Interior Baseboard, trim and Door Paint

[metalfab]

I'm replacing almost all baseboard, trim and doors inside my house. In the past a painter did work at my house and used ProMar 200 on my trim. It hasn't held up very well in my opinion. I've used it on some of the trim I started replacing. I don't like it.

What is a good paint for my application that I can buy at Menards or Lowes (only convenient stores). I hate painting and want to do it right the first time.

 

[Youngandfree]

Get some Flotrol to add to it to make it flow better.

 

[The Cobbler]

it's one of those things where Oil Base used to work really well. I've not seen any latex that compares in those applications unfortunately

 

[gsmith22]

sherwin williams emerald urethan trim enamel. its going to cost you so wait for the inevitable 30 to 40% off sales they do and buy a bunch. its the best latex based paint i have ever used for trim and doors. add floetrol as indicated above and it will look, feel, and paint like you used oil based.

 

[jar944]

Benjamin Moore advance lays out about as well as a oil and is relatively durable once fully cured.

No need for floetrol with it.

 

[metalfab]

Benjamin Moore advance lays out about as well as a oil and is relatively durable once fully cured.

No need for floetrol with it.

 

[metalfab]

Thanks for the recommendations. Durability is my main concern followed by ease of use. I don't want to spend $75 a gallon but if its superior to everything else it's worth it.

I tried using a foam brush and roller and scraped that idea. Difficult for me to use. Tried avoiding brush strokes.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Almost all the commercial/industrial work we do SW is always in the spec, costs more but they make good paint

 

[jar944]

Thanks for the recommendations. Durability is my main concern followed by ease of use. I don't want to spend $75 a gallon but if its superior to everything else it's worth it.

I tried using a foam brush and roller and scraped that idea. Difficult for me to use. Tried avoiding brush strokes.

Work fast and tip off for minimal visible brush strokes. You can also roll and backbrush.

A quality brush is necessary.

These are rolled and back brushed/tipped off with advance. (The door is sprayed witj lacquer)

 

[Hank11]

sherwin williams emerald urethan trim enamel. its going to cost you so wait for the inevitable 30 to 40% off sales they do and buy a bunch. its the best latex based paint i have ever used for trim and doors. add floetrol as indicated above and it will look, feel, and paint like you used oil based.

Just bought some yesterday. Its on sale now, but still expensive. Lots of positive feedback on this paint.

 

[Dig Doug]

Prime and paint before installation lightly sand in between coats

then cut / fit and pin nail - install

patch with painters patch ( it’s like a spackle) caulk with a latex w/ silicone then paint touch up as needed

Dont rush the prime and paint process let it dry well before coats


That is Da Bomb Paint!

Caulking I use, cut a small tight tip.

 

[strutaeng]

Promar 200 is a wall paint.

How much do you want to spend? Here are my experiences/review with products from $30 to $90 per gallon.

I started in my house remodel using BM Advanced and agree it behaves kinda close to an oil. Sag resistance after you lay it is a challenge if you apply it heavy and takes a while to dry because of the alkyd. So do light coats. Also kinda of expensive. It was around $50 at the time. I think it's $70 currently. Also yellows very slightly. Dover White.

Did a large expansion on our home and used Glidden interior/exterior High Gloss from THD. With a little splash of extender I was impressed on how nicely it flowed out. It was like $28 at the time. Did about 200' of tall baseboards, 14 window casings and like 8 doors and turned out great, especially for the price. I actually used the same paint for the exterior fascia, overhangs and trim. Same Dover White.

I tried the newer Behr urethane/alkyd in a dark brown color and hide was very poor. It was on an outdoor table and paint started flaking in less than a year, so not impressed, at least on repaint wood. I also used it on gutters, which I think did much better. It does flow out nicely. I don't remember what that was in price, maybe $45? This may be a good option for you.

PPG Breakthrough is also an excellent product. I bought a gallon for this black TV console I built. It's extremely durable, but expensive. IIRC it was like $92/gallon with my buddy's commercial account! It dries really fast too, maybe a little too fast for a door if you are doing a large surface, unless you spray. Very tough finish. I had actually bought a gallon of the Dover White to try a while back before our expansion but didn't use it except for the stair handrails due to the higher cost. I decided to use it for furniture and cabinetry projects instead. My wife had me paint a little bed for one of our girls and turned out great. I sprayed it with a spray gun. I intend to use this instead of the BM Advanced in the future due to the fast dry time.

I hope this helps.

 

[bp460]

I used (brushed) rustoleum oil-based satin black on all the trim and base boards in my house. It looks great and is super durable.

 

[billconner]

You might try one of those painting pads. I'm an alkyd and natural brush guy, but the pad was impressive. Don't soak it in paint. And not the edger with wheels - that sucked.

 

[metalfab]

Thanks everyone. These are the type of responses I was looking for. $90 dollar range is more than I want to spend. I'll have to look for sales. I've used the glidden diamond paint for a bedroom before and was actually impressed on the usability and coverage for a cheaper paint. All the trim is the pre primed variety. Is the primer good enough or do I have to re prime them?

 

[nadogail]

Cheap Paint is almost never good. I have found Good Paint is easier to work with than Cheap Paint.

 

[hefnerconstructionlc]

You get what you pay for with trim paint. Ben Moore advance or Sherwin Williams pro classic hybrid.

 

[73project]

sherwin williams emerald urethan trim enamel. its going to cost you so wait for the inevitable 30 to 40% off sales they do and buy a bunch. its the best latex based paint i have ever used for trim and doors. add floetrol as indicated above and it will look, feel, and paint like you used oil based.

That's what my paint contractor used when I did my home remodeling in 2018. All doors, trim, and base were sprayed with this. It's holding up great, is easy to clean, and it's durable.

 

[Viper98912]

I like SW Promar 200 for wall paint; it's the best bang-for-the-buck paint (IMO) and I get good coverage with 2 coats.

I mistakenly tried to use Promar 200 to do some trim, and it was terrible. Takes 5 coats to get it to look decent (not great, but decent); I was also using this same white color on some accent walls between the trim, so it's what I had but in the end it wasn't worth the effort. A buddy of mine who is a painter says to use the ProClassic for trim, so that's the gallon I'll be buying next.

 

[jar944]

Thanks everyone. These are the type of responses I was looking for. $90 dollar range is more than I want to spend. I'll have to look for sales. I've used the glidden diamond paint for a bedroom before and was actually impressed on the usability and coverage for a cheaper paint. All the trim is the pre primed variety. Is the primer good enough or do I have to re prime them?

Imho if you are spending $$$ to replace all the millwork, don't cheap out on the paint or the paint process.

 

[e015475]

I've sprayed SW Emerald with an airless and rolled/brushed it on - I can't tell the difference, it levels out so nice. Well worth the money IMO.

I just finished replacing the base in my house after the new flooring went in. I used 5 1/2" MDF pre-primed base

I scuffed the base with maroon scotchbrite - no additional priming was necessary. I set them all up on sawhorses and rolled the SW Emerald with a small roller and a White Dove cover. I used a good synthetic brush to pull the paint up out of the grooves in the base and even it out after I rolled it.

Once the base is mitered and nailed off, I caulk the joints and where it meets the wall. Once the caulk has skinned over, I paint all the caulk/base with the brush using Emerald and about an inch up the drywall and give it a day to dry/cure.

Since I'm incapable of cutting a paint line, I mask the base with the blue 3M masking tape, run a very fine line of ALEX caulk on the edge of the tape and tool it tight with my finger to keep the line crisp between the base and the wall. I use a White Dove on a roller for the wall paint and pull the tape immediately after the wall paint is cut-in - it gives a crisp, straight line between the base and the wall every time.

I buy my SW Emerald at the local SW store. The retail prices are ridiculous. They'll open up an account for you if you ask and that helps take a little bit of the sting out of the price if you can't wait for a sale.

I've never found paint at the big-box stores that was worth a damn - just my opinion. Painting is a lot of labor and it is wasted with sub-standard materials.

JMO

 

[metalfab]

I've sprayed SW Emerald with an airless and rolled/brushed it on - I can't tell the difference, it levels out so nice. Well worth the money IMO.

I just finished replacing the base in my house after the new flooring went in. I used 5 1/2" MDF pre-primed base

I scuffed the base with maroon scotchbrite - no additional priming was necessary. I set them all up on sawhorses and rolled the SW Emerald with a small roller and a White Dove cover. I used a good synthetic brush to pull the paint up out of the grooves in the base and even it out after I rolled it.

Once the base is mitered and nailed off, I caulk the joints and where it meets the wall. Once the caulk has skinned over, I paint all the caulk/base with the brush using Emerald and about an inch up the drywall and give it a day to dry/cure.

Since I'm incapable of cutting a paint line, I mask the base with the blue 3M masking tape, run a very fine line of ALEX caulk on the edge of the tape and tool it tight with my finger to keep the line crisp between the base and the wall. I use a White Dove on a roller for the wall paint and pull the tape immediately after the wall paint is cut-in - it gives a crisp, straight line between the base and the wall every time.

I buy my SW Emerald at the local SW store. The retail prices are ridiculous. They'll open up an account for you if you ask and that helps take a little bit of the sting out of the price if you can't wait for a sale.

I've never found paint at the big-box stores that was worth a damn - just my opinion. Painting is a lot of labor and it is wasted with sub-standard materials.

JMO

I'm not a pro painter by any means so I appreciate your advice any everyone else's. Looks like I need to decide between BM and SW. I saw some Dutch Boy trim paint but I'm not going to even mess with it.

 

[Voi]

sherwin williams emerald urethan trim enamel. its going to cost you so wait for the inevitable 30 to 40% off sales they do and buy a bunch. its the best latex based paint i have ever used for trim and doors. add floetrol as indicated above and it will look, feel, and paint like you used oil based.

I just picked up a quart of this but haven't applied it yet. I have both oak and ash trim that I'm applying it to.

Any suggestions for a primer that will allow some of the grain to telegraph through? I have sample boards primed with both de-waxed shellac and waterborne polyurethane. I had both left over from other projects. Anything else I should try?

 

[frankd]

it's one of those things where Oil Base used to work really well. I've not seen any latex that compares in those applications unfortunately

Agreed. Benjamin Moore Impervo seemed to be the gold standard. My dad ran a painting company for 40+ years. Each year the Ben Moore rep would tell us that they were phasing out the impervo and/or only selling in quarts and labeling it "for metal only". I believe this was due to environmental concerns. In my opinion, there are no latex paints that will lay down as smoothly as oil without showing brushstrokes. Latex has come a long way though and while it won't look as good as oil, I think the durability is now comparable. I'd stick with Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore though.

 

[gizardlizard]

California paints ultra aquaborne ceramic. This stuff is awesome.

 

[gizardlizard]

 

[gsmith22]

I just picked up a quart of this but haven't applied it yet. I have both oak and ash trim that I'm applying it to.

Any suggestions for a primer that will allow some of the grain to telegraph through? I have sample boards primed with both de-waxed shellac and waterborne polyurethane. I had both left over from other projects. Anything else I should try?

my guesses is thinning it if you want grain to telegraph or maybe using latex primer (instead of oil - oil will hide better). But that isn't what I did so I'm not sure I would follow my recommendation. May have to test with different thinning to get what you like.

I had solid oak 6 panel doors and trim (base, chair, crown, casing, etc.) throughout the house stained in that orange-yellow honey oak that was popular in the 90s and I wanted it all white. I sanded everything down to get as much of the stain gone as I could, primed with SW multi-puropse oil base primer and then follwed the primer with 2 coats of the SW emerald urethane trim enamel. I typically added floetrol to the emerald urethan trim enamel (its latex based) as well as penetrol to the oil based primer to give all coatins more open time for me to apply and have it level. Used throwawary rollers to get the stuff on and purdy brushes to tip and smooth. I dare say its perfect, brushless paint - people see it and think I sprayed it. All that being said, you can't see any grain with this method.

 

[e015475]

I'm not a pro painter by any means so I appreciate your advice any everyone else's. Looks like I need to decide between BM and SW. I saw some Dutch Boy trim paint but I'm not going to even mess with it.

Not a pro either, but of all the trades people I've hired, painters seem to have given me the most trouble. I've been moderately successful in learning how to get by learning a little about drywall and paint.

Lots of trade painters like the BM and there's lots that like SW. I think they're both excellent. I'd shop price and convenience

The only reason I use SW is there's a paint store down the street and I have an account there. They also keep a record of everything I buy, so if I want to know what color I ordered ten years ago, it is in their computer.

 

[Voi]

my guesses is thinning it if you want grain to telegraph or maybe using latex primer (instead of oil - oil will hide better). But that isn't what I did so I'm not sure I would follow my recommendation. May have to test with different thinning to get what you like.

I had solid oak 6 panel doors and trim (base, chair, crown, casing, etc.) throughout the house stained in that orange-yellow honey oak that was popular in the 90s and I wanted it all white. I sanded everything down to get as much of the stain gone as I could, primed with SW multi-puropse oil base primer and then follwed the primer with 2 coats of the SW emerald urethane trim enamel. I typically added floetrol to the emerald urethan trim enamel (its latex based) as well as penetrol to the oil based primer to give all coatins more open time for me to apply and have it level. Used throwawary rollers to get the stuff on and purdy brushes to tip and smooth. I dare say its perfect, brushless paint - people see it and think I sprayed it. All that being said, you can't see any grain with this method.

I decided against trying to have the grain telegraph through. But did want to comment that I'm very impressed with this SW Emerald Urethane.

Rolled & brushed some red oak trim. Wife moved my brushes so I had to use a slightly older brush that was a bit stiff/gritty. Just a small amount of Floetrol added.

Leveled out really nice despite not being happy with how the wet coat looked.

Trim isn't installed so I haven't applied it vertically but I suspect it will perform great.

I need to find my receipt & see what this quart cost me.