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What is the correct sheen level for a bathroom?

13 years ago

Paint store said BM doesn't make Kitchen & Bath paint anymore (I found out differently when I read the website). Unfortunately, I believed him and bought eggshell which he said would be fine. Then I read that the higher the sheen, the less likely moisture will penetrate the paint? So can someone please tell me what sheen to use for a bathroom? I bought a quart of semi-gloss to mix into about 1/2 gallon of eggshell to create what I hope is Pearl?

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Comments (5)

paintguy22
13 years ago
Semi gloss is more durable than eggshell, but I don't think the durability is increased so much so that anyone will notice a difference. Eggshell is usually fine for bathrooms, but as always sheen is generally a personal preference type of thing.
sloyder
13 years ago
pearl is a nice finish, as I have it in the kitchen.
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Faron79
13 years ago
In MY opinion...

I'd use Satin.
If a youth or "teen" bathroom, Semi-gloss...although Satin could be OK.

Depending on your ratios, you'll probably have a Satin anyway!

Faron
paintguy1
13 years ago
In a high-quality paint, sheen is much less important than it used to be. Eggshell or higher is fine as long as there is mildew protection in the film (most products will say this right on the can). If you are going economy, then satin or higher is the way to go.
Faron79
13 years ago
PG1 has a good point too...

The better the paint, the lower the sheen you can get away with.

My usual "from a technical-only standpoint ONLY" statement is still true though....

>>> Within any paint series, the shinier the film is...the "Literally" tighter/smoother the resin-film is. Therefore it's impermeability increases with sheen.

My own anecdotal info:
THANK G*D there's S/G in DD's bathroom!!
Looong hot showers/steam. Long ago, I drilled into her the importance of using the fan. Water-droplets still settle on the walls though. In that bathroom, there's still the better grade of a Contractors-grade S/G, applied 15 years ago. To this day, ABSOLUTELY NO problems with the walls/paint.
>>> Mainly due to the sheen-level of the lower-grade paint.

Faron

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