Paint Product Options for Trim: Part 1

I want to paint the interior trim on the inside of my home. There are so many paint products to choose from.  The next big question I have is who should I buy the paint from. I go into Home Depot, and Lowes has so many products, then there is Sherwin Williams, PPG and Benjamin Moore. I saw your ASK THE EXPERTS page on your website and thought I would reach out to you for advice. Please help.

Painting the interior doors, door casings, baseboards in your home is extremely frustrating and time consuming. That is the easy part. Picking the correct paint to use for your interior painting project is the hard part.

This blog will be a 2-part blog, the first part is talking about painting over a previously painted surface that was last painted with a latex paint.

The first thing to keep in mind is to be sure and use the correct type of paint to use for your project. You need to determine what type of paint was last used on your trim.

Buy a quart of Denatured Alcohol and pour a little bit of it on a rag. Wipe the rag on the surface of either a door or door casing that you want to paint. Once you wipe the rag on the surface check the rag to see of any of the paint color has transferred onto the rag. When you wiped the rag on the surface if you feel the rag dragging on the surface just a little bit and if the paint color of the door or door casing is on the rag that means that the surfaces was last painted with a latex paint. (Waterborne Acrylic Enamel) This is a good thing. This means you can use any product you wish for your project.

Now let’s talk about paint options!

The above pictured products are products Ron’s Painting uses the most on interior trim. The Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane, Pro-Classic, and PPG Advantage 900 are all latex (Acrylic) products. These are your three options if you want to go back and use latex paint for your interior painting project. This is what I would use.

Now you could also use the Pro-Classic oil-based product or the Pro-Classic  Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd paint. The difference is the oil-based paint dries very hard  and to a beautiful finish. You do have to clean your brushes with paint thinner, and in the future, you can only paint over this paint with an oil-based paint. This is just option for you. Personally, I would use either the Emerald Urethane or the Advantage 900 in a semi-gloss finish.

The Pro-Classic Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd paint goes on the surface and dries like an oil, if you use this paint for a short period of time you can clean your brush with water, if you use it a long time, you need to clean your brush with paint thinner. The paint dries to a hard finish. To paint over this paint, you must sand the surface first then paint it with either the same type of paint or use an oil-based paint.

This is one product I never ever use. I do not like using it or cleaning the brushes.

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