What kind of interior paint for rental properties?
Lewisville, NC · Member since 2018 · 40 posts · 3 votes
Does anyone have suggestions on the type of paint they recommend for use in rental properties? Low maintenance and durability are my goals. Just starting out with my first rehab! Thanks BP family!
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.
Color: I find that some properties look good in light grey, some look good in a cream white (slight yellow tint). I stay away from Navajo or Antique whites - they scream 'rental' and look old and dingy to me. Greys look good in spaces with clean lines and a more modern aesthetic. Creams look good in more cozy, old fashioned spaces, or spaces that you want to look brighter. Grey can get too cool in a darker, smaller space. It's also important to coordinate with your flooring color.
One big difference is the latitude of the property and the quality of light - colors are going to look different on a rainy overcast northwest day vs a glaring southwestern sunny day. So you have to pick based on how colors look at your location, with your light quality. That's why there might be differences of opinion here on specific colors.
The greys mentioned are good. For cream we have tried Behr Cottage White - it has a cheerful tint that doesn't look dirty. Stay away from a pinkish white or blueish white. Yellow or orange family whites look more natural.
Sheen: We have a lot of plaster walls with heavy texture and imperfections in our area, so eggshell is the way to go. Any higher sheen just makes all the heavy texture jump out.
Brand: We've been using mostly Behr but not long enough to have an opinion.
@Jonathan Jaffe “Discover” by PPG satin finish. It’s a gray color. We rotate colors every now and again but stay with satin finish. When I first started I just bought the mismix buckets from Lowe’s/depot. The only problem is you can’t hardly touch up anything and end up repainting all the time. That’s my experience anyway.
If it’s a long term rental, make sure and keep a record of the paint and finish. You’ll end up doing touch ups over tune so you don’t want it to be a specialty color. Going with something neutral and not white makes your place feel more stylish for the same price. I’d also stick with flat, eggshell, or satin as those are easier to cover than semi gloss. Then just don’t put latex paint over oil based paint. Get a cheaper brand and you’re good to go
For my C+ to B+ properties I paint flat on the ceilings, satin on walls, except kitchen and baths we use semigloss. I have the same painter and same paint colors for every unit. So I just call my painter and tell him the address and if it is a complete repaint or partial and he knows what to do and what to buy. He is a Sherwin Williams guy and he feels its the best. There are cheaper paints but then I would have to deal with my painter if it didn't cover as good as it should. This way he quotes me a price and he is done when all the rooms are covered correctly whether he needed to use one coat or 3. It is usually 1 or 2. He also is a professional so he uses primer when needed and knows how to edge and tape so the wood work still looks like wood when he leaves. As for what color we have been using a light tan my wife picked out years ago. The trend seems to be moving to gray but then I would have to repaint entire units every turn so I think we will stick with our color.
As a landlord that owns several properties I have standardized on Valspar (Oatbran) with a satin sheen. All my properties have the same color/sheen so when I have a turn I typically just have to go in a do some touch ups as opposed to painting the whole property.
Great advice all around. Thank you for all your help!
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.
Interesting. I use Behr, but not because I love it or think it's the best ever, simply because the price point is ok and I decided to pick one and stick with it. I have had very good results using it, spreads well, covers great, seems to last.
I'd be curious to hear your takes on why you don't like it and why you prefer Sherwin (seems others prefer it too). Ease? Coverage? Price?
LOL - When a contractor says they charge more for a certain type, my ears perk up. I wonder if there is some significant reason or, are you just one of "those" guys - lol.
@Merritt S.
Haha, no I’m not one of those guys. I never cared for Behr. I painted a few rooms for a guy about 10 years ago. The end result was terrible in my opinion, and he bought the top of the line at that time.
I have a great relationship with Sherwin Williams, coverage is great (except the bottom line garbage), my pricing is great, and my local store and rep is amazing.
We have been using Sherwin Williams Kilim Beige and have been very pleased but at some point I would like to transition to gray walls. I appreciate all the specific color suggestions and have made notes.
I also am debating using a higher gloss paint to cut down on the scuff marks. We currently use egg shell.
Great suggestions.
Color: I find that some properties look good in light grey, some look good in a cream white (slight yellow tint). I stay away from Navajo or Antique whites - they scream 'rental' and look old and dingy to me. Greys look good in spaces with clean lines and a more modern aesthetic. Creams look good in more cozy, old fashioned spaces, or spaces that you want to look brighter. Grey can get too cool in a darker, smaller space. It's also important to coordinate with your flooring color.
One big difference is the latitude of the property and the quality of light - colors are going to look different on a rainy overcast northwest day vs a glaring southwestern sunny day. So you have to pick based on how colors look at your location, with your light quality. That's why there might be differences of opinion here on specific colors.
The greys mentioned are good. For cream we have tried Behr Cottage White - it has a cheerful tint that doesn't look dirty. Stay away from a pinkish white or blueish white. Yellow or orange family whites look more natural.
Sheen: We have a lot of plaster walls with heavy texture and imperfections in our area, so eggshell is the way to go. Any higher sheen just makes all the heavy texture jump out.
Brand: We've been using mostly Behr but not long enough to have an opinion.
For all the reasons stated above, I have settled on Martha Stewart Lamb. My wife and I moved into a house that was white. White walls, white trim, white cabinets, white counters, white floors - more white than a hospital. However, the place did have lighting issues, so it was not shocking the prior owner went that way. So, of course, we decided to run out and put some color on it. Yea, we got a few paper samples and tried to not completely wing it. We went with blue, green and a light brown - lol. Yea, it had color after that!!! Too much color. The choices were better for the exterior than the interior - lol. (It aint easy is it?) So, we smartened up and for the next round got samples, lots of them, and painted a good-sized swath of all of them, in each and every room, right next to each other, on multiple walls in the same room as needed. Then we sat back for a few weeks and let them sink in. What looked best in the living, dining, kitchen, bath? What did the colors do in less light, more light, natural light, incandescent light, florescent light - all of it. Our goal was a neutral that still felt like it had color, not cold, not yellow, not gray, not trendy. The lamb was the winner and we painted the whole place with it, minus the baths and our kids room - we did do white ceilings. When it was all done and we lived in it a bit, we really came to love it (we were not sure at first!). Our stuff (and flooring) provides the intense color, while the Lamb goes with everything, and I mean everything - whites, stains, all of it. It is a bit on the boring side I will admit. We liked it so much, we painted our next house with it too (they had lots of intense color going on - yellow, orange, blue, green, purple - lol) and now after round 2 and practically ten years, we still love it. I mean, every day I walk in and just go, ahhhh, so nice. So, I decided to start doing my rentals in it too (and a lot of that was from getting sick of having a hundred different half-gallons laying around and trying to keep them all straight). I figured out along the way that the Lamb on trim-work will have a slightly different tone, so it actually looks two-tone. For my rentals, I don't even bother to do the ceiling white. Now that I have said all that, I would not use it for a flip, as a clever paint job is an easy way to market and even get a bump in price, although one must be careful and the color will likely be of the trendy variety as opposed to the classic, for maximum affect. I'm an appraiser and have seen soooo many fails when it comes to colors, even from professional decorators - it is not easy to hit out of the park and really easy to strike out. That said, when it is just right, it really makes a difference.
Part of the problem is that there are just too many darn choices - lol. I sometimes wonder if the paint people do that on purpose to sell more paint.
So for those who like to skip to the end, the moral of the story is to get samples, put them on the wall and see what they do in multiple lighting scenarios before you spend all the money, and labor, only to hate it (or get sick of it) later!!!
The other two-cents for rentals is to use the same color on all of them. But, I know plenty of people love the process and art of it all too, and consider the paint the fun part!!! I like that part too, but have other things to think about as well, and want what will be easy going forward, by making less work for myself and not more along the way.
@Merritt S.
Haha, no I’m not one of those guys. I never cared for Behr. I painted a few rooms for a guy about 10 years ago. The end result was terrible in my opinion, and he bought the top of the line at that time.
I have a great relationship with Sherwin Williams, coverage is great (except the bottom line garbage), my pricing is great, and my local store and rep is amazing.
Bad batch maybe? It happens.
But that takes me to another thought about going with a specialty store, and how paint definitely has a pretty short shelf life. I would guess that the folks at Sherwin are great about rotating stock while the big box stores, not so much.