Which interior paint to cover builder's flat white ??

7 years ago

We built our house 3 years ago and have the basic Dover White flat builder's paint on our walls. We are now having the interior painted a different color, but our painter uses promar 200 which I do not want. He said we can choose. Any suggestions for an upgrade that won't break the budget--4600 ft home with some 22 ft ceilings. Phoenix--we have sherwin williams, Dunn Edwards, Benjamin Moore and the big box stores.

Featured Answer

PRO

Paint sales at Home Depot

7 years ago

Christopher Nelson - During my contracting years, BM Regal Wall Satin was one of my mainstays. It is ( or was back then) an excellent primer too. If going over that builder's paint, one coat would not look good at all, with heavy streaking. Wait a couple hours and give it another coat, and it would be beautiful! I guess this is to say that "paint and primer paints" are really nothing new! Even though using Wall Satin as primer was more expensive material wise, it resulted in time savings and a better overall final appearance.

An anecdotal story: I had drywalled my garage and began to prime it on a Saturday night, but ran out of primer half way down the longest wall. The paint stores being closed, I grabbed some Regal Wall Satin I had laying around and finished priming the wall with it. I subsequently painted all the walls with Moore's Stain Impervo Oil. I could not see where I had changed over from the dedicated primer to the Wall Satin!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

PRO
Paint sales at Home Depot
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
The main problem which your painter is not addressing is that he is going over "builder's grade" paint , i.e. poor quality. Whenever I was the first painter going over that notorious builder's paint, I immediately planned on two coats, either a dedicated primer and quality finish coat, or two coats of a "paint and primer in one" product.

A quality paint will not hold an even sheen over that builder's paint. Ironically, you can make a significant color change over that builder's paint, but only because it is sucking up large amounts of paint. But, as stated, the sheen will not hold up, even that of a quality flat or matte paint. Higher sheens will "flash" like crazy! It will also compromise the finish of a good paint by making it less washable.

Don't be deceived by name brand national paint manufacturers. They all make a wide range of qualities from very good to very bad. Call your local paint dealer and ask exactly what quality your painter intends to use. The 200 series Sherwin Williams paint is on the low end!
PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Ben Moore Regal, preferably primed first with a good quality primer.( Gardz would be my choice) This rules out pva primers.
Related Discussions
Builder painting: eggshell vs. flat, upcharges ... no good options
Q
Comments (10)
My builder uses flat paint as well and it has to do with touching up according to my builder. He told us that after painting there will be areas that will need to be touched up that get dinged from some of the trades that come through. With flat paint they can just touch up the ding while satin and other finishes would require more than just touching up the ding because you would notice if the ding was the only thing touched up. Hope that made sense. We didn't want to pay anything extra for paint so we are just going to have the builder paint with flat and then at some point if we really don't like it we can paint it ourselves. We've done plenty of painting in our previous houses so for us its not a big deal. We also have college aged kids so not too worried about sticky fingers, We were able to choose any colors we want for the various rooms that will have sheet rock(building log cabin) it's just the paint has to be flat to avoid an upcharge.
...See More
Matte (or flat) interior paint comparable to BM Regal Select
Q
Comments (6)
The price range on SW higher priced paints ( $60 to $70 range) is totally unjustified when one looks at the ratings by independent rating outfits such as Consumer Reports. Benjamin Moore also has high prices, but at least most of their products rate very well. What ever you do, compare "apples to apples". All manufacturers make multiple grades, very poor to very good. Ask at your paint dealer what exactly you are buying for that higher price. If your painter is supplying the paint, ask EXACTLY what line he intends to use, then call the paint store to see what he is using. It is penny wise and pound foolish to use less than top of the line paint in you home. If he is using cheap paints, it is to maximize HIS profits, not your long term performance. I say this as a 4 decade paint contractor who often had to bid against these low lifes. The lowest bid is not necessarily the best bid! Don't forget to ask for his insurance certificate for general liability and Workman's Comp.
...See More
Last minute help deciding white interior paint!
Q
Comments (28)
Here it is next to the cabinets. The first picture next to the 5-lite door is super white. Second picture is chantilly lace. The door casing and door is pre-primed and will get painted along with everything else but you can see how much more white the super white is next to it. This was taken around 7:45 AM and camera flash ON but no lights were on in the house. Because of the camera flash, the cabinets look more like a black - they’re not this dark in person and like I said, they have a red tone to them because they’re cherry. But since yours are black, i figure it couldn’t hurt. Also keep in mind, while the super white does look stark next to them, I think if we had more linear looking pulls as well as flat slab or simpler cabinet doors, the stark contrast would work. So if you have that, I wouldn’t worry too much about the contrast. (Our cabinets have a slightly more traditional door and there’s also crown molding on them so it’s another reason the super white doesn’t work for us.)
...See More
Which Sherwin Williams White to Cover Red Wallpapered Bedroom?
Q
Comments (17)
Instead of painting that wallpaper, re-paper the walls with a plain (white) liner paper, and paint that! It’s made exactly for this and other situations where problem walls need to be prepared quickly and easily (and cheaply!) for redecoration. It comes in different materials, textures and weights/thicknesses (depending on how poorly your substrate is), pasted or non, and it’s also available with embossed designs (angalypta) if you’d like something with a little pizazz. You could even leave it unpainted for the time being so that you can take your time with your design. Usually a rushed decorating decision is a bad decorating decision. ;) Regarding painting: why do you want to do semi-gloss on the walls? It won’t help hide the red if that’s what you’re thinking. That’s the stain blocker’s job, and for that I recommend Zinsser BIN, which is a shellac-based product. I‘d then go over that with a latex primer (no need to use oil) tinted to whatever color I’ve chosen for my finish coat.
...See More
dchall_san_antonio
7 years ago
We just had our house painted and got similar comments from the painters on our job. All the manufacturers make similar quality paints and the price is reflected in the quality. We picked Pittsburgh Manor Hall Timeless for the exterior. For the interior we primed with KILZ, Premium. Unfortunately I had let the KILZ sit for several months and it settled into runny liquid (about 1/10 of the can) and mud (9/10). It took 2 hours of power stirring to bring it back to creamy smooth. Final coat interior was SW Ovation. The Ovation covered the primer nicely where I painted it. I had to repaint over my daughter's efforts (she likes to squeeze the roller dry).
PRO
Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
7 years ago
Agreed with the first paragraph and that's some expensive garage paint!
paintguy22
7 years ago
The big question is, do you want a washable finish or are you going to stick with the flat? Honestly, for flat paints, the quality of the actual paint isn't that important, since you are not going to be washing the walls. If you are looking for a washable paint, then SW's Cashmere low lustre is a good medium grade washable paint that is an upgrade from ProMar 200.
Edeline Halfhill
last year
To begin with, you need to choose a paint without allergic drugs, also it should not have chlorhexidine
PRO
SayrollFox
last year
last modified: last year
I would advise you to purchase Dunn Edwards paint as it is ideal for painting a house. This paint is inexpensive and you can buy more jars with it to be enough to paint the whole house. Many painting companies Oahu use premium paints of this type. They trust this manufacturer and therefore most painters paint with this paint. I would also advise you to pay attention to Benjamin Moore. It's difficult for me to choose between these two paints, so you can take both and then determine the best one for yourself. The main thing is not to forget before painting with new paint to remove the old layer of dried paint so that the new one looks good on the walls. Good luck and success in painting the house!

Which interior paint to cover builder's flat white ??

Paint sales at Home Depot

Comments (8)

Paint sales at Home Depot

Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting

Related Discussions

dchall_san_antonio

Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting

paintguy22

Edeline Halfhill

SayrollFox

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US