What is your favorite interior latex paint?

[chassis]

Have been doing a bit of painting around the house - 2 accent walls in the kitchen and now the master bath. I've used several different brands of primer and 2 brands of latex paint - Behr and Sherwin Williams. Seems to me the S-W paint flows better and is easier to work with. The Behr paint seems thicker, maybe gummier is the word. All the paint is fresh and well stirred. I am applying with a 4" brush to cut in the wall/ceiling, followed by 3/8" nap rollers.

What are your folks opinions on this? What is the Rolls Royce of interior latex paint? Needs to be something a homeowner, such as myself, can buy.

[thezster]

As long as you're using a quality name brand, have a good surface, use a good primer, and quality equipment (no $4.00 brushes) you won't go wrong. Personally, I prefer the S/W for spraying..... and buy the bear (behr) for brushing/rolling.

[chassis]

zster,

On the subject of brushes, I picked up a 2" thin sash brush with black china bristles for painting alkyd on trim. Works great. What is a "china" bristle?

On cutting in at the ceiling/wall intersection, what brush and technique do you recommend? I have been using a 4" Purdy nylon bristle brush, it does an OK job. Or maybe it's the operator that is just "OK". lol

[finnegan]

Benjamin Moore is the professional standard around here. I tend to use Behr with no problems. I used a Glidden (less expensive) semi-gloss which I really liked as well. The only brand I consistently hear horror stories about is Ralph Loren.

[jimbo]

I can't find a reference to tell me exactly what "China" bristle means, but any bristle brush is generally natural fibre, i.e. hogs hair. They are excellent brushes, but can only be used with oil-based paints and varnishes. Use with water they absorb and swell up. Also should not be cleaned with water. A quick soapy rinse is ok after solvent cleaning, but then they should be set aside to dry thouroughly.

I prefer the white china bristle.

For all paints, but especially latex, a premium polyester brush is preferred. Every painter will have his own preferences. I personally love my angle sash brushes for almost any application. Many painters will prefer a straight trim brush for casings and mouldings. Best advice: you cannot spend too much for a brush. A top quality brush will save you so much time and agravation! Eventually, you will fall in love with one of your brushes. Treat it like a newborn child because it will give you years of joy!

Nylon brushes are most useful for applying varnishes. For paint they will not brush as easily or give as neat a line.

[Lakee911]

I like Benjamin Moore Paint. It's thick and aheres well and covers up a lot. Behr is good too. I didn't like Lowes brand and their primer was horrible too!

Jason

[sulconst2]

ben moore also. i like the purdy brushes and 1/2" lambs wool rollers.

[teamo]

I bought a brush spinner to use on my good brushes. It clamps onto the handle and spins the brush at high speed in a bucket to get it dried quicker then you just comb out the brush and let it dry out. I like the purdy brushes that the others mentioned here also.

[Lakee911]

Chalk up another for the Purdy.

I clean latex paint off my brushes and rollers with plain water and then do a little soaking in mineral spirits. I find its good for accumulating all of the 'watered down paint' at the bottom of the jar and really cleans out the brushes. Does a good job on almost clean paint trays too, swish a little around and pour out the paint w/ it. After soaking, rinse out w/ water. Works for me.

Jason

[chassis]

Stopped by the local Harbor Freight and picked up one of the pump pressurized aerosol cans. Had mixed success spraying the electrical switchplates and a/c register. Tried spraying the latex and while it did spray, it was not atomized very well. Paint was thinned pretty well (I thought) with water. Next time I'll thin it further. Can you thin latex with mineral spirits?

During cleanup I sprayed mineral spirits through the mechanism and the spirits atomized very well. Seems like the solution is to get my paint color from Sherwin-Williams in an oil base, then thin it down with spirits or turpentine and spray it that way.

Of course the *real* solution is a big compressor and an HVLP gun, but for spraying a dozen switchplates per year, don't think the wife will go for that one.

[Lakee911]

Sometimes you can find automotive touch up aerasol paint cans that closely match your wall color. Costs like $4/ea and should do all you need.

Jason

[Buni]

After the brush is clean, I wrap it in a paper towel, securing it with a rubber band at the butt so the rubber band doesn't crush the bristles. If the bristles have 'flared' from improper use or storage, this will bring the bristles back under control when they are dry.

I drill holes in the handles of all my paint brushes so I can hang them when they're ready to dry (after I've wrapped them in a paper towel). If there's any paint left in the brush, it will drain down to the tips of the bristles and drip off, instead of accumulating in the butt of the brush. (If you lay brushes flat to dry, the paint will go back into the butt of the brush, which makes the flexible part of the bristles progressively shorter.) If I don't have a nail handy to hang them from, I put a 'twistie' through the handle to make a loop, and hang it from a handle on a cupboard, or tie it to a door handle or something similar so it can hang down.

[Buni]

The best sprayer I've found for small items such as metal registers & light fixtures is PREVAL (brand) Sprayer. Available at paint stores, it's a little 4-oz CO2 cartridge that screws onto a small reusable glass bottle. You can buy the whole kit (cartridge and jar), or just the cartridge. You really only need 1 jar unless you're going to work on several projects at once.

There's a chart included that shows how much to thin different paints, i.e. varnish, oil base, latex. I've used them all, followed their proportions, and had terrific success. I even sprayed PVC louvers on vertical blinds to match the trim around my windows. Talk about custom made!! One of my greatest successes was a very basic ceiling fan -- I sprayed the entire ceiling fan (disassembled, of course) to match the ceiling -- it just fades away into the ceiling but adds a little class up there, ever so subtly. Fun.