What kind of interior paint for rental properties?
Lewisville, NC · Member since 2018 · 40 posts · 3 votes
What kind of interior paint for rental properties?
Most Popular Reply
Got a hustle for this.
As a DIY landlord and renovator, I do my house painting myself, in older rental houses that don't rent for a lot of money, on plaster walls that are decidedly imperfect. The savings that I look for in painting have to do with application time and how easy the paint is to clean., I cannot write off my labor in my taxes. Materials cost can be written off, on the other hand for a small landlord.
So for me, the best paint is the paint that saves me the most time and hassle: it's the fastest paint to apply and the paint that lasts the longest. The best color is white, both for trim and for walls, as white paint can take the harshest cleaners and then touch up quickly if necessary.
With that being said, of course the CHEAPEST paint available with the high-performance characteristics I want is always the best paint .
Home Depot, through the Pro program coupons, runs in-store promotions where you buy two 5-gallon containers, and get the third five-gallon container free. This is most often on their highest-priced stuff, Behr Marquee paint, which costs a jaw-dropping $194 per five gallons in my area, or $38.80 bucks a gallon normally. The coupon brings this price-per-gallon down to $25.86, which is more reasonable but still expensive.
It's great paint, but does not perform significantly better than HD's next best paint, Behr Premium Plus Ultra in flat white. Behr Premium Plus Ultra runs for $154 for five gallons, which is still a very high $30.80/gallon.
What HD doesn't advertise is that you can get the three-for-two deal on Behr Premium Plus Ultra if they don't have the Behr Marquee you want in stock. It turns out that they do this because very few HD stores carry a lot of 5-gallon containers of Behr Marquee in flat white, because as retailers they usually sell a lot more of it in smaller containers and in higher sheen levels, and the paint stores offer such attractive short-term credit terms to flippers and pro painters who plan to pay for the paint after they get paid themselves.
So what I do is get to a few of my local HDs with my coupon on the day the coupon expires. I live in a good-sized MSA, and there are a number of HDs that I can easily get to. It's a safe bet that at least one of them doesn't have three 5-gallon containers of flat white Behr Marquee in stock, and when I see this, that's where I present the coupon.
My price per gallon for the Premium Plus Ultra, with the coupon, comes down to $20.53.
I have yet to figure out a similar hustle for trim paint. I use Lowes's Sherman Williams Infinity in semigloss and yes, pay the $45.98/gallon tab for it. However, since it's me that's doing the painting on trim, I brush-apply all trim paint, and a gallon goes a very, very, very long way in properly prepped and primed interior trim.
Speaking of making white wall and trim paint go a long way, Kilz2 primer costs about $15 gallon and an undercoat of that will get a lot more performance out of whatever expensive paint you use, as well as guarantee better paint adhesion. In my case on the kind of renovations I have to do on walls that are old and in very bad shape, good primer for adhesion purposes is a must, not a nice-to-have sort of thing. I go through a lot more heavy coats of primer than I do sparing coats of paint in renovations, and while the bulk of it is Kilz2, a lot of it is oil-based Kilz Original and my problem-solving stink and adhesion primer is Kilz Complete. I also go through a hell of a lot of TSP.
In closing, just a cautionary coat. Although you can at times get lucky, "one-coat-coverage" and "paint-and-primer-in-one" are the two biggest lies in home improvement today.
39 Replies
- Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes7y
@Jonathan Jaffe I use interior antique white Walmart color place flat paint on my rentals. Gives the place a nice clean feel and it’s the brand that gives the most bang for your buck. It probably doesn’t cover quite as well as other brands, but you normally have a second coat either way, so it gets the job done. I’ll use a semi gloss bright white on the ceilings and trim. In the bathrooms, I’ll paint with Zinsser mold primer first and then the second coat will be the Walmart brand. That helps block the moisture.
Exterior I will use a higher quality paint bc I expect to paint less often. Usually, I will see who’s doing a sale at the time and end up with Sherwin Williams or Behr brands.
- Lewisville, NC · Member since 2018 · 40 posts · 3 votes7y
Thank you @Matt Leber. Great advice.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes7y
Used to use flat but eggshell is the best these days. You can wash off small marks and scuffs and still spot touch up without it being obvious. As for brand, I've used just about everything and don't notice a whole lot of difference with any of them.
Skyline Properties - Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes7y
I use Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray with white trim. People love the change from basic white all the time. You don't have to get it at Sherwin Williams, other places can look it up and make it the same with other brands. A focal wall in a dark gray color is popular too. Good luck.
- Lewisville, NC · Member since 2018 · 40 posts · 3 votes7y
Thank you for your advice and help!
- Flipper/Rehabber · Joplin, MO · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 1 vote7y
@Jennifer Rysdam we use agreeable grey on all our rentals lol
- Investor · Marietta, GA · Member since 2015 · 382 posts · 258 votes7yShea Stephens Jennifer Rysdam Funny! We use agreeable gray too. I chose flat so I can easily touch up without worrying about different shading/ matching.
- Investor · Biddeford, ME · Member since 2017 · 282 posts · 180 votes7y
I personally like Sherwin Williams (Ellie Grey), I always use flat. I've also had good luck with Glidden (Classic Grey) from the Home Depot.
- Neosho, MO · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 2 votes7y
@Jonathan Jaffe Every time I go to Lowes or Home Depot, etc, I go by the paint dept. Many times they have mis-mixed paint for a quarter to a third of the retail price. Just keep checking you can accumulate a good selection. Just keep in mind you can mix some colors together or lighten it with a little white paint. I don’t usually use anything but semi-gloss. It gives a classier finish and is much easier to clean.
- Contractor · Saratoga Springs, NY · Member since 2019 · 1 post · 1 vote7y
@Jonathan Jaffe I own a house painting company, the paint I prefer is PPG or Benjamin Moore. PPG wall supreme is the flattest paint money can buy. It’s the only paint I use for ceilings and many customers prefer it for their walls because the finish looks absolutely perfect. Cheap too! $25~ gallon. You can get it an eggshell to which is more durable, but flat covers all the inperfections
- Rental Property Investor · Clarksville, TN · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 99 votes7y
@Jonathan Jaffe we use SW Repose Gray, which a true gray,imo. Our painter uses a premium flat paint from Ferrell Calhoun. It's easy to touch up and clean.
Anecdotally, I believe most landlords use flat because it costs the least. I use eggshell for the reasons @JD Martin gave. Eggshell, sometimes called Satin, works best for me for durability and low maint. I'm steadily transitioning to a SW gray w/bright white trim. I use semi-gloss for the trim. I think it's Repose Gray like @Asury Johnson noted but i'm away from my laptop that has that info. So i can't be sure.
In my dreams every rental has the same paint for interior and exterior trim, etc. but that's not the world I live in. I've even had stained trim as well as that pre-finished plastic looking trim. If you can use the same products over and over, updating rarely as styles change, your life will be easier in my opinion.
Got a hustle for this.
As a DIY landlord and renovator, I do my house painting myself, in older rental houses that don't rent for a lot of money, on plaster walls that are decidedly imperfect. The savings that I look for in painting have to do with application time and how easy the paint is to clean., I cannot write off my labor in my taxes. Materials cost can be written off, on the other hand for a small landlord.
So for me, the best paint is the paint that saves me the most time and hassle: it's the fastest paint to apply and the paint that lasts the longest. The best color is white, both for trim and for walls, as white paint can take the harshest cleaners and then touch up quickly if necessary.
With that being said, of course the CHEAPEST paint available with the high-performance characteristics I want is always the best paint .Home Depot, through the Pro program coupons, runs in-store promotions where you buy two 5-gallon containers, and get the third five-gallon container free. This is most often on their highest-priced stuff, Behr Marquee paint, which costs a jaw-dropping $194 per five gallons in my area, or $38.80 bucks a gallon normally. The coupon brings this price-per-gallon down to $25.86, which is more reasonable but still expensive.
It's great paint, but does not perform significantly better than HD's next best paint, Behr Premium Plus Ultra in flat white. Behr Premium Plus Ultra runs for $154 for five gallons, which is still a very high $30.80/gallon.What HD doesn't advertise is that you can get the three-for-two deal on Behr Premium Plus Ultra if they don't have the Behr Marquee you want in stock. It turns out that they do this because very few HD stores carry a lot of 5-gallon containers of Behr Marquee in flat white, because as retailers they usually sell a lot more of it in smaller containers and in higher sheen levels, and the paint stores offer such attractive short-term credit terms to flippers and pro painters who plan to pay for the paint after they get paid themselves.
So what I do is get to a few of my local HDs with my coupon on the day the coupon expires. I live in a good-sized MSA, and there are a number of HDs that I can easily get to. It's a safe bet that at least one of them doesn't have three 5-gallon containers of flat white Behr Marquee in stock, and when I see this, that's where I present the coupon.
My price per gallon for the Premium Plus Ultra, with the coupon, comes down to $20.53.
I have yet to figure out a similar hustle for trim paint. I use Lowes's Sherman Williams Infinity in semigloss and yes, pay the $45.98/gallon tab for it. However, since it's me that's doing the painting on trim, I brush-apply all trim paint, and a gallon goes a very, very, very long way in properly prepped and primed interior trim.
Speaking of making white wall and trim paint go a long way, Kilz2 primer costs about $15 gallon and an undercoat of that will get a lot more performance out of whatever expensive paint you use, as well as guarantee better paint adhesion. In my case on the kind of renovations I have to do on walls that are old and in very bad shape, good primer for adhesion purposes is a must, not a nice-to-have sort of thing. I go through a lot more heavy coats of primer than I do sparing coats of paint in renovations, and while the bulk of it is Kilz2, a lot of it is oil-based Kilz Original and my problem-solving stink and adhesion primer is Kilz Complete. I also go through a hell of a lot of TSP.
In closing, just a cautionary coat. Although you can at times get lucky, "one-coat-coverage" and "paint-and-primer-in-one" are the two biggest lies in home improvement today.
- Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes7y
@Jim K. Just a side question. What do you recommend for covering cracking plaster? We are flipping a 105 year old house. We have used a combination of sheetrock, beadboard, shiplap, and board & batten to cover up walls. I have a tough hallway that I'd just like to make easier for myself. There are 4 very well trimmed out doorways that I don't want to mess with. Any painting technique you could recommend that would fix it for me? I was thinking maybe adding some texture. Thanks :)
Long-term for me as a landlord with working properties, it doesn't usually make good sense to cover up extensively cracked plaster. I break failed plaster out and screw in 3/8 in. or 1/2 in. drywall into the exposed wood lath. I finish the repairs with 6 in. fiberglass tape, usually sold as "wall repair fabric," and multiple coats of mud. Where I have plaster coming off the wall which hasn't cracked yet and on the borders of repairs, I screw in plaster washers and cover them with mud. I tend to use small batches of 45 min. hot mud rather than premixed mud until I get to the final coat(s). This costs a bit more, but saves me time when I'm working alone.
But if I were you in your position, it would be 1/4 in. drywall screwed in to cover up the cracked plaster all day long, and if the appearance of the trim suffers a bit by being a bit more deeply submerged into the wall, so be it.
- Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes7y
Originally posted by @Jim K.:
Long-term for me as a landlord with working properties, it doesn't usually make good sense to cover up extensively cracked plaster. I break failed plaster out and screw in 3/8 in. or 1/2 in. drywall into the exposed wood lath. I finish the repairs with 6 in. fiberglass tape, usually sold as "wall repair fabric," and multiple coats of mud. Where I have plaster coming off the wall which hasn't cracked yet and on the borders of repairs, I screw in plaster washers and cover them with mud. I tend to use small batches of 45 min. hot mud rather than premixed mud until I get to the final coat(s). This costs a bit more, but saves me time when I'm working alone.
But if I were you in your position, it would be 1/4 in. drywall screwed in to cover up the cracked plaster all day long, and if the appearance of the trim suffers a bit by being a bit more deeply submerged into the wall, so be it.
Thanks! I appreciate the info.
- Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes7y
I am also with @JD Martin on this one, use eggshell (satin) type paint. It wipes down and repels stains better than flat. That means instead of repainting a whole wall, you can wipe down and get by with touch up.
I personally like Sherwin Williams Pro Mar 200. It is one coat coverage. Why spend twice the time with cheap Walmart paint? It is also low odor (VOC). The other nice thing is that Sherwin Williams you can call ahead to have the paint waiting or they deliver, which is a huge time saver. They also keep the colors on file in their computer by address. So five years later, you just give them the address and they can tell you exactly what color went on the wall and they can remix it.
When I first started in the business, I got the cheapest paint I could buy. What a mistake. Quality paint lasts longer and takes touch up better. Time is worth money in this business.
- 7yTodd BlytonPro MemberRental Property Investor · Frederic, WI · Member since 2016 · 22 posts · 12 votes
I generally use Pittsburgh Radison White. It’s a simple off white for most of my interior painting needs.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes7y
Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:
I am also with @JD Martin on this one, use eggshell (satin) type paint. It wipes down and repels stains better than flat. That means instead of repainting a whole wall, you can wipe down and get by with touch up.
I personally like Sherwin Williams Pro Mar 200. It is one coat coverage. Why spend twice the time with cheap Walmart paint? It is also low odor (VOC). The other nice thing is that Sherwin Williams you can call ahead to have the paint waiting or they deliver, which is a huge time saver. They also keep the colors on file in their computer by address. So five years later, you just give them the address and they can tell you exactly what color went on the wall and they can remix it.
When I first started in the business, I got the cheapest paint I could buy. What a mistake. Quality paint lasts longer and takes touch up better. Time is worth money in this business.
Amen to that. I have a house that never empties long enough to repaint ( a good problem to have) and I cringe every time I see the cheap flat paint we used in the bedrooms.
Skyline Properties - Real Estate Agent · Southington, CT · Member since 2008 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes7y
We use the same paint scheme for our flips and rentals here in CT. Do you have a Sherwin Williams near you? We use Navajo White on the walls and white for the trim and ceiling. Never any complaints, neutral and simple.
- Flipper/Rehabber · Orlando, FL · Member since 2019 · 11 posts · 1 vote7y
@Jonathan Jaffe
Gloss or semigloss paint always regardless of quality and/or price!
It repels grease and stains much better than flat.
That's what i use in all my properties.
- Investor · Saint Joseph, MO · Member since 2017 · 29 posts · 85 votes7y
@Jonathan Jaffe If you are not using SW ‘sedate gray’ then you are doing it wrong.
- Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes7y
Originally posted by @Jennifer Rysdam:
@Jim K. Just a side question. What do you recommend for covering cracking plaster? We are flipping a 105 year old house. We have used a combination of sheetrock, beadboard, shiplap, and board & batten to cover up walls. I have a tough hallway that I'd just like to make easier for myself. There are 4 very well trimmed out doorways that I don't want to mess with. Any painting technique you could recommend that would fix it for me? I was thinking maybe adding some texture. Thanks :)
I do what Jim does too. I prefer the masonry-screws over standard drywall screws, as they bust through with the least amount of cracking and still grab the lath underneath pretty well. It was like an Hallelujah moment when I figured that trick. But Jim is right, you have to bust out anything loose, which sometimes means opening up cracks that appear ok, but are not. I do not use tape, I slam the mud in there like plaster, all the way into the lath, which takes a week to dry out. Dry time would be quicker if I used plaster, but I don't like using two different types for simplicity sake. All said, when I have really bad walls, sometimes I leave some of the imperfections for the next round.
Ceilings are a different story, for safety reasons. In this case I will gently bust out the loose plaster that is definitely a problem, while trying to preserve what I can with the rest (a bit of plaster movement is ok, but not too much). Then I go over that with 1/4 drywall, which will keep the old plaster in place. So I have something solid to screw to, I will fill in the places void of plaster with drywall shims on the joists. It is critical to make sure the screws do not pop through the drywall paper, and they will want to do that, so I have to sometimes leave them a bit out instead of recessed. The whole point is to cover the falling plaster, so making sure the screws hold the drywall is key, which means they must be long enough to go through the drywall and plaster and into the joists.
The other way to do the ceiling is to drop all the plaster, but man that stuff is heavy and it's amazing how it adds up!!! Which brings me to my next love, which are contractor demo bags. They are about $1 each and worth it. You can fill them with anything. Then stack them where-ever and out of the way, to be hauled away or in the dumpster at your convenience.
But this was about paint. I decided to find a paint and stick to it. That way I don't have to wonder or worry about what I need to touch later. I (also) decided on Behr Ultra, the one below the Marquee. I like eggshell, just enough sheen to clean, but not enough to see yourself in. My color is Martha Stewart Lamb, which Home Depot no longer carries, so I have been carrying around the can top for years. I paint the walls, ceilings and trim the same color, and for some reason the trim always looks like a different shade, which is nice. It's neutral and warm without being yellow or gray, basically an off-white. It goes with everything, but lets face it, it's pretty boring.
LOL - I might have to check out the forgettable grey. I used one called "Understated" once - lol. Got lots of compliments. Want to know my big secret on color choice??? I just went with one of the colors from the brochure - lol.
As a contractor and investor,
I’ve painted houses for 15+years. When a customer tells me they will buy Behr paint, I charge extra. I’ve never been happy with the paint.
I am a Sherwin Williams guy all the way. For rentals I use Property Solutions eggshell on walls, flat on ceilings. Super Paint semigloss on trim/doors.
For nicer properties/residential re-paints, I will use ProMar 200.
I’ve already passed up free 5gal pails from Behr reps. It’s just not worth my time.
- Investor · Wilmington, DE · Member since 2013 · 394 posts · 123 votes7y
@Aaron Stone who sells the PPG brand? Thx
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