When you take on the project of painting your home it can quickly get overwhelming. It doesn’t matter if it’s an interior or exterior paint project, either can be unpredictable in both time and cost. Sometimes a project you thought would only take a day can easily turn into something that requires a week or two.
It’s easy to start wanting to cut corners as you go, especially if you’re limited on time or budget. You may start to look at where you can cut out excess steps or costs in your eager anticipation of finishing the project you’ve started. (See also: 8 Easy & Inexpensive Ways to Decorate Your Home)
If you’re painting your home and on a budget, the lure of choosing a cheaper, lower quality paint can seem like a great idea. Save some money and still get the job done, right? In reality that’s not the case. Quality matters when you’re painting your home, possibly more than you realize. Especially if you want to make your paint job look like a painting contractor. Here’s a look at why not skimping on quality is so important.
1. High-Quality Paint Lasts Longer
Durability is a key factor when you’re talking about things like a home painting project. Kids, pets, and life, in general, can all take a toll on your home’s walls and paint. If you choose a paint that isn’t a high quality you could find yourself having to repaint more often than you’d like because it won’t be able to handle the wear and tear with ease.
Repainting something you just painted a year or two ago gets exhausting, and it ends up costing you more. That means the cheaper paint doesn’t end up saving you any money at all in the long run because of the need for constant upkeep. Higher quality paint will be less prone to fading and damage from everyday life.
If you find that you often have to wipe down your walls for whatever reason, it’s of even more importance to forgo budget level paint and choose the good stuff. Paint that is designed to perform even under the toughest conditions (like a child drawing on the walls) is worth your investment. It will save you time, money, and frustration.
2. High-Quality Paint Just Looks Better
Brands like Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore spend a lot of time and effort making sure their paints apply smoothly and easily. Some of their options are even guaranteed to only require one coat of paint to look fabulous on your walls.
Paint that costs less may not mix as well, or apply as evenly. You could end up with paint that requires several coats just to cover things like obvious brush strokes or patchy spots left over from the first coat. In some cases, the cheaper options may never result in your paint job looking like something you’ll be proud to have in your home.
When you’re working on a project like painting your home you will have to consider the fact that this is something you’re going to have to look at every day. Using high-quality paint can mean the difference between enjoying your home’s new look, or living with final results you really hate.
3. Better Paint Means Better Ingredients
Cheap paint uses the lowest quality ingredients they can possibly get. That’s how they can keep their prices so low. Things like binders and color pigments have a wide range of prices, but cheap paint is always going to include ingredients from the lowest end of that spectrum.
High-quality paint uses ingredients that cost more, but they’re used for good reason. Pigments, for example, will be brighter and more vibrant when the paint you use contains better ingredients.
You’re already putting in the effort to update your home’s look so risking a washed out color quality isn’t something you want to do. Spending more to get the best quality you possibly can is going to prevent any disappointment that would come along with using paints that don’t focus on using better ingredients.
4. High-Quality Paints Are Safer
A long time ago cheap paint contained lead. That is no longer the case, which is great, but it doesn’t mean the low-quality options are completely rid of risky ingredients. Low-quality paint often contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which carry their own set of health risks.
VOCs often cause things like headaches, nausea, and burning watery eyes. The problems caused by VOCs are most likely to occur while the paint is still wet and being applied, but can happen after it’s dried as well. The best way to avoid these reactions is to choose high-grade VOC free paint to use in all of your home painting projects.
5. It Can Provide A Layer Of Protection
Bare surfaces can be damaged by things like mold or water. Low-quality paints are not always enough to stand up to these types of issues in your home, leaving your home’s walls at risk of being damaged. Paints that cost less are thinner in consistency and just won’t stand up to things like mold or even frequent cleaning.
High-quality paint is thicker and more robust. It’s meant to give your home’s surfaces a layer of protection from environmental damages (like mold) and help resist staining caused by crayons, markers, or anything else daily living might bring up. Protection like this can prevent you from having to spend a huge amount of money on costly repairs down the road.
It’s not always easy to avoid the lure of a good deal. Wanting to save money is a good thing. Choosing the right high-quality paint may seem more expensive at the beginning of your project but in the end, you will probably end up saving money overall.
Fewer coats of paint to get a good result, less upkeep, repainting less often, and protection from damage are all things that are worth the upfront cost of choosing a better quality paint. Investing the money now will save you so much time and effort in the years to come.
About The Author:
Gabe Nelson is a content specialist of over 7 years of experience, currently working for Msscleaning.com. Just out of high school he set off crab fishing on the Bering Sea in Alaska. From there he went back home to finish his college degree at the University of Montana. He has written hundreds of content pieces in numerous niches. Currently, he lives in Missouri with his wife and kids enjoying the peaceful town of St. Joseph.
