store brand Behr Premium. It covers better and holds up to washing better than any of the name brands I have used. It is easy to roll or brush and goes on silky smooth. If you can trust Consumer Reports magazine, they rate Behr tops.

I Find I can get good coverage with 2 coats of their Behr Premium. I found I could get it done with one coat of their Marquee Stuff if I put it on thick. Marquee isn't really flat so I went back to the cheaper stuff. I get 20% off cuz a painter I know let's me use his phone#.

If you really want to save, try their "oops" paint. mismatched colors are $25 for 5 gallons.

[Peter Kelly]

I generally use SW Emerald or BM Aura for walls. Yes, it's not inexpensive. But it's very durable and very washable, even for the "flat" and "matte" finishes.Ben Moore Aura all the way. Extremely low VOCs and almost no odor.

[Dave Lehnert]

Thanks for the help.

Most likley the paint will come from Home Depot or Lowe's just because of convenience. Close to home if I need more paint.

I'm not looking for cheap where you have to put on 3 coats to cover.
I use to do some buying for a retail garden center. I know from that experience that something as simple as a rubber grip on a $4.99 rake can add 3x to the price. or the same lawn product in a fancy bag retails for much more.
Going to guess paint is the same way.

[lee cox]

I like Sherwin Williams paint if it is on sale. There are Sherwin Williams stores every where. I like their paint accessories as they are usually quality like brushes, paint tools, etc. The paint tools from Home depot and Lowes seem china made and of low quality so I buy all my paint stuff from Sherwin Williams. I hate when you buy putty knives and they rust the after the first use. Never had that problem with

Sherwin William stuff.


I like Home Depot Behr outside paint real well. It covers well. I have used some inside and it seems fine to me.

I painted some inside Valspar paint from Lowes which seemed good.

I painted some in my shop with rejected paint at Walmart and it was not great but it was $10 a gal.

I still use Sherwin Williams oil paint for trim with camel hair brushes because I hate brush strokes. The oil paint seems to lay down better. You can add Pentrol to the paint which helps to hide brush strokes in my mind.

I have recently used some SW Emerald for trim in my kitchen remodel because I had to have it custom tinted to match and it worked pretty well. But oil is still my stand by for trim.

I like to roll wall paint unless it is a really large area then I spray with a Titan sprayer. The Titan sprayer sucks down about quart of paint to start and wastes a lot when clean up comes.

The Sherwin Williams ceiling paint is cheaper than wall paint so use ceiling paint for the ceiling.

I always use a good primer before painting on new wood or walls. If you are putting latex over oil then I use a primer first otherwise it will peel on you. Walmart sells Zinsser Primer paint at good price which is a good primer. I have used Kills original (oil based) to hide knots in pine so they do not bleed out in years to come. I don't think Kills 2 is very good buy Zinsser.

Most any paint takes 2 coats to look really good. The only paint I have used with primer which worked well is the Home Depot outside Behr high end paint which is expensive. I got by with one coat on the outside of my already painted house.

There is a lot of paint options here. I would go by price, lower being good. If you do something you don't like you can always paint over it.

[Jerome Stanek]

when I did drug stores they spec out Glidden Ultra

[Ole Anderson]

I helped my buddy paint four rooms in new construction over the weekend. Sprayed 17 gallons and rolled four. All from Lowe's as he could use the military 10% discount. 8 gallons of primer, 4 gallons of ceiling paint and 9 gallons of final. Ceiling paint was cheap Valspar, wasn't happy with the coverage. Don't remember what the primer was, but the final was SW 200 series if IIRC. Three rooms were one color, first coat of final was sprayed and took 5 gallons, second coat was rolled and took just over 2 gallons. Really surprised at the difference in how much you can put on with a sprayer vs rolling. Only the second time I used my Graco X5. Had 9' ceilings so I used the 24" tip extension. Builder was impressed with the result. He wanted $3200 to paint. Never could have finished the job in 2 days without spraying. Buddy's dad will paint trim next weekend.

Lee, you don't waste paint on clean out if you push the paint through the hoses with water and spill it back into the paint container. Check out the Idaho Painter for tips on airless spraying, including cleanup. https://theidahopainter.com/my-youtube-channel/

I stick with Behr premium on my own projects, except trim is SW Pro Classic self leveling. SW brushes. Interesting that my local Lowes has a common parking lot with a SW store. Makes it handy shopping for paint/supplies.

I clean and reuse a quality roller cover. Scrape off excess paint with a multi-tool https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcTn37jeGnjEHvEvJzITo121EuXpZ_d GLNRpUc332bIgB5SlyajLDApvjxhZ9A&usqp=CAcand then spin out excess water with one of these: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcTnpkzLqgGHOWXsI5Nhk1HPNOFgIPj tdipcXtcwlr-BxyKrhJy8K3ktkGG1lv1zNhNWGTZDHw&usqp=CAc

[Rick Moyer]

I'm no paint expert but what I think I know is that you get what you pay for. The better paints have more pigment, better binders , etc.; and therefore will likely cost more too. I think painting is about the most economical way to "makeover" an area so I don't skimp on paint. I suspect you can get quality paint at the box stores, but I'd stay away from the cheap stuff.

[Brian Elfert]

One of the high end Behr paints at Home Depot was very highly rated by Consumer Reports back in 2014 when I painted the interior of my house. I was a bit surprised as many don't like Behr, but it went on pretty well.

[Mel Fulks]

That's interesting about Consumer Reports. Haven't read one in years,but I do remember they would come up with "off topic" reasons for ratings. Like the time they gave a radio a great review because ....if it fell in your bath tub ...it would not kill you !!

[Art Mann]

In Consumer Reports interior paint tests done in 2017, Behr paints occupied 3 of the top 4 positions and the other was Valspar. Benjamin Moore was ranked 5th. Sherwin-Williams was way down the list. I know that goes against the "you get what you pay for" attitude, but I happen to believe that store brands are often a better value and sometimes a better quality. By the way, the top rated Behr Marquee isn't exactly cheap at $43 a gallon but it can occasionally be bought for considerably less on sale.

[Ed Aumiller]

On houses we rent out, will only use Sherwin Williams 400 contractor semi-gloss paint... it washes and covers very well..
Tried Lowes high quality one coat covers paint about 5-7 years ago... it did NOT cover in one coat... the only thing Lowes did was offer more paint... NO thanks.. went back to SW 400.. they would not even take back the unused & unopened paint....

As info, it was antique white trying to cover up antique white and was no good...

Be sure to use Kilz on any crayon or permanent marker spots on walls first...

Set up an account at Sherwin Williams and have them mail you the bill, saves about $5-10 per gallon...

[lowell holmes]

I use Sherwin Williams paint, both oil based enamel and wall paint.

[Bill Dufour]

I try to buy the opps paint and use that for the first coat. I get a color similar to the final one and call it primer if the wife does not like the color after it dries.
Bill D.

[Adam Herman]

We use SW for everything. they always have at least a 30% off going around, which brings it down the the price of most of the others. Lowes stocks some SW stuff now too.

[Neil Gaskin]

Benjamin Moore ultra spec wins best value for me for eggshell or pearl finish. If we need flat finish we use BM Aura matte. Is Aura a better paint? Absolutely. Is it so much better that it’s “worth” it in most cases. Not in my opinion.

Ben Moore vs. Sherwin Williams is coke vs Pepsi. Ford vs Chevy etc.

we are a Ben Moore company but that’s mostly due to store level service locally. Whch brings me to my next point. Find a real paint store. Not a home center. You have a better chance of finding a professional behind the counter that can answer questions and make products suggestions. When in doubt explain what you’re doing what your goal is and ask what product they recommend.

[Jim Becker]

Neil, most of my home interior is coated in Aura since that was used for our addition project in 2008. Totally worthy and it cleans up wonderfully. SW Emerald is similar and I recently used that in our kitchen and am happy with it. I do mostly SW now simply because I have contractor status with them and they are in a convenient location.

[roger wiegand]

I'm with Jim on BM Aura and SW Emerald for walls. I find the Behr paint to be very uneven from batch to batch. Sometimes it is good, other times or in other lines it's not. I suspect it has to do with who is making it for HD that week. For trim I use the BM Impervo oil-based enamel.

I find the better paints to spatter and drip less, for a neater job in finished space, easier to cut in a clean line with, and better coverage. I generally do fine with one coat on a reasonably close color match. The difference in ease of application is worth the price difference for me.

SW paints go on sale regularly, you definitely don't want to pay full freight for them!

[Brandon Thill]

When I started painting my house my parents swore by Sherwin, because that is what "all the pros" use. I'm a little more empirical and noted Behr's top ratings on CR. So we did a side by side test. SW Cashmere vs Behr Marquee. My parents had a discount with SW through an employer benefit so prices were basically the same. Frankly, I didn't know what to look for, but during the test I noticed I had to go back to the bucket about 2x as often for more paint with the Behr. Did one coat and SW had slightly better coverage. So I went with the SW Cashmere. Now Behr Premium is definitely cheaper and if price is a major concern I would probably do a side by side test to determine if I was willing to accept any tradeoffs with the cheaper Behr.

[Jim Becker]

And the Cashmere is a very mid-grade paint, too... interesting comparison, Brandon!

[Ole Anderson]

Don't remember why, but during one of my trips to SW years ago, they set me up as a contractor and now I always get a 10% discount. Or possibly it is just a not-so-frequent flyer discount. Maybe contractors do even better.

[Jim Becker]

Don't remember why, but during one of my trips to SW years ago, they set me up as a contractor and now I always get a 10% discount. Or possibly it is just a not-so-frequent flyer discount. Maybe contractors do even better.
They have multiple levels, but having basic contractor status gives the discount all the time so one doesn't have to wait for the periodic sales that come with merely being a registered customer. The timing of projects always seems to miss the sales!

[lee cox]

We missed the SW 30% off paint sale through Feb 28. We tried, I finished the mudding a month ago in the utility room. But just something always came up lately. I guess I will wait for the next paint sale.