Home Depot Paint - Behr is that the best?

[Minnie116]

I have never had luck with Behr Paint. I accidentally bought it to paint my kid's bathroom and it took more that an entire gallon to cover the walls, and it was not a large bathroom. Funny thing, I prefer Home Depot's American Finest(the most inexpensive one)...if I like a Behr color I just take the swatch to the counter and have them match it. I painted almost my entire hiuse with it and had good coverage and a little went a long way.

 

[mamaLori05]

We tend to use Behr paint and Sherwin Williams paint. We actually prefer the Behr paint for most of the house! We do like the Sherwin Williams enamal paint for the trim and doors (white) because of it's hardness once dry.

We built and owned our last house for 6 yrs and only painted it once when we moved in using the Behr paint. We didn't have issues with it taking too many coats, and it still looked like we just painted it when we moved 6 yrs later. We built our current house less than a year ago as well and used the Behr paint again on all the walls. We LOVE it!!

 

[ZachnElli]

I really like Lowe's Valspar paint. I recently painted over really dark purple (think eggplant) with Valspar's primer/paint and it covered in 2 coats (went to Beach house blue).

 

[anabelle]

I worked as a Paint chemist when I first got our of college, so I am pretty picky about my paint. I like Behr. I don't love it, but I use it a lot in my house. For the money it is decent. It runs about $30 per gallon of self priming flat. Which is not bad. Benjamin Moore Aura is probably the best paint out there with Ben Moore Regal coming in a close second. Aura is over $50 a gallon and Regal is about $40 per gallon. Keep in mind that a lot of paints lowered their VOC levels in the last few years and that affected the quality of some of them somewhat. Non-primer Behr Ultra quality went down a bit when they lowered the VOCs. So in all fairness, the Behr standard paint of 5 years ago is not the same as the current non-primer kind.

Since you have Home Depot gift cards I wouldn't hesitate to buy Behr Paint with primer. Make sure you clean your walls and then etch them with a sanding sponge first. Then wipe them down again to remove any dust. If you have any deep stains or grease residue that you can't get off, I would use Kilz primer. They can tint that as well.

For the PP who said that Behr will peel off if you use tape. Yes it will IF you do not get it off before the cure begins. It is very elastic. I don't usually use tape for that very reason. If I need a perfect edge, I will tape but I pull it off as soon as I am done painting. Unless you are really shaky handed, you can get away with a good cut in brush to do your edges.

 

[enigmaticorange]

I am a fan of Dutch Boy, myself. I sprung extra for Behr in my hallway thinking it would be fantastic....and it took soooo many coats. It was awful. I painted my living room a deep brick-clay red using a Dutch boy satin and it took one coat in most places! And this was over brand new bright white coated drywall.

 

[scout68]

Interesting thread. Let me preface my comments by saying I have owned and operated a mid sized painting company for 12 years. We have use most of the paint lines available today.

1. 90% of primers sold today are not going to help with coverage. They are designed for adhesion purposes.

2. deeper (not necessarily darker colors) have less solids and more colorant added to achieve the deep color. This is why it takes multiple coats to achieve the designed shade. It has very little to do with the existing color.

3. coverage and adhesion success also depends on the finish you are using (flat, eggshell, semi-gloss) and more importantly the finish you are covering. You can buy the most expensive product from any of the big three paint companies (Ben Moore, Sherwin, Glidden/ICI) and you will have trouble covering semi over semi (cabinets for instance).

4. As important as the product you choose are the tools you use. Countless time I have gone on an estimate for an unfinished diy project and notice cheap dried up rollers and brushes that are a huge factor in the clients frustration. A quality set of tools are pricey but undoubtedly washable and can last you many many years.

In closing, we have worked with all types of paint from all sorts of companies and they can be compared with the big sneaker companies. Nike, Reebok, Asics, etc. They all make a 20$ pair and 120$ pair. As most things go in life you get what you pay for.