The “Truth” About Paint

The TRUTH About Paint
At some point most homeowners will tackle the job of painting. Knowing a little bit about what paint is made of will help you pick a brand and type of paint that will give you years of good service.

OK, so here’s the technical boring stuff. Paint is primarily a mixture of pigment, resin, and a carrier. Titanium dioxide is the main white pigment; relatively small amounts of other pigments are added by the dealer to tint the color. Resin makes paint adhere to a surface. Carrier is the evaporative liquid added to thin the mixture so you can brush or roll it on; this is water for latex paints. The amount and quality of each ingredient determine a paint’s performance and price. For example, paint with plenty of titanium dioxide has strong hiding characteristics and, because this is the most expensive ingredient, costs more. So what are we supposed to get from all of that?

Price is a good indicator of quality, when it comes to paint.
A $10.00 can of paint will not give you the quality, coverage or hide ability that a $27.00 can of paint will.

OK, now what about the type of paint? The two basic types of paint are oil based and latex based. It used to be that oil based paints were the only way to go. This is not true anymore. The technology behind latex based paints today gives them a lot of advantages. They are: very durable, they are water based so they clean up easily with soap and water, and they flow or spread easier than oil based paints. For most applications, latex based paints are the way to go.

Last but not least we get to the different types of finish. The basic types of finishes that are available today in latex based paints are: Gloss, Semi Gloss, Egg Shell and Flat. The higher the gloss the higher the degree of durability and clean ability. Generally flats are mostly used for ceilings, semi glosses are used for walls and glosses are used for trim, moldings, base boards and doors. Some designers do like to use flat latex paint on interior walls. Be aware that flat paints do not clean very well and will not be as durable as paint with a semi gloss finish.