Types of House Paints to Consider For Your Home
The beauty of different styles of houses largely depends on their painting. Ranging from the design down to the type of paint used, paintings are the final touches your home needs.
It’s also important to note that some paint types only suit specific surfaces; some are best for residential structures while others are good for commercial buildings.
Your home deserves the best outlook it can get. And this greatly depends on your knowledge of the different types of paint, especially if you’re doing the paint selection yourself.
Listed below are the types of house paints you should consider for your home.
Enamel Paint
This is suitable for painting metal, glass, plastic, and wooden materials in the home. Your window frames, burglaries, bathroom fixtures, iron railings, door handles, and outdoor furniture require enamel paint. This is because these items are exposed to continuous usage that can wear them.
Also, enamel paint is a good match for harsh weather conditions. It protects items from excessive heat and cold while giving them a shiny and glossy effect. Even if the items require constant contact with water droplets or moisture, the paint absolves such effects.
Enamel paint is either oil-based or water-based. The oil-based variant has smoother effects, sticks to materials longer, and resists wear and extreme weather conditions. It takes approximately 8-24 hours to dry when applied. When cleaning, it may require the use of solvents such as diluted acetone or mineral spirits.
The water-based counterpart is more common, easier to work, and not stressful to clean. It also takes lesser time (2 hours or less) to dry. Although, with recent technological advancement, some companies make paints that dry faster.
When using enamel paint and you change your mind on the choice of paint, you can use chemical paint strippers to dissolve the paints before applying another.
Matte Paint
Matte paint, also known as flat paint, is considered one of the best types of paint used for interior decoration. It has a large number of pigments and can absorb excessive light rays.
The paint can be used on the walls of some areas in the home such as the dining room, gym room, and game room where too bright light is not needed. It gives such room a cool feel. A good side of this paint is its low cost and ability to hide patches and scratches on the wall.
However, matte paint can be a bad choice for walls that are susceptible to water moisture; areas such as the bathroom, balcony, and outdoor wall. Stains on this kind of paint are also difficult to remove. Its durability is quite low.
Satin Paint
Unlike matte paint, satin paint can be used in moisture-prone areas such as bathrooms and kitchens. It can also be used on ceilings, doors, and windows. Walls painted with satin paint can be cleaned easily when stained. This makes it a better option for the children’s room and other areas where human traffic is high.
Satin paint gives off a shiny, glossy, and luster effect that makes the interior of your home beautiful when the bulbs are turned on. It is reflective and contains sheen. The paint lasts long, resists fading, and gives your wall a professional, smooth, and high-quality finishing.
Due to its exquisite and reflective property, it is ideal for study rooms, hallways, and balconies. When applied on the wall, it is quick to dry, and not easy to peel off.
However, the paint may lose its sheen property if the wall is scrubbed aggressively. Also, satin paint is bad at hiding cracks and terrible patches on the wall.
Eggshell Paint
Although this paint is usually grouped in the same category as satin paint, it stands in between the matte and satin paint in terms of properties. It’s another type of paint finish that works well for different settings of the home and is a good choice for living rooms.
The reflectivity of eggshell paint is slightly lesser than that of satin paint. This is because it contains lesser sheen.
It has a low luster similar to the luster an actual eggshell gives off. This also makes it suitable for rooms where the intensity of light required is moderate. It does a good job of concealing bumps, cracks, and scratches on the wall.
The eggshell paint is, however, less durable than satin paint. And it is suitable where human movements are moderate. Walls painted with eggshell paint are easy to clean when stained.
High-Gloss Paint
This type is very shiny, reflects a lot of light, and gives a mirror-like effect. It’s the easiest to clean and may be considered for spaces where human movement is high (such as the hallway).
The gloss paint is durable and can be applied in moisture-prone areas like bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoor surfaces. Although, it’s best to consider the humidity of the space when applying it on walls. The higher the level of humidity the higher the number of coats you should apply.
A downside of the high-gloss paint is that it is difficult to apply; it requires more effort to apply. Also, it doesn’t conceal scratches on the ceiling and walls.
Latex-based Paint
Initially considered as a substandard substitute for oil paints, latex paint is now the most widely used paint. It can also be called “water-based paint” because water acts as its solvent. Water is the carrier of its pigment.
It takes a shorter time to dry when applied on walls, unlike oil-based paints. It’s also easy to clean (with water and detergent) when stained and doesn’t crack on the wall easily.
Applying latex paint doesn’t require many technicalities when applying it, unlike oil paints that requires much carefulness. It is relatively less harmful to the environment and people living in it.
Latex paint emits less odor, which is paramount for your home.
With the fast global shift from oil paint (due to harmful chemical content), latex paint has now flooded the market with exquisite varieties that will give your home a high-quality touch.
