A paint finish can make a big difference in how a paint color looks on the surface when you are painting your home.

Paint finishes reflect light differently; so the light in the room should also be part of what determines the finish you use.

It’s important to note that the durability and maintenance of the surface you are painting should enter into your decision on choosing your paint finish.

Which paint finish should you use on interior walls or ceilings?

For interior walls or ceilings, a flat or matte finish is best. It will not highlight any imperfections on the surface that you are painting. Using a high quality paint will clean up well for minor marks or stains.

Using an eggshell or satin finish paint in a bathroom

In bathrooms and high traffic areas a higher sheen paint like eggshell or satin might be necessary. The finish is more durable and will clean up easier. Once dry, these finishes do not touch up well with added paint.

Using paint finishes for interior trim

On trim such as doors, windows, or cabinets, a semi-gloss or gloss finish are often used. It is durable and can stand up to repeated cleaning.

The higher the sheen (gloss is high sheen, flat is low sheen) the more you may see where patching was done on the surface you are painting, so brush marks and roller marks may become more noticeable.

Choose the right paint finish!

Paint finishes for painting the exterior of your house

On exterior siding a flat finish or low luster (a slight sheen) is best. It will not show imperfections as much and touch up well.

Most stains will be a flat finish.

When you use a flat paint or stain on the outside of your house the dirt will not wash off as easily when in rains; and dirt on the surface of your home is the food for mold and mildew.
Keep in mind that flat finishes on exterior siding may make your house more prone to these conditions.

Should you use a high sheen (semi-gloss or gloss) paint on the exterior trim of your house?

Trim paint with a higher sheen (gloss or semi-gloss) is used mostly used to accent doors, windows or anything on the exterior other than your siding.

Here is a little more information on paint finishes from award-winning home improvement expert and master builder Karl Champley, and our friends at Benjamin Moore:

You can have a lot of fun with different paint finishes. The right finish can truly enhance the color of the surface that you are painting and make your home unique.

Hot or cold, rainy or humid, weather has a significant effect on paint adhesion and the drying time of exterior house painting.

This is the second post in our new series of house painting tips on the Peter Smith Painting blog.

Painting your home when it’s warm outside

If you are painting your home in the heat of the summer, remember that humidity and heat influence the drying time of your paint. This is not an issue as long as there is no rain in the forecast before your paint has a chance to dry.

An important pro-tip: I use double the drying time that the paint manufacturer states when it is hot and humid. This is especially true if you are painting the exterior of your house. When it is very warm inside, the same rule applies.

Don’t paint in the sun when it’s hot outside!

Painting in the heat of the sun is not recommended because the paint will dry to fast.

Although the paint coating should last, you may incur lap marks. Lap marks happen when you paint large areas and the paint dries too quickly, leaving stripes or striations on the surface, ruining the paint’s appearance. Always try and maintain a ‘wet edge’ of paint making sure that the area you paint is not dry, and paint in small sections not large ones.

Painting the exterior of your house when it’s damp, rainy, or wet outside

Want to insure that your exterior paint job will fail? Paint over any wet surface. (We sincerely hope you don’t do this!).

Why shouldn’t you paint over a wet surface? When you paint over an area that is wet, you seal in the moisture and trap it. When the sun hits the surface, it tries to draw the moisture out and causes the paint to lift and not adhere to the surface.

Ever see paint peeling in large sheets? When you see paint peeling in large sheets, it means the monster is trapped and needs a way out, the only way it can get out is to peel.

I’m not sure if the outside of the house is wet, what can I do?

I use a very expensive instrument to measure the moisture on the exterior surface of the house. It’s called a hygrometer or ‘moisture meter’. Since you usually cannot tell by just touching a surface and detecting moisture, this tool removes any doubts.

Painting your house when it’s cold outside

In cold temperatures paint will not dry properly. It will not adhere to the surface
that it is being applied to and will not set correctly.

Numerous paint manufacturers say that their exterior paints are formulated so they can be applied when the outside temperature is in the 30s.I would never paint outside when the temperature is below 40.

Three reasons you shouldn’t paint when it’s cold outside:

1. Paint will dry too slowly.
2. When the sun sets, if the humidity increases, the paint will stay as wet as when you first applied it.
3. At nighttime, if the temperature drops below freezing, the paint will freeze and will not adhere to the surface applied.

This can actually make the paint ‘sag’ or run off a vertical surface, leading to a real mess.

There are many weather and temperature factors that can effect paint, but to be safe, don’t paint when it’s too hot, too cold, or too wet!

Ready for a new look and don’t want to do it yourself?

Using a latex based top coat for interior and exterior house painting is a professional secret that can provide better color retention and penetration.

* This is the first in our new series of house painting tips on the Peter Smith Painting blog.

Why use a latex top coat?

When painting a house, I use latex paint as my top coat (last coat of paint). Using a latex based top coat for interior or exterior house painting can provide better color retention and penetration. Remember, you can use latex over oil paint, but not vice versa.

Using latex paint as a top coat on the exterior painting of your house

On exterior jobs I prime any bare wood with oil primer. It dries slower and that means better penetration into the wood. This will block out any “bleeding” that may occur if the wood is cedar.

If the surface is in poor condition, in addition to cleaning and sanding, I may use a tinted oil primer as my first coat. I know that it will adhere to the surface that is already there and I know my top coat will adhere to this first coat.

One important note: When knot bleeding is present you must use an alcohol based primer like shellac. Apply two or three coats to the knot holes (it drys very fast) prior to applying
primer or finish paints.

The advantage of a latex top or finish coat is better adhesion, color retention, and mildew resistance on the exterior of your house.

Using latex paint as a top coat on the interior painting of your house

For interior surfaces like walls and ceilings, in most cases they are already latex and
two coats of latex is all that is necessary. Most top of the line paints are self priming. When repainting walls and trim a primer may not be necessary unless a major color change is being
done. In that case, a latex primer is what I would use.

Interior trim is a different story. More often than not the previous paint used on the trim is oil based. A primer and sanding prior to painting the top coat of latex is required. The importance of this can’t be stressed enough – over time the latex paint applied to a unprimed oil surface will peel.

Latex paint is best for interiors because people like to touch up trim. If oil is used for the finish coat it will “yellow” and the touch up will not match even if you use paint from the same gallon of paint that was originally used.

The latex paints of today are a far superior product than in the past. This is especially true of the Benjamin Moore products that we use.

For quality and consistency in your painting the importance of using a latex top coat can’t be understated. If you want the color that is there when the job is finished to be the same 4 years from now it’s a requirement.

Ready for a new look and don’t want to do it yourself?