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Thread: "Professional" paint (Sherwin Williams, etc) vs Box-Store paint

  1. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Friedrichs View Post
    In our new house, I bought Valspar Signature paint from Lowe's to paint the entire interior, but ended up hiring professional painters to do the job. Nice, honest guys, who very timidly pulled me aside after putting on 2 coats of the Valspar and asked if I'd be offended if they went and bought Sherwin Williams ProMar 200 to finish the job because they weren't impressed with the Valspar (and, further to their credit, they refused to let me pay for the SW paint).

    So, I'm a pretty discerning guy, and I can't tell the difference. I have both the Valspar and the ProMar, and after painting some walls myself with them, as far as I can tell, they're the same.

    I've tried SW Cashmere and Proclassic, in the past, and just couldn't see what was special. Proclassic was hard to use.

    I want to be the kind of snob who pays twice the price and goes out of the way to buy fancy professional paint, but I just don't see it. This seems to be reflected in the reviews of SW products on their website, which all seem very negative.

    Can someone tell me: "Buy a gallon of [xyz] and you'll see why the pros only use..."?

    Or, at least: "Yeah, if you're paying for it with your own money, Valspar/Behr is the better value"?
    Promar 200 around here at least is the dog poop of paint. Its whats slathered on condos and rental units by the tanker truck load. It wouldnt surprise me that its no different than home center paint.

    Coming from nearly 30 years of residential construction there IS most definitely a difference in paint but there is perspective in there as well. Painting to get the check when you walk out is easy. A paint job that holds and looks good (and I mean looks like the day you walked out with your tools) is a different story. Your contractor maybe either just liked what they liked or the Valspar could likely have been better than the promar 200 and they werent use to painting with better paint.

    We once sub'd out some work to a 40 year Union painter who was a super nice guy and touted himself as the end-all-be-all of paint. But he was a union painter, who had to work in restaurants, apartments, and so on... speed painter. We were building reasonably high end residential and running Benjamin Moore Regal, Pearl finish, Aura when it first came out. He couldnt lay on a wall to save his life. We would have to bring in extra material so he could paint a room a second time because the roller marks were everywhere. We could lay on a coat on the same job and walk away and it would look like the hood of a corvette.

    It all what they are use to running.

    My judgement of a paints quality is not only how it goes on. Its when you walk into a home you built 10 years ago and the paint looks nice, its tight, not dry, caulk work is still tight. Thats the sign of good paint. And someone who didnt roll their roller out dead dry trying to stretch their paint to the end of the earth. A good technique is to measure a couple walls that add up to close to a gallon of coverage and then lay your material on. If you get to the end and youve still got a half gallon of paint in the pail, you didnt put enough paint on.

    If your painting a rehab thats gonna get trashed thats one thing. But if your trying to paint once, and make it last. Its gotta be done well.
    Last edited by Mark Bolton; 09-05-2019 at 3:07 PM.

  2. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Lisa Starr View Post
    Our home's entire 1st floor is done with various colors of SW Duration paint. Our 2nd floor has Behr from the Borg. It was all applied 5-6 years ago, the a difference now is startling. The 1st floor was much easier to get good coverage in the first place and cleans up much more easily. The 2nd floor really needs to be re-done already and fades/marks when you wipe it.
    This is another good example of my earlier point - sometimes the difference between 2 brands is in how it wears.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  3. #33
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    When we did Revco and CVS pharmacies they sepec Glidden Ultra and had their own color Revco had Revco gray and CVS had Swiss Coffee. They used Glidden because it cleaned well and touch up was easy to do along with a nation wide network of stores that could get the formula from.

  4. #34
    My daughter just bought a house and I am going to help her with the interior painting. SW has a 30% sale on one of it's "DIY" ceiling paints. The "PRO" ceiling paint is not discounted. $60.00+ a gallon. SW "DIY" is in the mid to high $20's on sale. Big box DIY is low $30'w. No way I can justify $30.00 a gallon more for the "PRO"no matter how much better it is.

    If the SW "PRO" was 30% off I would consider it. No contractor is paying $60.00 for the "PRO" paint BTW. I'm all for quality, but at what level of insanity?

  5. #35
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    The PRO discount is also 30% on the current sale...I just got the email. Sign up as a contractor.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #36
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    I've had a pro account with them for decades. When they have 40% sales, that's cheaper than my regular price. It seems like they have 30% off every few weeks, and 40% several times a year.

  7. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    The PRO discount is also 30% on the current sale...I just got the email. Sign up as a contractor.
    Thanks Jim, When I called today the girl said it didn't apply to contractor paint............maybe I need to sign up like a contractor like you said.

  8. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    I've had a pro account with them for decades. When they have 40% sales, that's cheaper than my regular price. It seems like they have 30% off every few weeks, and 40% several times a year.
    Thanks, I will have to get on the list.

  9. #39
    Not a big fan of duration or super paint, I also found it like to lift while rolling.

    All the paint I buy is from a local paint store, sell Dutch standard made by Harrison paint Co. Covers well, goes on well, durable and wears well.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Citerone View Post
    My daughter just bought a house and I am going to help her with the interior painting. SW has a 30% sale on one of it's "DIY" ceiling paints. The "PRO" ceiling paint is not discounted. $60.00+ a gallon. SW "DIY" is in the mid to high $20's on sale. Big box DIY is low $30'w. No way I can justify $30.00 a gallon more for the "PRO"no matter how much better it is.

    If the SW "PRO" was 30% off I would consider it. No contractor is paying $60.00 for the "PRO" paint BTW. I'm all for quality, but at what level of insanity?
    Painting ceilings is the worst. You are generally putting white over white and very difficult to see your coverage. Tough on the arms and neck. Both Valspar and Glidden (and I presume others) make a color changing ceiling paint for that reason. Goes on light purple or pink and goes to white as it dries. Both are in the sub $30 range. I see ceiling paint from under $12 to over $66 per gallon.
    NOW you tell me...

  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Anderson View Post
    Painting ceilings is the worst. You are generally putting white over white and very difficult to see your coverage. Tough on the arms and neck.
    Oh, I agree with that. Next time I paint ceilings I'm just going to cover everything & spray it.

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Citerone View Post
    Thanks Jim, When I called today the girl said it didn't apply to contractor paint............maybe I need to sign up like a contractor like you said.
    "Contractor Paint" may very well mean something different here...and not necessarily desirable. AFAIK, all of the paints up to Emerald should be available at the sale price as long as you have the coupon/code. These are retail products.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  13. #43
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    When I am painting, I only use top of the line paint. I've never had to redo a paint job.

  14. #44
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    I just found a few cans we saved for touchup purposes. The labels all say Promar 200. I have no idea what that means.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    "Which" SW paint was being compared to the Behr? There are multiple grades of paint and it does make a difference. Note, I'm not saying your experience is flawed in any way...but to be complete, knowing what SW paint was involved is important information. They do carry some pretty basic stuff in addition to the more premium levels of product.
    Edit: I just looked at Consumer Reports interior paint test results and once again, Behr premium labels come out on top. Among the other top listings is HGTV made by Sherwin Williams and evidently sold by Lowes. I have never seen it. The regular Sherwin William brand paints are very far down the list, below many other brands. Those include some Valspar, Benjamin Moore and PPG labels.
    Last edited by Art Mann; 09-11-2019 at 9:24 PM.

  15. #45
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    I gave up on the Consumer Reports paint ratings in 1991, until I forgot about it, and then was talked into using a paint on the top of their list around 2015 (as mentioned earlier-since topped with Emerald). They seem to rate dollars as important as paint.

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