Commenting on Behr Paints

kurokami

Ok i take back my comment on behr paints. While it was true the first time i used behr paints...no problems whatsoever....i have just endured the worst experience with their kitchen and bath paint.
It was sooo thick it made it extremely hard to spread without layering it on and inch thick and the smell was something out of this world. I properly cleaned and primed all the surfaces and some areas still needed 3 coats to cover the surfaces properly.
Lesson learned the hard way i guess. Never again will that stuff be brought into my house.

sweetsue777

Where can you get Benjamin Moore paints? Is it a store like SW?

slickshift

Benjamin Moore Paints are sold at independent paint shops and small chains, rather than company owned shops like Sherwin Williams

Sometimes you'll even find it in hardware stores, but most often it'll be a paint and possibly wallcovering and possibly flooring store

So, sometimes it's easy to drive right by a place that sells it and not even know

The best place to find a local dealer would probably be the Dealer Locater on the website

main page:
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/

USA store locater page:
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/bmap/mpin.aspx

Canada store locater page (English):
http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/locator/PrxInput.aspx

slickshift

Sorry you had problems this time
But it is true that many can have success with a project or two, or even three, using Behr
That's one of the reasons it's tough to educate people about it
"It worked just fine for me"

A failure rate of 5%, or 20%, or 50%, or even higher, and the average DIY painter might never actually run into a problem

Even a horrible paint might work well for a few specific projects

One "could" use Behr and not run into any of the issues discussed here
But that "could" is just not good enough

Thanks for the update though, as unhappy as it is, maybe it will help someone avoid such a problem

rjordan392

I won't use Behr either and I had the same problem with their solid deck stains.

xfountaingrl

I had a quick question to everyone who has a negative stigma about behr paints. I am going to be painting my kitchen and bedroom this week and have picked out behr colors.... reading some of this makes me want to change to a different brand. Is Behr really that bad?

Brik

yes, its BAD. Take your color chips to a benjamin moore dealer. They might have a cross reference chart or you can simply match the homecheapo behr chip the the Benjamin Moore chip. Also, you will likely get good advice from the salesperson with questions you may have.

xfountaingrl

Thanks for the advice! Ive actually used Ben Moore paints before and really liked them. I'll have to do that!

shapeshifter

Don't know if you have a Lowe's in your area, but they can cross match colors on the computer and custom make the paint. I did this last week and was happy with the result.

Brik

Yea the benjamin moore dealer will be able to do this too. I find that doing it by eye, chip to chip, actually works better!

xfountaingrl

Thanks everyone, you all helped me make my decision. I actually started looking online at Ben Moore colors, and I found a better color for my bedroom... now its just the kitchen, but I can bring in my chip for that.. woohoo! thanks!

chuckfarley

Big ups, arribes grandes and muchas gracias to all you pros out there! I was about to make a monumental mistake in painting my already stained cedar sided house. The folks at Home Depot were all too ready to sell me a couple of 5 gallon buckets of Behr paint (it's ok to paint over stain, they assured me) and away I would have ignorantly gone... Fortunately I did a little internet research and happened upon this thread and I can't tell you what a headache you guys have saved me. Not to mention the scowl of an angry wife who would want to know why the house looked like crap and was covered in peeling paint.
I immediately went to my nearest SW dealer and got the straight scoop. I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but getting advice from those that are has been priceless... thanks again!

J187

Should cover a 5 sq ft area w/ the number of coats that would be needed

slickshift

'bout right

kathypullin

I have painted a dining room, living room, and kitchen, with Laura Ashley paint (which I think is a Lowe’s brand). One bedroom, hallway, and all moldings with Behr. A bathroom with Dutch Boy, and another bedroom with American Standard (Another Lowe's brand).

The Dutch Boy was awful, I painted four coats, and still need to paint one more (at least) to get it right. The pigment in the Dutch Boy paint wouldn’t stay mixed; it was an unbelievable pain to use. The Lowe’s paint wasn’t too bad, I used two fairly dark colors in one room, the gold color took three coats, but the rust took only two. (This didn’t make sense to me, as I though reds normally take three, due to the pigment) All of the Laura Ashley painting was easy, the paint was light yellow, and I didn’t need more then two coats to finish the job.

The Behr paint was frustrating to use. I picked a medium green color for one of the bedrooms and I thought it would never get done. I think I used three coats at least, but the frustrating part was that it never seemed to completely dry, even a month later the color would rub off if I tried to clean the wall. I also noticed that after four months, the color started fading. As for the other rooms, I used a lighter color of green, and while the application was better, just two coats, the fading was also an issue.

Right now I am in the middle of painting crown molding with Behr semi-gloss paint, and it is going very badly, I painted two coats on the molding before I installed it, with the assumption that the final coat would happen when the molding was up on the wall. I did it this way to ensure that after all of the nail holes were filled and caulking was complete the last coat would be uniform. If I could ever get to that last coat - the paint simply will not consistently cover the molding, I am on my fourth coat, and I’m nowhere near done.

I think Behr works ok with matte paint that is fairly light colored, but semi-gloss paint, and/or medium to deep colors is where Behr fails to meet the bar on quality.

My theory, which I’m totally making up, is that light, matte, colors are not a challenge for most paint manufactures, so a lower quality base and cheap pigments aren’t going to expose their poor standards. It’s when the customer wants a medium to dark color, that the quality – or lack of quality – will show. What makes me think my made up theory might be on track, is the number of complaints on the web that have to do with painting using a medium to dark color. On this thread there are complaints about reds, a medium green, blue, etc. Makes me wonder what colors Consumer Reports used in their testing.