Wednesday, June 4, 2008

A request for reviews...

I'm just wondering if any of you out there have some words of wisdom regarding Ace Hardware brand paint, particularly exterior paints.

I've been collecting paint chips around town and I'm wondering if it's even worth considering the ones I've picked up from them. Our store does not carry Benjamin Moore, although some Ace stores sell that brand. And yeah, I know I could take Ace paint chips elsewhere and have them analyzed and recreated, but I hate doing that for any kind of lasting project. If I was painting a porch swing, no problem. But painting something a delicate color like red, something that I may need to touch up or repaint down the road? I like to have a stock color for that. There's a better likelihood that I can get more that matches perfectly at a later date. Not to mention, I've seen some of those color match systems that are less than perfect-- and a red that swings to pink or too purple is no good to me.

So...any experiences you'd be willing to share?

7 comments:

C&C said...

Hi! Glad to see another Arkie on houseblogs. What town are you in? We used Glidden exterior paint when we had our house painted last summer. Our painter used a spray gun and we bought the paint at Home Depot. The painter said that the Glidden we used went on thicker and used less paint than any other house he's painted. We were very happy with the results. Check out our house blog for photos.

-chris

Amalie said...

The house is in Ft Smith, but I actually work in Fayetteville, where we used to live-- that's where you guys are, right?

We used Valspar last time from Lowes, and I liked it-- but I wouldn't mind expanding my options! I'll check out your posts...Thanks!

Stephanie said...

The June 2008 issue of Consumer reports rates exterior paints and stains.

They tested Ace and said it needed cleaning after only three years. Same for the Behr paint sold at Home Depot and, surprisingly, Benjamin Moore.

Their top five picks were:

1. California 2010 flat
2. Kelly-Moore Acry-Shield flat
3. California 2010 eggshell
4. Valspar Ultra Premium Satin
5. Valspar Ultra Premium semi-gloss

They described the top two as still looking "excellent" after 3 years, "very good" after six years and "good" after nine years.

The others on the list dropped down to "very good" after only three years.

California and Kelly-Moore paints are only available in certain states, but they carry Valspar at Lowe's.

They also said that Olympic Premium (which I think they sell at Home Depot) and Sears Weatherbeater still looked "very good" after three years and still looked "good" at nine years.

Hope this helps...

Joanne said...

Love the new profile photo; I have the same respirator. :-)

I haven't done much painting the last few years, but I have used the Venetian Plaster from Home Depot on our condo. It's been three years for some rooms, and the color has stayed true. Plus, it's easy to patch up dings.

Jennifer said...

We had talked abut using only Benjamin Moore for exterior but after seeing the Consumer Reports results we may change our minds on that one. I have not used Ace Hardware brand paints (interior or exterior) only because I have never received "Ace Hardware" as the answer to the question "That paint looks great! What brand is it?" And I don't know how much stock I would put into it being easier to get it matched later. I think that's all dependent on whether or not the kid running the machine does it correctly.

Anonymous said...

Believe it or not we have had the best luck with Wal-Mart paint. We always have the Paint Mgr mix it and have never had a problem with itmatching even the most difficult of colors and if you don't like it they never hassle on returns. Its a lot cheaper and the quality is equal to that of the more expensive. We can't paint our new house-since its rock but we have used it on several of our house. Good luck tracylynne223@yahoo.com

Amalie said...

Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! Hopefully, one of these days, we'll stop getting rain long enough to devote some time to this project. And when it does, I'll have great advice to work with :-)