I wish we had an FAQ too. I sure would love it if Brushworks, Faron and all the other very experienced painters here would put one together. In fact, I would be willing to help compile and edit one, if others sent me the material. I am a newbie at painting, but good at documentation.

I can answer a couple of these, though. Latex is now actually made from Acrylic. Oil-based paint is now made from Alklyd. The terms are essentially used interchangably now. Oil/Alklyd is outlawed in many states. However there are also new formulations that clean up with soap and water instead of thinner. The best water-based paints are now better than alklyd, according to Brushworks.

Also if you see "Low-VOC" paints mentioned, these do not give off harmful fumes (volatile organic compounds) as they dry. In other words, no paint smell and no toxicity.

"Cutting in" is going around the millwork - doors, windows, etc. -- with a brush before filling in large areas with a roller.

Full-spectrum is a non-standard way of mixing paint colors. It produces richer, more subtle colors which change with the light more than standard paint. Ellen Kennon, Citron, and Donald Kaufmann are the three manufacturers of full-spectrum paint. A good place to start is http://www.ellenkennon.com; also search for "FS" and full spectrum, "EK" and Ellen Kennon, Citron, and DKC (Donald Kaufmann Collection) in this forum and the Home Decorating forum. I'm a big fan of Ellen's paint after being unsuccessful picking standard colors. Some people like me love them, others think they are a waste of money! It largely depends on how picky you are about color.

Questions: I would love an explanation of what waterborne means, what its advantages are, and what the waterborne brands are. Does Dulux have anything waterborne?

I would also like a definition of the ceramic paints. Muralo is not available in my area (except for the porch and deck paint for some reason, which I found at my hardware store!) But I would like to know more about the technology and if there are other ceramic paints on the market.

wormgirl,

I'll explain what it means when the can says, "Waterborne".

In the early days of latex paint, the resins were bulky and chalky. When dried, it left a harsh, rough finish (clumsy is how funcolors describes it)most of the time. Let's compare those resins to basketballs on the wall.

Then comes 100% Acrylic Enamels. The resins are much smaller and the vehicle is less chalky. The finish is very nice, often very smooth when done professionally. Let's compare those resins to golfballs on the wall.

Waterborne. A waterborne paint has ultra fine resins. A waterborne, due to ultra fine resins allows for rapid expansion of the vehicle (water) and quick leveling to provide a smooth, porcelain like finish. Let's compare those resins to sand particles on the wall.

Paints like Impervo, Muralo, Pro Classic are referred to as "Waterborne". More expensive, but well worth the finish.

Ceramic Paints. Coronado offers CeramaGard. It's easier to read about the technology than describe it here. I'm including a link below.

Graham Paints, a sister company of Muralo, also offers ceramic microspheres.

http://www.paintquality.com/feature/index.html

Happy painting!

Michael

Hi girlndocs!
(Welcome to the "madness" here! ;-) )

Don't worry about being "intimidated" about paint! I myself have a "deer in the headlights" look when it comes to "things electrical"!
(wonder if that's why they call me "sparky"...??)

Post back here with some details of your home, i.e. age, condition of walls, existing finishes, repair needs...

The Oil-based paints have an Alkyd resin as their main building-block. Isolated by itself, it looks like transparent molasses. Nowadays, there's fewer & fewer reasons to use oils. Some painters do prefer Exterior oil-based primers though...and use Latex paints on top.

Latex-based paints (water-based) are formulated around a plastic-like resin dispersed in water, resulting in a milky-white liquid. This ISN'T the latex in medical gloves, etc. Not related at all.
* There's all kinds of quality-levels of water-based (Latex) paints as you probably guessed by now!
* In the paint world, Price pretty-much directly correlates to quality.
* Example: Menards often advertises Lucite brand paint for about $8 - $10/gal. C2 & other top brands are $42+ per gal.!! (one guess which is a MUCH better paint...)
* Where I work, we sell ACE-Royal (has Interior & Exterior lines), Ralph-Lauren (Interior only), & C2 (Interior & Exterior). These are 3 very good lines, although there are many others out there.
* Primers are your friend!! They help paints "stick" better, & even out the sheens' appearance on a wall. Deep colors often require a tinted primer.
* BEST results are obtained with a coat of primer, & TWO coats of color.
* To estimate gallonage...figure 1 gallon will do 400sq. ft. of wall-area. If a 400sf room, 1 gal. of primer, and 2 gals of color (for 2 coats) needed.

Hope I didn't "overload" you yet!!??
Thanks,
Faron

No Faron, not at all, thank you.

I've painted before, most notably the rental house we live in now. I'm just realizing what an abysmal lack of proper prep we did with the job, although we thought we were doing things correctly.

When we move and paint a new place we're going to do it right with good tools and paint and correct prep work.

Michael, I wonder if you've had experience working with Aura paint? I noticed that one was a waterborne. I really like some of the colors in that line. Having fun imagining different rooms with them even though I lack any real rooms to paint just yet.

Kristin

Hi again Girl,
I'll be waitin' for Michael's "Aura-answer" too! In the meantime....I think the Aura lines' colorants are water-based too...therefore very low VOC all-around.
* I think it retails for around $50+/gal.
* Somewhere on one of these forums, there was a link to a NYT article on Aura, and how expensive the colorants/tinters were. Therefore, depending on $$$ arrangements, some stores don't want to get into it.
* I "THINK" it would be the same type of tinter our C2 line requires, based on that article. Can't (not allowed!) tell you exactly, but our COROB/& computer was between $10k-$20k. Ouch! Our machine can use waterborne colorants (like Aura), but C2 hasn't gone there yet.

More of Faron's "geekspeak" here! ;-)
Faron

Michael, thanks very much. That was a great explanation!

I wonder why Muralo does not distribute to most of the country, when they have been around so long. You would think being one of the only purveyors of ceramic paint, they'd expand to the other coast.

wormgirl,

I want to see your worm bin! *s*

Muralo is better known for it's waterborne enamels like satin flow and it's waterborne wall paints. The only ceramic paint they make is the Ultra Ceramic in Matte finish.

I also noticed that you raise worms in Washington state. Good for you! The best paint west of the Mississippi is Miller Paint Company of Oregon and they manufacture the best ceramic paint on the west coast.

Link provided.

Michael

this thread is very helpful!

would love to know some good brushes and rollers to get for indoor latex paint and primer! (i think corona was mentioned in another thread :))

Corona brushes, Wooster roller covers.

Michael

thanks!