How to Choose the Right Paint

Cole Schaefer, a professional painter, shares the differences between the different grades of paint and why using premium paint can truly transform a home's appearance and provide a durable finish that lasts.Professional painter Cole Schaefer shows you how to pick the right paint for your project.

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Man Talking	Hi. I'm Cole Schaefer professional painter and welcome to Dunn-Edwards paints how to paint video series. There's a wide variety of choices when it comes to paint but not all paints are created equal. A premium paint offers smoother more uniform appearance as well as better coverage, although a premium paint may cost more it maintains its durability longer, so your home doesn't require frequent repainting. In this video we'll share the differences between the different grades of paint and why using a premium paint can truly transform a home's appearance and provide a durable finish that lasts. The quality of the paint depends upon the type and amount of ingredients used to make it. These ingredients are combined to provide different levels of application and performance properties.
Paint Can Diagram	So what goes into a can of paint? All paints have four basic ingredients, pigment, binders, liquid, and additives. Pigment provide color coverage and gloss control binders find the pigment together and provides film integrity and adhesion to a surface liquid also known as the solvent provides desired consistency and makes it possible to apply the pigment and binders to the surface. Additives are ingredients that provide specific paint properties such as mildew resistance and good flow and level.
Man Talking	Now that you know the basic components it's important for you to determine the quality of a gallon of paint. So let's introduce you to the paint property commonly referred to by professionals as volume solids or simply solids. Solids are a good first step for determining the quality of the paint once you know the solids of a product more research is still needed to identify specific properties of a paint you can find some of this information on product literature labels or technical data sheets.
Paint Can Diagram	When you buy a gallon of paint you're essentially paying for the solids portion of that gallon, the solids are the binders and pigments that adhere to the wall and remain after the paint dries. These ingredients can account for as little as 25% to as much as half the overall volume most premium paints have solids above 40% the rest of the product contains the liquid ingredients that make it possible to apply solids to the surface. After application the liquids evaporate from the paint and you're left with the dry paint the solids contained in a gallon of paint is the first characteristic to look for when determining paint quality. A paint with more solids is typically a better value because it has more pigment and binder, this means the paint will hide better cover more and last longer. Now remember you get what you pay for when buying paint so a higher solids paint cost more to make and this will be reflected in the price of the product.
Image of house – interior/exterior	For most of us our home is the single largest purchase we will ever make in our lifetime. So how do we choose to protect that investment? Well we cover it with a paint no thicker than the sheet of paper and expect that paint to withstand the constant rigors of indoor and outdoor use for five to ten years. Now be sure to consider using a premium product every time you paint.
Man Talking	Hopefully this video has helped to show you what goes into producing a quality paint product. Recognizing the differences can help you to understand what advantages you're paying for when looking at your paint choices. Learn more about paint and painting watch the other how to paint' videos on dunnedwards.com/videos for Dunn-Edwards paints I'm Cole Schaefer thanks for watching and happy painting.
Closing - Dunn-Edwards logo	[Music]