As a professional house painter I know the timesaving value of getting to know your products. When you find which house paints work best for you and how they perform you will be able to turn your jobs all that much faster with less headaches.

Below are some tips to help you do a professional job at home or on the job site.

Interior House Paint:

1.) Which Brand to Use - Play it safe. Always use the best quality paints and primers. Don’t show up at someone’s doorstep with humdrum brands. Instead pretend you are going to be painting a multi-million dollar home. Now what name brand would you choose?

Not everyone may agree on the same brands of house paint of course. Don’t skimp on your own home either. After all, a man’s home is his castle! The only exception is if you are doing properties or commercial work where quality may not matter as much.

2.) What to Use on Interior Walls – I like using a "Matt" finish on interior walls. Matt finish is a lower sheen than eggshell, yet very washable, very architectural looking. Benjamin Moore has a nice Matt finish in their "Regal" line that is super washable and won’t burnish when scrubbed.

3.) What to Use on Ceilings – the best interior house paint I ever used on ceilings is actually a primer made by Porter Paints called "Blanket" (PP 1129). It is basically a high hiding solid white block out primer.

While nobody would even think of using a primer as a ceiling paint, this stuff works! It leaves a soft, pure white, flat even finish with no streaks or lap lines. You can tint it to whatever color you want. It also makes a great block out primer.

The benefits to using this solid white primer on ceilings are being that it is a primer, it grabs to any surface. It dries and can be re-coated in just one hour and coverage is about 150 square feet more per gallon than regular paint. And spreads way better than regular ceiling paint. One last point is that you can tell where you have to roll on the second coat because the first coat over looks like a primer coat.

4.) Woodwork Paint – in the old days up till the early 90’s, alkyd or oil base enamels in the "satin finish" were the norm for woodwork. Benjamin Moore’s "Satin Impervo" in the alkyd formula is still a market leader. Since the 90’s the government has cracked down on V.O.C.’s in house paint (volatile organic compounds) and some alkyd formulas may not be as fun to paint with as they used to be (some of the good stuff has been taken out of the paint).

Fortunately Satin Impervo now comes in a latex formula that is so awesome I don’t want to paint woodwork with anything else. It feels and levels like alkyd enamel should. I also use their Fresh Start® All Purpose 100% Acrylic Primer 023 as my enamel under coater.

Sherwin Williams also has a good alkyd enamel called ProClassic® Alkyd and their PrepRite® Classic Primer which is also alkyd base and is an enamel under coater (holds gloss) is also a good choice. Both are also available in a latex formula as well.

Exterior House Paint:

5.) What to Use on Exterior Siding, Windows and Doors: for exterior again, use the very best quality paints and primers. For exterior siding I like to use MoorGard® 100% Acrylic Low Lustre Latex House Paint N103 or their MoorGlo® 100% Acrylic House & Trim Paint N096.

For garage doors, windows, entry ways, etc. I like to use the MoorGlo® which is equivalent to a satin sheen or finish. In most cases I would use the MoorGard® on siding. It’s low-lustre is equivalent to an eggshell finish or sheen level.

6.) Exterior Primers - I use Benjamin Moore’s Fresh Start® All Purpose 100% Acrylic Primer 023 as my enamel under coater. They also have an exterior oil base primer for bare wood that is stain blocking.

These are my personal favorites. You may want to use the Sherwin Williams line of house paint. They also have high quality products. Every painter has different preferences. Location may be another factor.