Understanding What it takes to Determine Paint Quality
Determining Paint Quality
When you consider the different manufacturers, types, and colors of paint on the market, there are literally thousands to choose from. When painting your home, a good place to start is by selecting a type of paint that is made for the type of painting you want to do.
You should never use a paint that is made for the inside of your house to do your exterior painting because it is cheaper or available in the color you want. There is much more to paint than color that will determine how well it covers the surface, how the color will look, and how long the paint job will last.
The Price of Quality
Exterior paints typically cost more than interior paints because they are made to be more durable and provide better coverage. A good quality exterior paint may cost as much as $40 a gallon, but you can’t judge paint by price alone. If you know what to look for on the label of the paint can, you may be able to find good quality paint for far less.
Oil vs. Water Based
The age-old debate over oil- and water-based paints has gone through some changes over the decades. Water-based paints are labeled as latex, but are not based on vinyl and acrylics, according to This Old House.¹ Many people consider oil paint to be more tedious to apply and clean up, since mineral spirits or other types of paint remover must be used. Water-based paints, on the other hand, can be easily cleaned up with water.
Research¹ has shown that there are other advantages to water-based paint, including the tendency to expand and contract with siding and allowing water vapor from inside the home to pass through. Oil-based paints block moisture and have no flexibility once dried. The end result is often seen as paint blisters and cracks.
Painting the home exterior may be more expensive and end up looking aged and worn well before its time but if the previous paint was oil-based, and there have been no problems, experts may recommend using the same type of paint for the new paint job.
Pigment
The quality of pigment in the paint is equivalent to the paint itself. The better the pigment, the more likely it is to cover the wall in a single coat. Paint with lower quality pigment is the cheaper paint that takes numerous coats to get coverage. This is why cheaper paint can often end up costing you more, in terms of the volume of paint required and the labor it takes to apply it. Titanium dioxide is considered the best pigment.¹
Solids
Once the liquid portion of the paint has dried, the solids remain on the wall. Look for paints that have more than 45% solids to get proportionally better coverage. This information isn’t normally made available on the label, so you may need to research paint brands online to find what you are looking for.
Application
Wall preparation differs according to the paint you choose and the condition of the walls you will be painting. Without proper priming and application techniques, a paint job using the highest quality paint may turn out badly. Trust Dixon Painting for the exterior painting services that will transform your house into a masterpiece.
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